LDV Terron 9 vs Nissan Navara

What's the difference?

There’s no doubt that the current crop of Chinese utes are better than previous versions. Similarly, there’s little doubt that private buyers are having a big say in which way the market is headed, particularly when it comes to alternatives to the Thai-built legacy players. And that’s precisely where the Terron 9 plays its best game. The value for money is hard to argue with, and the sheer size of the thing gives it an extra dimension if that’s what you think you need in a dual-cab. While we have no quarrel with the driveline of the Terron 9, it will be nice when somebody finally adds an on-bitumen four-wheel-drive mode to one of these in this price range. Until then, the Terron 9 can’t be criticised for this omission. In the meantime, the Terron 9 exhibits quite a bit of refinement in the way both the engine and transmission work together. Our biggest complaint is the way the driver-assistance systems have been calibrated. The driver-distraction warning is almost comical (for the first five minutes, anyway) in its zeal, and the lane-keeping assistance program is bordering on scary in the wrong circumstances. Again, LDV is not alone in this regard, but as a clean-sheet design, sketched up in a driver-assisted world, perhaps we were expecting a little more from this ute.

Although the D23 Navara is approaching a decade in local showrooms and due for replacement in 2025, the base-model SL still represents a fuel-efficient and competent workhorse with ample back-to-basics practicality.

While the Terron 9 remains a ladder-chassis design with the body plonked on top (just like traditional four-wheel drives and most other dual-cabs) there is one important departure in design terms. And it’s one that rules out a whole sub-class of this type of vehicle.

Because the body sides are one piece in the Terron, with no gap between the rear bulkhead and the tray, there’s no way to turn the thing into a cab-chassis with a drop-side tray or service body. Yes, you can add a canopy to the existing design (LDV is working on its accessory line-up for the Terron right now) but there’s no cab-chassis variant now or in the works.

That might seem a bit odd, but when you consider the vast majority of dual-cabs are, in fact, styleside utes, maybe the sales hit won’t be a huge one. That’s especially so when you consider many of the Chinese utes rely on private buyers, not fleet customers, for their sales volumes. And in any case, says LDV, the way the body is constructed allows for a little more rear seat legroom and a touch more cargo space length for the same overall length. Which the company believes is a trade-off worth sticking with.

There’s also been a clear brief for the Terron 9 to make a visual statement. While it’s dimensions put it somewhere between the mainstream dual-cabs and the full-sized American pick-ups we see, the styling definitely leans towards the latter. The grille is huge, the vertical tail-lights very Stateside and the whole thing looks imposing. I’ll personally draw the line at attractive, but it’s definitely imposing.

The most adventurous piece of interior design must be the electronic door handles which need just a simple press to open the doors. There’s a manual, cable-operated door opener hidden in each door pocket if things go wrong electrically at some stage.

The cabin’s fabric-covered seats, wipe-clean vinyl floor and urethane-rimmed steering wheel/shifter are consistent with the SL’s work focus.

Reminders of its 2015 origins are numerous mechanical switches and dials on the dash (which we prefer to touchscreen versions), a steering wheel with only height adjustment, a mechanical rather than electronic handbrake, rear drum brakes instead of discs and analogue speedo/tacho.

Even so, its interior design still looks a cut above a base-grade ute, with a visually-pleasing and practical blend of chrome, satin chrome and piano black combined with two-tone upholstery.

The well-bolstered front seats are comfortable and supportive, but a larger and more defined left footrest would enhance driver comfort.

Rear passenger knee room is adequate for the two outer seating positions, thanks largely to the concave shape of the front seat backrests.

However, shoulder room is tight for three adults and headroom is marginal, particularly for tall people in the higher centre position who also must contend with a headrest that has insufficient height adjustment.

Like most dual cab utes, short of full-size US pick-ups, the Navara works best as a four-seater with the fifth seat limited to short trips. 

Off-road credentials include a 12.5-metre turning circle, 220mm of ground clearance, a 600mm wading depth and 32 degrees approach, 22.9 degrees ramp break-over and 26 degrees departure angles.

A longer, wider cargo bed is probably one of the Terron 9’s best party tricks. Compared with the T60, the Terron is larger in every direction and extends that lead into the tub’s dimensions where it emerges with 1230mm between the wheel arches and a cargo bed length of 1600mm (90mm more than the T60 Pro).

That’s partly all possible by the extra wheelbase which, at 3300mm, is about as big as it gets in this class of ute, although the turning circle has grown to 13.1m compared with the T60’s tighter 12.7m.

A spray-in tub liner is standard as is the spring-assisted tailgate. Pony up for the ritzier, Evolve version, and you add cargo rails atop the tub sides and cargo-bed lighting.

Inside the tray, there are four decent tie-down hooks nice and low in the tub and plastic side toppers to prevent damage to the tub’s top rail. The tailgate is a clever design that is supported by springs and struts so that it drops in a controlled way and is very light to lift back up. The latch on the top corner of the tray is odd, but the tailgate can be opened via the key fob, too.

The biggest omission in the tray is the lack of any power socket.

Inside, the cabin is wide and features a pair of cup-holders down low in the centre console, as well as a USB-A, USB-C and a 12-volt socket placed somewhat awkwardly in the centre bin. The front arm-rest looks like it should incorporate a wireless phone charger, which it doesn’t. Yet. Watch this space, is the whisper. A reach and height adjustable steering column is also a nice addition at this price-point. And, thankfully, LDV has worked out that most people don’t want to go fishing through a menu to adjust the climate control. So the Terron 9 has actual buttons on the dashboard. Hallelujah.

Side steps are standard and help you in and out of the cabin, and there are grab-handles in the right places, too. Rear seat space is generous and even the cloth trim of the entry-level version is not the cheap-and-nasty sort, even if it’s far from sporty looking.

The indicator wand is on the `wrong’ side for Australia, partly because the gear selector is a wand on the other side of the steering column. Some users will spend the first few days hitting the gear selector in error. The starter is a push button, but placed in the conventional position of a standard ignition key. Nice touch.

With its relatively light 2033kg kerb weight and 3150kg GVM, our test vehicle has a one-tonne-plus payload rating of 1117kg.

It’s also rated to tow up to 3500kg of braked trailer. However, to tow that weight would require a substantial 740kg reduction in vehicle payload to avoid exceeding its 5910kg GCM (or how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time). Even so, few (if any) Navara owners would need to tow 3500kg.

The load tub is almost square with its 1509mm floor length and 1560mm width. And with 1134mm between the rear wheel housings, it won’t fit a standard Aussie pallet but will take a Euro, held in place by a choice of four load-anchorage points.

In terms of cabin storage, the centre console offers open storage up front, two small-bottle/cupholders in the centre and a small lidded box at the back. There’s also a large-bottle holder and storage bin in each front door, plus a glove box and overhead glasses holder.

Rear passengers get a large-bottle holder and smaller storage bin in each door plus a fold-down centre armrest with two small-bottle/cupholders. The rear bench seat’s base cushion can also swing up and be stored vertically for more internal cargo space, or to access two small underfloor storage compartments.

Our 'Solid White' SL dual cab 4x4 test vehicle comes standard with the same 2.3-litre twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel shared by all Navaras but ours has the optional seven-speed automatic, with a list price of $50,350.

This pricing and healthy 140kW/450Nm outputs make it more than competitive with base-grade 4x4 dual cab ute rivals including the Ford Ranger XL 2.0L auto ($50,880), Toyota HiLux Workmate 2.4L auto ($50,420) and Isuzu D-Max SX 1.9L auto ($50,700).

Our example is also fitted with a couple of items from Nissan’s genuine accessory range, including a load tub-liner and flush-fitting tonneau cover available at extra cost.

Being the base-model workhorse of the Navara’s 4x4 range, the SL’s no-frills standard equipment list is designed with hard work in mind, as evidenced by its 17-inch steel wheels and 255/65 tyres with a matching spare.

There are also halogen auto-headlights and DRLs, tailgate assist (makes lowering and raising easier), a reversing camera and rear diff-lock.

Inside is more useful kit including two 12-volt sockets, three USB ports, centre console cooling/heating vents for rear seat passengers and a driver’s 7.0-inch analogue instrument display enhanced with a digital speedo.

The six-speaker multimedia system has a relatively small (by today’s standards) 8.0-inch colour touchscreen, with multiple connectivity options including Bluetooth, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

While peak outputs of both the Terron 9 and its smaller stablemate T60 seem similar on paper, in actual mechanical terms, there are a few important differences.

While the T60 uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel with a pair of turbochargers, the Terron 9 is, on paper, a bit more simplified, but a lot newer in design terms. It’s a 2.5-litre unit, but reverts to a single turbocharger for a power peak of 163kW (three up on the T60, at slightly lower revs) and max torque of 520Nm (20 more). Fuel economy should be about line-ball with the T60 (more of that later).

Like the T60, the Terron 9 features an independent, coil-spring front end, but loses the T60 Plus’ coil-sprung rear axle for a leaf-sprung live axle.

The Terron 9 sticks with an eight-speed automatic transmission (although a different unit to the T60’s eight-speed unit) and also gets four-wheel drive with a low-ratio transfer case for proper off-roading. What’s missing (but nobody else at this price-point has it either) is Auto 4WD mode which allows the vehicle to be driven in four-wheel drive on bitumen surfaces. In the case of towing on a wet road, this is a huge boost to overall safety.

While the extra torque over the T60’s smaller engine seems welcome, it pays to remember that the larger Terron 9 is about 300kg heavier than its little brother. That said, the payload is a little higher at 1100kg for the Origin and 1005kg for the Evolve but with the vehicle’s full 3500kg on the tow-hitch, that payload falls to 600kg and 505kg respectively, thanks to the Terron’s 6500kg Gross Combination Mass. It’s far from alone in this regard.

The Navara’s 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel produces 140kW at 3750rpm and 450Nm of torque between 1500-2500rpm. Its two-stage inline turbochargers (a small one for low rpm, a large one for high rpm) operate in sequence to provide vigorous response at all engine speeds with excellent economy.

A refined seven-speed torque converter automatic offers near-seamless shifting and the overdriven sixth and seventh gears enhance fuel economy at highway speeds.

Drivers also have the option of sequential manual-shifting to provide more direct engine control when off-roading or carrying/towing heavy loads. Its 4x4 transmission is dual-range, part-time and is equipped with an electronic rear diff lock.

LDV’s official fuel consumption figure for the Terron 9 is 7.9 litres per 100km. That’s a number that you might – just might – see on a gentle highway run, but the 9.0 litres per 100km we recorded on our own test drive is probably closer to the day-to-day mark. That’s still pretty good, though and speaks of the tall gearing in the eight-speed automatic transmission.

Against the 80-litre standard fuel tank, that gives a useable range of close enough to 850km on the open road before you need to start watching the fuel gauge.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Terron 9 is Euro 5 complaint rather than meeting the tougher Euro 6 emissions targets. As such, it does not require the addition of AdBlue, representing another running cost saving.

Nissan claims an official combined average of 7.9L/100km and the dash readout was showing 7.7 when we stopped to refuel after clocking up just under 600km on the first tank, which included a 400km-plus day trip from Melbourne to regional Victoria.

Our own figure, calculated from fuel bowser and tripmeter readings, came in at a slightly higher but still frugal 8.4L/100km which proves the fuel-sipping efficiency of diesels when highway cruising.

We covered another 168km in city and suburban use, with the dash claiming 8.6 compared to our own figure of 9.5, which is still thrifty single-digit economy for a two-tonne ute.

Therefore, based on our own ‘real world’ figures, you could expect a driving range of about 840km around town and up to 950km on a trip from its 80-litre tank.

The first impression is that this is a very big vehicle. The passenger’s seat seems miles away and the bonnet is high, wide and mighty. That might not play too well off road where such a huge bonnet can hide the obstacles you’re about to fall off or drive over, but at least the forward facing camera system gives you a fighting chance. The other problem off-road is likely to be the sheer girth of the LDV where it might struggle a little for elbow room on tracks formed by smaller vehicles.

On the bitumen, the Terron 9 feels pretty relaxed with a gear for every occasion and an unstressed engine that is clearly tuned for mid-range oomph rather than top-end power. It’s smooth and relatively refined and, left to its own devices, the eight-speed automatic shifts up seamlessly.

The only complaint would be a degree of driveline shunt in the example we drove that could be both heard and felt, most notably in the transition from off-throttle to on-throttle, but also during the odd upshift. In 2025, this seems very odd indeed. We checked with LDV and they reckon this is a one-off glitch and possibly down to the car’s early build. Certainly, the second Terron 9 we sampled didn’t exhibit the same problem.

Ride quality is generally good and while the leaf-sprung rear axle can feel a little lively at times, it’s not a bad match for the front end, meaning that the car feels of a piece rather than two halves of a car fighting each other. While there is plenty of suspension movement, it also feels quite well controlled despite the obvious amount of unsprung mass. Cabin noise is commendably low, too. Thanks to tall gearing and that noise suppression, the Terron is a relaxed highway performer.

The steering is better than average for this type of vehicle with a good relationship between feel, weight and reaction speed. This is one ute than can be hustled along if it needs to be, and one on which the paddle-shifters are a meaningful inclusion (although they’re also a huge bonus when off-roading).

By far our biggest complaint is one that is far from exclusive to LDV. And that’s the (what we consider to be) poor calibration of some of the driver aids. The lane-keeping assistance is the main offender and, on a narrow road with a well-defined edge, the Terron 9 will intervene to prevent a wheel dropping onto the gravel. Unfortunately, at higher speeds, it does so with what feels like a stabbing action; violent enough to scare you the first time it happens. Could it frighten a timid or inexperienced driver into a crash? It’s a possibility we can’t ignore.

The driver-distraction warning is also, ironically, its own distraction. Take your eyes off the road for long enough to read the otherwise excellent dashboard display, and you’ll have the warning stepping in with a beeping admonishment as well as a visual warning that overrides the information you were trying to read in the first place. Again, LDV is hardly alone in this, but there’s definitely some recalibration required before the systems are as good as some of the (more expensive) competition’s equivalents.

The driving position is comfortable for most shapes and sizes, even though the steering wheel does not have reach adjustment and the seat lacks adjustable base cushion rake or lumbar support.

The ride is firm when unladen but its four-coil suspension is absorbent enough to soak up the worst of the bumps. The steering feel is responsive and nicely weighted, combined with competent handling and braking that contribute to a positive driving experience.

It’s also impressively quiet at highway speeds, with low tyre and wind noise and an engine that requires less than 2000rpm to maintain 110km/h with minimal effort.

To test its payload rating we forklifted 830kg into the load tub, which combined with our crew of two was a one-tonne-plus payload of 1010kg. That was about 100kg less than its payload limit.

The supple coil-spring rear suspension compressed 80mm under this loading, yet its high ride height ensured there was still about 40mm of bump-stop clearance remaining, which proved ample in avoiding any bottoming-out on our test route. However, that’s not to say it wouldn’t with an extra 100kg on board.

It also excelled on our 13 per cent gradient, 2.0km-long set climb at 60km/h, with the seven-speed auto self-shifting down to fourth gear and just under 2000rpm (right in the middle of its peak torque band) to easily haul this load to the top.

Engine-braking on the way down, in a manually-selected second gear, was also impressive for a 2.3-litre engine restraining more than one tonne of payload. Overall, the Navara proved to be a competent heavy-load hauler.

The D23 Navara earned a maximum five-star ANCAP rating when launched in 2015, but that rating has since lapsed with all Navaras built from January 2023 unrated.

Even so, it’s armed with seven airbags plus AEB, forward collision warning, trailer-sway control, a reversing camera, hill-start assist, hill descent control and more.

The rear seat has three top-tether and two ISOFIX child seat anchorage points.

The Terron 9 is covered by LDV’s rather excellent seven-year/200,000km warranty. Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km with the exception of the very first service which is due at 10,000km to account for the running-in oil the engine is filled with from the factory. This sounds like an extra impost, but mechanical sympathists will love this attention to detail.

LDV is looking into capped-price servicing but there’s no announcement to be made yet, nor any hint of what the price structure of that might look like if it happens.

There’s a five year/unlimited km warranty, plus five years of 24-hour roadside assist. Scheduled servicing is every 12 months/20,000km whichever occurs first.

Total capped-price of $3305 covers the first five scheduled services within five years, or an average of $661 per year.