Nissan Navara SE 6 M/T – Painless drive

At the time of its launch in November 2008, the Nissan Navara pick-up was made available with only one variant – LE trim with 5-speed automatic transmission. It came standard with a great number of features, which included but not limited to xenon headlights with level adjustment, LSD, ABS, EBD, dual airbags, leather trim, a 6-CD changer, and not to mention the most powerful engine in our pick-up truck market.

The list goes on, and suffice to say, it includes many things which one would not expect in a vehicle designed for utilitarian purposes. However, Nissan is not pitching the Navara as something utilitarian. It is a ‘premium pick-up’, and has a six-figure price tag to go with it. All those bells and whistles are very much needed to justify the ambitious price and label.

Indeed, the Navara became not only the most powerful pick-up in the market, it also became the most expensive, with a RM105,800 asking price. Perhaps it was why Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd (ETCM) saw it fit to keep the ageing Frontier alongside the Navara, so as not to alienate truckers with a smaller budget.

Recently, however, ETCM has moved the Navara firmly into the sights of buyers in this price range, with two new manual transmission variants attractively priced at RM89,800 and RM94,800 respectively.

The Specs Sheet

Powering the Navara is the highly-acclaimed 2,488cc YD25DDTi 16-valve twin-cam turbodiesel engine. Featuring an ingenious variable geometry turbocharger, Nissan’s engineers were able to largely eliminate turbo lag, giving the driver access to 172hp @ 4,000rpm and a whopping 403Nm @ 2,000rpm. comfortably eclipsing all its rivals. As a point for comparison, the next most powerful pick-up truck in the market is the 3.2-litre Mitsubishi Triton which has ‘only’ 158hp & 343Nm.

Equipped with an electronic Shift-on-the-Fly 4×4 system, the Navara is now available with a 6-speed manual transmission in addition to the 5-speed auto introduced at its launch. Both versions of the manual Navara remain reasonably well-equipped, though the level-adjusting xenon headlights, leather seats, and CD changer are deleted. Dual airbags, ABS, and EBD continue to be offered, but only in the higher-spec Safety Edition (SE) trim.

The Test Car

Recently, we were loaned a demo unit of the Navara SE, which commands an asking price of RM94,800 (on-the-road inclusive of insurance) as tested. Our test car was finished in Brilliant White paint, an exclusive manual-only colour. When ETCM’s representative handed us the keys, the car had already clocked in excess of 7,000km in the hands of various journalists.

On the Move

Although there’s no hiding its proportions through tight spaces, the Navara is a remarkably easy car to drive and live with. Getting moving is a reasonably easy task for anyone with competence operating a vehicle with manual transmission. I would personally have liked a more solid and precise gear change than what Nissan offered, but rubbery gear changes are indeed the norm in pickup trucks.

The clutch pedal was relatively light and painless to depress. I can testify from personal experience that even with a sprained left ankle, the Navara’s clutch can be operated without too much discomfort (*see Writer’s Note).

For a vehicle with ladder frame underpinnings, the Navara was surprisingly more comfortable on the tarmac rather than off it. An engine boasting 403Nm of peak torque is impressive enough, but what’s more impressive is how you seem to be riding on a tsunami of torque every time you flick the accelerator.

It might not beat a BMW diesel for refinement, but remember that this is an engine with more ‘commercial’ inclinations. Bar some of Europe’s top-end diesels, the Navara’s engine can be regarded as a silky smooth revver, pulling to 3,000rpm and beyond with remarkable willingness. At high speeds, the Navara’s noise insulation and refinement also puts many passenger cars to shame.

Unlike many of its competitors, Nissan has opted to use rack & pinion steering for the Navara instead of the segment-norm ball & nut setup. This move served to improve on-road steering response, but when you take it off the beaten path, the steering wheel also feeds back to your palms every pebble that the front wheels roll over.

Another point to remember when you go off-road is that on mud or gravel running in ‘2WD’ mode, 403Nm overwhelms the rear wheels very easily. Unless you have plenty of room for a sideways-going Navara, be certain to switch to ‘4H’.

Verdict

What the Navara has going for, is its powerful and refined engine, with the latter being a notably scarce virtue in this market segment. In fact, that leads us to the next selling point of the Navara, which is impressive refinement, noise insulation in particular .

It would seem that Nissan has engineered the Navara with a greater focus on urban use, despite its utilitarian underpinnings. That would go some way to explain why it did not feel as comfortable or as natural on mud compared to, say, the Ford Everest which we recently tested.

Being priced a good RM11k cheaper than the automatic Navara LE, the SE variant makes stick shifting a very attractive preposition again. You will have to make do without Xenon headlights, leather seats, 6-CD changer, some shiny bits, and also live with two speakers less. I don’t know about you, but these things certainly don’t add up to RM11k in my books.

So, here’s the recommendation, if you can handle manual transmission (I managed to do it with a sprained ankle, so you really have no excuse), the SE would be the pick of the Navara range.

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Writer’s Note:

A very wicked coincidence that I sustained this injury while in possession of only the second manual test car (out of 23 total) in my Autoworld career. You’ve really gotta marvel at some of life’s sickest ironies. – KON

Pictures: Trius Blades

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