Review: Nissan Frontier Navara 4x4 LE MT

The new Frontier Navara is out to crush the competition... in style.

WORDS Niky Tamayo PHOTOS Niky Tamayo, Carlo Sapera, Steve "Tebs" Ong | 5 December 2008

You get used to getting a lot of attention when driving a brand-new test vehicle, but this was something else. At every stoplight, people rolled down their windows for a closer look. Kids pointed. Grizzled taxi drivers smiled. People took pictures. Everyone seems to love the Navara. Of course, this might have something to do with the patina of bright red mud caking the big Nissan. It looked like it was given a bath in the stuff. Some two hours ago, we were stuck on a muddy trail in the middle of nowhere. No, the pickup itself wasn’t stuck, but I was becoming increasingly fearful that it would be, seeing the fully-kitted Landcruiser in front of us wedged into a four-foot deep rut at a ludicrous angle, held upright by a prayer and a few nervous hands. For Kits and Francis, our buddies from the 4x4 Club of the Philippines, this is just another day at work. But me? If Francis mentions the words “tent” and “overnight” once more, I’m going to strangle him. Don’t get me wrong, I love all things automotive. Knobby tires and aftermarket lift kits set my heart aflutter as easily as turbochargers and big brakes. But I’m a pansy. I can’t live without toilet paper and walking knee-deep in mud makes me think about all the germs I’m squelching around in. It takes a special kind of madness to go off-road... as in really off-road, not “muddy farm-trail” off-road. Fortunately, Kits specializes in this kind of insanity, so I’ll let him tell you the rest of that story (4x4ph.com article HERE). The poor bikers who had to backtrack up the mountain when they found the Navara’s wide fenders plugging up the trail might have another story to tell, though. Back on the tarmac, the Navara speaks for itself. It’s streaked head to toe with bright red mud, dripping off in huge chunks and gobbets as we trundle down the road. Yes, we’re the center of attention, but it’s not just the mud. Even after a good wash and wax, the smiles keep coming. This is a really handsome truck. While the Strada looks downright alien and everything else is blandly conventional, the Navara turns up the machismo to 11.5. With a front fascia lifted from the Nissan Titan pickup, prominent flares carved into the fenders (rather than absurdly tacked on as with the old Frontier) and some nifty-looking alloy rims, this big truck exudes a square-jawed aggression that kicks butt on the rest of this rather unstylish class. From inside, the chunky interior styling helps build the testosterone even more. You could literally grow chest hair sitting in here. And you’ll need a thick coat of it to survive Nissan’s patented sub-arctic air-conditioning system. Even without window tints, the airconditioning was freezing cold. Despite the “tough” styling, this is a comfortable truck. The chestnut brown and beige color-scheme is a welcome break from the brooding grays and blacks or the drab beige in the competition. There’s soft-touch leather and plastic everywhere, though some of the plastic panels are kind of thin and flimsy. The radio is attractive and sounds great, with good bass production (not easy to come by on pick-ups due to poor speaker mounting points) and clarity. Oh, and did I mention the air-conditioning already? But the best feature of this cabin is the space. Some of the extra length over the old Frontier was wisely spent on the cabin. While the driver’s seat could use a little more lumbar support and the rear seats are still rather upright and short, the plush cushions, supple leather and acres of legroom make them all pretty comfortable. While the Strada might be a little better, it sacrifices cargo space for the extra inches of legroom it gives. In terms of suspension, the Navara is a very comfortable truck. It'll have old Frontier owners singing Hosannas after the first kilometer. The long stroke absorbs harsh impacts well, and cringe-inducing potholes send merely small shudders through the frame. There’s some low speed fidgeting and swaying as the solid rear axle and heavy wheels ‘dribble’ over corrugated surfaces, but none of us ever got car-sick or uncomfortable over the course of the week. That’s quite a feat for a leaf-spring truck, especially with my glass stomach. By the end of the test, I was so confident of the truck’s pliancy that I drove down rutted provincial roads with a bed full of ceramic wares with no fear of anything breaking. And even without Styrofoam padding, nothing did. Despite this latent softness, the Navara handles surprisingly well, thanks to a low center of gravity and a long wheelbase. The only issue here is a slightly spongy brake pedal, but once pressed, the Navara stops sharply. It turns sharply, too, rotating willingly but never threatening to do anything stupid, the long wheelbase and wide tires paying dividends in stability. While the steering lacks that last 10% of feedback and is quite vague just off-center, and the suspension lacks that last 10% of iron-fisted control, it’s nearly as confident as the Ranger in terms of handling. As a bonus, it soaks up bumps better and doesn’t slide as easily. Until something better comes along, the Navara stands as the best road-warrior in this class. Another place where it blows away the competition is in power output. The Navara’s 172 bhp (4000 rpm) and stump-pulling 403 Nm of torque (2000 rpm) make it the new King of the Hill. That power goes to the ground through a standard 6-speed manual. All that power and torque should make it quite a bit faster than the tire-smoking Ranger I tested last year, right? Well... it’s just about the same, actually. The Navara is just too sophisticated. Between the electronic throttle and heavy clutch, burn-outs and donuts just aren’t on the menu, the computer cutting power at the slightest provocation. And despite the 5000 rpm limiter and claimed 4000 rpm power peak, power dies off noticeably past 3600 rpm, so our 11.2 second run to 100 km/h (60-100 in 6.1 seconds) was achieved by short-shifting through the gears. Crackling quick, but it should be faster. If only the boost didn’t cut out before you reach 100 km/h in 3rd gear, it should be. Yes, I tried revving it out... And yes, it was slower. So the YD25DDTi (whew) is pretty limp off-boost, most modern CRDis are, anyway. At least the ultra-short gears in the six-speed box help keep you in the powerband at all times, though the truckishly long throws makes finding 5th and 6th a chore (don’t even ask about reverse). But those 6 gears and the 2.5 liter displacement make the Navara the most economical 4x4 pickup we’ve tested so far. Owners report around 12 km/l in light traffic, while our off-road thrashing and aggressive testing regimen pegged our average between 9-10 km/l. Considering we consistently got around 7 km/l in competitors’ 3 liter trucks, that’s a big advantage. THE GOOD Good power and economy Great space Biggest-in-class cargo bed Comfortable ride Good handling THE BAD Narrow powerband Truckish gearshift Fidgety over bumps Biggest-in-class turning circle Small rear windows THE LOWDOWN The King is dead! Long live the King! The Navara may not be perfect, but no other diesel pick-up comes this close. And the Navara is a big truck. Yet it’s surprisingly easy to drive and park, thanks to great side mirrors and a good all-around view. It only feels clumsy in tight spaces due to the length (5.2 meters) and the wide (13.3 meter) turning circle. That’s about 4.5 lanes on your typical road, which meant a lot of cursing and backing up every time we had to take one of those ridiculous MMDA-designed U-Turns. But for truck lovers, that’s part and parcel of the experience. Where the old Frontier was a perennial fleet-manager favorite, the Navara is a revolution in refinement. It’s not quite the lifestyle-car the Strada is, but it’s eminently more practical. While muddy trails hold no terrors for the Navarra’s sophisticated 4x4 system, the low ground clearance prevents it from going mountain trekking with the Ranger and the Hilux. Instead, the Navara is more comfortable on-road than in the hills. So maybe it’s not quite “King of the Hill”, but it fully deserves the title “King of the Road.” Thanks to Faw Maridul of Universal Motors Corporation for the test vehicle, and to Kits Aragon, Francis Arellano, Steve "tebs" Ong, Attorney Romy Alcantara and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Rasay of 4x4ph.com for helping us with this test.

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