Nissan Navara 2.5 LE 4x4 AT (2021) First drive - Local is lekker
The all new Nissan Navara has rolled off of the assembly line and is now available from dealers country wide. Nissan South Africa invited us along to test the 4x4 LE derivative on launch, putting this all South African made double cab through its paces.
Local is lekker
It can be easily said that the beloved bakkie is as popular as biltong in SA. We know from data that Ford and Toyota rule the roost when it comes to bakkie sales in SA, but many forget that the Nissan Navara was the first vehicle to cross the line between workhorse and SUV, when they kitted out the OG Navara with a comfy interior and made the driving dynamics closer to that of a car. They disappeared from the limelight for a while but came back swinging in 2017 with an all new double cab that raised the bar in comfort and convenience
Related: Nissan Navara 2.3D Double Cab SE : A big bruiser that's also a bit of a bargain
It has been a few years since Nissan released a new double cab because they were busy setting up the production for a locally built bakkie that would be manufactured for the global market, these Navara's are going international! This new range of Navara bakkies has actually been expanded to include single cab versions, workhorses, 4x2's and 4x4 as well as a high-end Pro series. We were lucky enough to grab some of the first LE 4x4 units and take them for a day out of rough and tumble testing. Lekker!
Styled for adventure
Well let's be honest here, the shape of a bakkie doesn't change, it's a 3 box design, one box for the engine, one for the passenger cabin and one for the bed, what matters is how designers choose to tie these together and Nissan has done a bang up job here. One glance at the new Navara and you can immediately pick up on the design language that is coming from its American brethren
The front end features a large bold grille flanked by aggressive looking headlights with their distinctive DRL's and ice cube style light centres. The side profile is boxy without looking flat and this is due to soft lines that tie the three boxes together. The load bed may appear deeper, but it is in fact taller by a few inches giving greater loading capacity while the black 17" wheels not only look great but offer excellent ground clearance. The rear end is finished off with an embossed tailgate that has a small reverse ducktail spoiler incorporated into the sheet metal.
Although South Africans have somewhat monochromatic tastes Nissan is offering the new Navara in something other than White, you can have Silver, Techno Grey, Infinite black Red or the familiar Orange now known as Forged Copper.
The interior gets a hint of orange stitching on the full leather seats while the bulk of touch surfaces are a hard wearing rubber and plastic combo. Overall the build quality is excellent and were sure the technicians are proud to show the world what we can do in Mzansi.
Tech hub
The new Navara is packed with all the tech one would expect from a world-class offering. The centre of the dash fascia is home to an 8" touchscreen that features Nissan Connect, Apple Car Play and Android Auto and sounds fantastic. The drivers interface is even better and houses Nissans Advanced Driver-Assist Display that has all the functionality of Nissan Connect right at your fingertips with the steering wheel controls. Here you get readouts from the navigation, driver assist systems and infotainment as well as the standard trip computer info.
It should be highlighted that the interior is suspiciously quiet, being devoid of much of the normal road noise that we've become accustomed too. We found out that the glass is thicker and more layers of sound deadening have been built in to make the interior quieter overall. Comfort was also a high priority with lumbar support on 8 way electrically adjustable seats, reclinable rear seating and dual zone climate control as well as a host of USB and USB-C ports for charging.
Safety conscious
Safety was naturally of high importance with the new Navara and these models get a host of standard features across the board. There are the basics such as ABS, EBD and TSC as standard, but you now also get Hill Ascent and Decent Control, optional 360 camera, trailer hook up imaging and the aforementioned Intelligent Driver Assist that learns from your steering inputs and if it detects anomalies will sound an alert. These anomalies are things like Lane Departure, Forward Collision, Rear Cross Traffic and Blind Sport Monitoring. If these alerts go off, and you don't respond it will activate Intelligent Emergency Braking to bring the vehicle to a halt.
Driven to perform
Our drive was actually quite challenging as we took on a rock strewn trail up a small mountain. Upon entering the trail we switched to 4H on the fly and then down to low range with hill control engaged. This set the vehicles systems into overdrive as we ascended the rocky outcropping with the VLS system humming away to keep power flowing to all four wheels.
The Navara has done away with the old 2.3l twin turbo and now makes use of 2.5l single turbo power plant that churns out 140kW and 450Nm, this diesel is mated to a slick 7 speed auto transmission., and the power is delivered, to the rear wheels when not in 4x4, through that fantastic 5 link coil rear suspension and this whole affair makes the Navara even more capable than it previously was.
Due to us spending most of our time clambering up a hillside it was difficult to get a proper consumption readout but for the short period of time we were on tar our figures returned 9.8l /100km which one would expect from the setup, so no surprises there.
Models and pricing
| Nissan NAVARA 2.5D SE 4X4 MT DC | R 552 000 |
| Nissan NAVARA 2.5D SE Plus 4X4 MT DC | R 580 000 |
| Nissan NAVARA 2.5D LE 4X4 MT DC | R 660 000 |
| Nissan NAVARA 2.5D LE 4X4 AT DC | R 677 000 |
| Nissan NAVARA 2.5D PRO-4X 4X4 AT DC | R 740 000 |
Price includes 6 year / 90 000 km Service Plan and 6 year / 150 000km warranty
Verdict
It is highly doubtful that the new Navara is going to dethrone the Ford and Toyota doublecab kings, but it may just make a dent in their lower tier offerings. The LE model that we tested was great, but we couldn't help but cast an envious eye over at the sole Pro 4X model on launch, this is the derivative that will take on the likes of Wildtrak and Legend 50 and to our mind was the one to have as it led our party through the bush.
The landscape of double cab offerings is changing with a definite bias towards road manners, luxury and technology so with newcomers like GWM's P-Series and other restyled models from established players, it will be interesting to see if our SA bakkie aficionados will buy into local being lekker and go get a Navara or if they are going to follow the crowd and there wallets.
