Camper Trailer Australia - April 2018

unladen, at least – the Navara fidgets, feeling

as though it’s too firm.

The Navara’s steering is well weighted and

it’s a pretty good point A to point B tourer.

TOWING TIME

The Navara can tow up to 3500kg, but Nissan

only allows a maximum of 300kg towball

download, instead of the typical 350kg

allowance

Unlike most other manufacturers, Nissan is

quite specific about reducing TBM when you

have loaded up the Navara. For example, you

are allowed zero towball mass if making full

use of the Navara’s 930kg payload capacity.

If you are carrying 800kg in the Navara, you

can have up to 100kg TBM; reduce payload

to 650kg and you can have up to 200kg TBM.

To make full use of the Navara’s 300kg TBM

maximum, payload must not exceed 520kg.

While some manufacturers offer a 12-pin

plug as part of their standard towing

In unladen full-throttle situations the seven-speed

auto upshifts to 4200rpm

The 2.3L four-cylinder turbo-diesel reached a fuel

consumption high of 16.2L/100km

improved fuel consumption and
emission figures, so the Navara’s 2.3L
engine displacement is not unusual.
By comparison, Mitsubishi’s Triton
uses a 2.4L turbo-diesel four while the
Volkswagen Amarok’s entry-level engine
is a 2.0L turbo-diesel four.
The Navara’s YS23DDTT 2.3L diesel
is intercooled and has twin sequential
turbos, the latter perhaps explaining its
almost complete absence of turbo lag.
The engine’s response off the mark is
excellent, with only a momentary delay
before revs build up and the Navara
takes off. While redline is at 4500rpm,
in unladen full-throttle situations the
smooth seven-speed auto will upshift
at 4200rpm. The Navara performs very
well, allowing, for example safe, quick
overtaking manouevres.
Unladen, the Navara has a firm ride
but it absorbs bigger bumps better than
many of the leaf-spring utes. Where the
Navara doesn’t cope so well is over the
type of road that might have been billiard
table-smooth when first tarred, but over
years of pothole repairs has become
patchy with low-amplitude bumps –
and there are plenty of such roads in
Australia. Over such surfaces – when