New Nissan Navara Twin Cab Diesel Ute; Impressions

Submitted: Thursday, Sep 14, 2006 at 21:25
ThreadID: 37722 Views:8742 Replies:2 FollowUps:1
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Hi Guys
The company I work for has just taken delivery of a latest model
Navara twin cab diesel ute, kitted out with dual battery system &
steel bullbar, ARB canopy & roller drawers with twin fridge slides
on which we will mount toolboxes & a fridge, .
I had the pleasure in delivering it from Adelaide to just South of
Sarina in Qld.
I travelled Adelaide to Broken Hill day 1; Then to Wilcannia, Louth,
Bourke, Brewarrina, Goodooga, Hebel (great pies at the store here),
Dirranbandi to St George day 2.
Day 3 went to Surat, Roma, Injune, Rolleston, Bauhinia, Duaringa,
Apis Creek to the Bruce Highway near Ogmore, then North to Carmila.
I must say how impressed I was with the truck.
Interior is very roomy; its great the way the rear seats fold up to
give a massive dustproof storage area. Plenty of room in the rear
for 3 long legged passengers if needed.
Handy also is the drink bottle holder in each door which holds a 1.5
litre bottle of water.
The 6 speed gear box is easy to use; 6th gear is very versatile &
torque is really good so when on cruise control its rare to go
looking for a lower gear.
On dirt roads it was very stable & soaked up bulldust holes very
well. Only a couple of times did it get skittish when on reasonably
severe corrugations.
Overall I was most impressed with its comfort & standard of finish.
When people are looking for a new 4WD, at least give one a test
drive. It may convince you to go for a twin cab rather than a van
type GU, Landcruiser, Disco etc:
Only thing needed is some one to market
1. a kit to seal the rear tailgate
2. a fan forced air intake into the canopy to pressurise it and keep
the dust out. I have in mind mounting on the canopy roof an old cartridge aircleaner off say a V8 Holden with a fan from a heater unit sucking through the
aircleaner in to the canopy space. This could be switched from the
dashboard?

One other observation on the trip; in Dirranbandi I saw a Haflinger
with a tinny on top heading for the river to go fishing. There was a
post last week I think about Haflingers and how scarce they are
becoming.

Regards

John A

(PS also posted in 4WD Out of Adelaide)
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Reply By: macca172 - Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 07:14

Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 07:14
John,
I picked my one up two weeks ago and I agree 100% with you. Its a great vehicle but the dust ingestion into the tray area is bad bad bad! I working on it with seals atthe moment, however is something NIssan has to address.

Macca
AnswerID: 194626

Follow Up By: Member - Andrew W (VIC) - Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 23:11

Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 23:11
Good to see you fianlly settled on one macca - told you that you would not be dissapointed months ago!! Regarding dust - have you got a bin liner fiited? I have found that it reduces dust on mine (no canopy fitted) but agree that the gap between the tail gate and the ute floor is way too wide. I am thinking of fitting rubber squeegee type flaps on my tailgate so i can still run the aux. batt charger from the Anderson connector under the tow bar. Any thoughts??
0
FollowupID: 452823

Reply By: Bluelux - Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 19:10

Friday, Sep 15, 2006 at 19:10
Hi guys, I have a new Hilux dual cab with ARB canopy and also found heaps more dust getting into the tray area than my old '91 model did. I have found that opening the front sliding window when travelling on dirt roads solves the problem,must pressurise canopy.Went from Alice to Chambers Pillar and back and hardly any dust.Worth a try anyhow and cheap if it works!
AnswerID: 194722

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