BT50 and Manual D40 Navara Owners

Hi Mark,
Have a look at this site:
http://www.motorsm.com/complaints/NISSAN/default.asp
I think the new Nissan Navara is having clutch problems when towing and the fuel consumption is also not what they claim

Hello Mark, We have a manual BT 50 twin cab 4x2 with the high body & use it to tow our van. Loaded weight of the van is in the vicinity of 1850 Kg. We have not had any major issues and are very happy with our vehicle. Local after sales Mazda service is excellent.
We typically tow in fourth these days at about 90/95 KMH and our fuel consumption when towing averages around 14 Litres 100 Km.
The 4x2 version is only rated to tow a max. 2500Kg.

Regards Palmy.

We've had our D40 diesel manual for 2 years now and it has been perfect. We towed our 2tonne van from Melbourne to Mackay and return last year and averaged around the low 12 litres/100ks. The very worst we achieved was 15.5L/100ks and that was battling a strong head wind all day.

Without the van and touring "normally", we get low 8's and have on occasion got high 7's. Very happy with this. Now done 40,000 ks, all completely troublefree. Usually cruise on the 100kph limit with cruise on.

Our only disappointment has been the lack of dust sealing in the rear section which has a canopy and liner.

I haven't driven the BT50 but I reckon it would have to be pretty good to be better than our Nissan.

We chose the manual after also testing the auto and also test drove the current Triton and Hilux.

We have no regrets so far.

Cheers, True Blue

Palmy,

We have both vehicles in the family and whist they are pretty happy with around two tonne we find 1st gear to high above this and on occasion when starting of or reversing have to use low range or ride the clutch.

Cheers

Thanks for the replies, this is great information.

Hi Mark
We have had the manual D40 for nearly 2 years now and is mainly used to two our camper, although not as heavy as your van we do load up with enough provisions including 160ltrs water and extra 120lts fuel for remote trips upto 3 weeks. We also have a suspension lift, bigger wheels, bar work and winch.
So far we have had no trouble with it and find it a great vehicle.
The economy is usually very good although it can get thirsty if being pushed or towing in heavy going such as sand.
The ealier D40's did have clutch problems but this has apparently been rectified with the problems ones being upgraded.

Chris

I have the D40 for work and tow a trailer of 1.5T a couple times a week. The car is loaded to max GVM day to day with work gear.
Great car but you need to rev and ride the clutch when towing - matter of getting used to it.

Day to day 12.5L-13L/100 city driving.
Country roads sitting on optimum revs @2000-2100 I get 13.5L/100. I can only put this down to wind resistance on my tool boxes and roof racks.

The fellow who is getting 8's - I do not know how he is doing it. He would be the only one I have heard who is getting below 10L/100.
I have spoken to at least a dozen other D40 owners out of curiosity and the fuel consumption is all around 12-13.5L/100 across the board - not towing.
My opinion is that Nissan are not telling the truth about fuel usage.
Many of the people (not me yet)I have spoken to have complained to Nissan of this 'oddity' and their reply is the ECU tunes itself to your driving habits/style. Now I drive like an old man and I am careful to keep the revs in optimum and to not rev to hard between gear changes and still only got 12L/100 all round before I installed and tool boxes and loaded gear.
This is my only problem with the car and I went into the deal thinking I will save a bit of money from my other work car - given fuel prices.

I have heard about the clutch issue but I have no complaints there. A D40 owner I know has done 3 clutches ( fixed under warranty)but tows a 2.5T boat and burns them reversing uphill into his garage(he rides the clutch)

Oh- another thing that has happened recently on a trip is that I lost the blinkers, wipers, elec window on drivers side and I could not turn the lights off. I thought I was going to have to pull the battery but after playing with the control for 1 minute they went off. So thinking they were working again I switched them on again to test and they stayed ON no matter what I did. So this time I was going to have to pull the battery , I turned the ignition off and the lights went off - and left it at that. I got op in the morning and everything worked again and has ever since (6 weeks) I will make Nissan aware of this and see if they can fix it.
'But it is a great car '- not sure if you believe me now but I am happy with it.
I will not get another one though, not heavy duty enough for my usage. My wife loves it as it is realy comfortable, but for me NO. Another thing Nissan told me is that it is still designed around the 'truck like' characteristics of the past(as I was concerned about longevity). Not so.

Thanks all once again, this is great.

Not only is my father in law looking at one, but me too, but for me it would be the dual cab. We had a demo for a weekend and really did like it. We've got a GU 4.2TD at the moment, and compared to that, the Navara really feels car-like, but for our fairly moderate 4WD trips, and hopefully one day towing a camper trailer it seems like it will suit us.
As for my father in law, it's still hard to judge, I drove the BT50 and that felt just the same and the Navara, very little low down torque compared to our 4.2 Patrol, but then again, totally different cars.
I tell you what though, if I do buy one, and get constant 12-13lt/100km, I'll be very annoyed, I can get 13-14 out of my Patrol! For our driving, no roof racks nor towing, I'd expect 10-11 at worst, let's hope I'm not disappointed!

thanks again, this is all great information.

Have you considered the Petrol D40?

It has a stonking 200 kW V6. On LPG it will tug the van far better than the diesel and cost less to run.

Disclaimer: LPG may be expensive and/or have limited availability in remote locations.

Jim.

Mark , BT50 seems to be far stronger and more rugged than the Navara.
BT50 was my next choice if I couldnt get a new Hilux.
After my experience with a new Navara (5000kms) ,high fuel usage and abysmal support from Nissan, and so many disaster stories world wide, I would give them a big miss.