2015 Nissan Navara first drive review - Drive
It used to be that a workhorse ute would simply pass the Australian consumer test with a one-tonne payload and a rear bench seat without headrests. The segment once the domain of tradesmen is now increasingly fodder for families and weekend warriors, demographics that Nissan Australia has gone to extreme lengths to appease with its fourth-generation Navara launched this month. Twelve months ago local stakeholders snuck a pre-production Navara into the country and unleashed it among focus groups of men and women concerned equally with its styling and aesthetics as its uprated 3. 5-tonne towing capacity. Sitting pretty on the red dirt of the South Australian outback with LED daytime running lights and turn indicator signals and 18-inch alloy wheels, the flagship ST-X Navara is a polished departure from traditional dual cab utes. The friendly interior is accompanied by some hefty underbody revisions including an updated box ladder chassis with a new front suspension setup allied with a coil-sprung, multilink rear. The updated architecture feels more compliant across all surfaces, relaying imperfections firmly but without any of the bounciness that blights most leaf sprung dual cab products. Seventy-millimetres shorter between the axles and significantly lighter than its predecessor, the D23 Navara feels stable through the bends with ample body control. Source: www.drive.com.au
