Nissan Navara Titanium 2009 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before dealer and statutory charges): $48,400
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): leather seats $2300
Crash rating: 3 star (ANCAP)
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 9.8 (manual), 10.5 (auto)
CO2 emissions (g/km): 264/283
Also consider: Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine and Drivetrain: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

There's movement at the station, word has got around. There's a new limited edition ute in town. In the car world a limited edition usually means one of two things: the model is about to be replaced, or an updated rival is around the corner.

In the case of the limited edition Nissan Navara Titanium, the latter is true. With Mitsubishi about to release a heavily overhauled Triton and Toyota about to make some running changes to HiLux (both involve the addition of side airbags on selected models, among other updates) Nissan has given its Navara a quick makeover.

The Navara is Nissan's biggest selling model locally. The 4x4 model alone accounts for almost one third of Nissan sales, and sells at twice the rate of the Tiida small car and X-TRAIL softroader (Ed: the Nissan is not alone: the HiLux is the biggest selling Toyota so far this year). It's also the second biggest seller in the 4x4 ute market behind the HiLux and ahead of the Triton and Holden Colorado.

In case you needed reminding, Australians love their utes, which account for one in five new vehicles sold. The other trend that hasn't gone unnoticed is that we're spending more money on them.

The Titanium is a Navara with the works. And with a starting price of $48,400 it would want to come with all the bells and whistles. That price is just $540 more than the ST-X on which the Titanium is based. And for that it gets a load of extra equipment: front fog lights, roof racks, tub liner, Bluetooth wireless phone connection, Titanium coloured side mirrors with built-in repeater lamps and puddle lights, side steps, chrome roll bar and 17-inch Titanium coloured alloy wheels. Oh, and some special stickers, floor mats and a Titanium badge on the console.

For another $2300 you can have leather upholstery with "Titanium" embossed in the leather. And a five-speed auto's another $2250.

There are 1000 Titanium Navara 4x4 crew cab utes, of which 600 are diesel, 400 are petrol. Only 360 of the 1000 have leather upholstery. The only other decision to make: which of three colours you choose (silver, black or a dark brown called pepper which, be warned, also comes with a dark brown interior).

Power from the 2.5-litre turbodiesel in unchanged (126kW and 403Nm) and the engine is a willing performer. The test car was a six-speed manual, which was good because the engine has a relatively narrow powerband. Back-to-back tests against its rivals have shown the Navara to be mid-field in terms of acceleration, even though its torque numbers are impressive.

It also has a relatively low payload of 810kg, but it makes up for this somewhat with the really practical tie-down hooks that slide along the edge of the ute tub on secure rails.

The Titanium also gets bigger wheels and tyres, up from 255 70R16 Continental tyres (which are biased towards road use) to 17-inch Goodyears. The Navara has always been surefooted and the best among its peers on sealed roads, but the all terrain tyres should help on dirt roads.

The Navara only scores a three star crash safety rating from ANCAP. Oddly, even though it shares much of its underpinnings with the Pathfinder (and is built in the same plant in Spain), the Navara is not available with side airbags. It also misses out on a cross brace under the front of the body structure, which partly explains why the Navara scores a slightly worse NCAP crash test result than the four-star Pathfinder.

It is a shame that Nissan distinguishes the level of safety equipment on these two vehicles: why is the life of a ute driver worth any less than the life of a 4WD wagon driver?

The Navara was tested by European NCAP in 2008 and scored a poor one star rating after the airbags were slow to deploy. Nissan made a change, the Navara was retested, and it scored three stars, which is still rated only as "marginal". "Acceptable" four star vehicles include the Triton and HiLux.

The Navara has five lap-sash seatbelt but only four adjustable headrests which can prevent whiplash in a rear-end crash.

But the Navara has some creature comforts most other utes don't have, such as a tilt adjustable, leather steering wheel and a tilt adjustable driver's seat cushion. And the Navara is one of the few utes on sale with an auto up power window for the driver, as well as auto down...

For all the bells and whistles, though, there's still no auxiliary audio input. Which is a shame because the sound system is good for a ute. There's also three power sockets (dash, glovebox and centre console) so there's ample power to run extra devices.

It was good to get requainted with the Navara which is approaching its fourth birthday -- about halfway through its model cycle. The bad news for Nissan is that means it has a long way to go before any significant changes occur, and will likely be the last of the current crop of utes for a full model change.

Here's hoping future special editions will include more safety equipment such as side airbags. And one more thing: rear parking sensors. Why don't any of the top selling imported utes have these as standard?

Some photos by Joshua Dowling

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi