Nissan Frontier
Nissan’s Navara (Frontier in the US market) has long made a name for itself in the building and recreation markets for combining luxury with tough durability, and this S-TX is no exception. It’s not quite as big as the Toyota Hilux, but you can fit three burly blokes across the seats in the back and while the rear doors are narrow, they do open wide almost 90 degrees for access. One nice touch are the rear seat cushions, which fold up to provide more lead space in the rear of the double cab, and thanks to the wide angle open doors you can slide large objects right into the back of the cab. This is especially helpful if you’ve got something that needs to keep dry but you can’t be shagged using a tarp or the tonneau cover on the tray.
The 2.5 litre turbo diesel produces 128kW and 403Nm of torque, which means plenty of pulling power almost from idle and off road the Navara really does well. The five speed auto does make the odd strange gear ratio choice, but you can change gear manually using the sequential shifter if you really want to. Four wheel drive is selected using a rotary dial on the dashboard, from 2WD to 4WD high and 4WD low. As well as having a fair amount in the rear seats for occupants the tray is fairly large at 1511mm long by 1560mm wide, with a 774kg payload. The tray also comes with very convenient adjustable load strap anchors that slide along rails both on the sides and front of the tray and along the bottom of the tray. This makes it easy to adjust straps to securely hold odd shaped loads. The braked trailer capacity is 3000kg while unbraked capacity is 750kg.
On the road the Navara drives very well, with only a little bumping due to the high capacity rear suspension, and off-road and in low ratio the ute will crawl over almost anything, although a low ramp over angle can leave you scraping the bottom of the ute. The long travel suspension also helps keep all four wheels on the ground for maximum traction.
The $58,450 S-TX auto is the high spec model, which means leather clad steering wheel and handbrake lever, remote central locking, cruise control, alloy wheels, and power windows. A bonus for fleet safety are the ABS brakes with brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution. That’s probably not so important in the forest, but since there will be on-road driving involved it’s nice to know that drivers have electronic backup while on the tarmac. Logging is dangerous enough without rolling over on the way to the worksite.
The Navara is one of those utes that has become essentially a sport utility vehicle, which means part workhorse and part family fun vehicle. That’s why you get plenty of creature comforts inside, but there’s still a rugged separate chassis under all that, and a powerful diesel engine for chewing through muddy tracks. Plus, we don’t think you’ll get many complaints from anyone who has to drive or ride in one to the forest.
