Nissan Navarra Coming In

[Scenium11]

Here are the first pictures of the Nissan Navarra arriving Thai roads months after its introduction in several countries.

Seems that it'll come with a 2.5l developping 174hp.

Let's see what will be announced by Siam Nissan.

[terdsak_12]

Oh dear, that doesn't look good. I was hoping for a 3.2L!!!

[Plus]

It doesn't LOOK good, too.

I'm afraid it will face the same fate as Ford and Mazda - outdated design doesn't sell.

[nakhonsi sean]

I think maybe those pics don't do it justice. Seen others on the net and it looks pretty good for a pickup. Has the best reviews of all the pickups in Europe and Australia. Read the reviews in the Thai press and they all take the manufacturers hype. You only have to look at the number of Isuzu D-Max's on the road, hidious things to drive, horrible noisy engines, crap suspension and gearbox. Ford/Mazda may not be the most stylish but they are half decent to drive. I can't understand people looking on pickups as some sort of style statement. They are working vehicles, none of them realy has any style or character. Just big, sturdy. practicle transport. If you want style, go and buy an Alfa or TVR.

[Plus]

Sure Nissan and Ford can sell a lot of working vehicles, but Toyota and Isuzu sell a lot of trucks for "style", too. They compete with cars like Civic and Corolla in the same price range, both in driving manners and design, and Mitsu Triton really upped the ante in style.

[nakhonsi sean]

Plus Posted Today, 2006-11-01 09:27:40

Sure Nissan and Ford can sell a lot of working vehicles, but Toyota and Isuzu sell a lot of trucks for "style", too. They compete with cars like Civic and Corolla in the same price range, both in driving manners and design, and Mitsu Triton really upped the ante in style.

Sorry, I just can't see them as being stylish. They (Toyota/Isuzu) may be selling their pickups to compete with the Civic and Corolla but comparing driving manners and design is a joke. Their driving manners are twenty years behind! I doubt you could ever make a working vehicle drive as good as a car, the requirements are just so different.

Let me add that I have nothing against pickups, in fact, living out in the sticks, it would be my preffered choice. But I would never buy one for its style, they don't have any, even the Triton and I would never expect it to drive like a car, to do so could land you in the ditch! Maybe thats why so many people get killed here, they just don't understand that a pickup is a pickup, not a car when they are at the wheel!

[PeaceBlondie]

I see that last year's long discussion about big pickups has been revived overnight. Meanwhile, the price of fuel has increased about 50%.

And meanwhile, I bought my first-ever pickup, a 1997 Nissan NV that's in great shape at 167K km, and I love it.

Style? Well, a pickup is not a Ferrari, but within the genre of trucks, there can be a styling competition (like Chevrolet's Cameo, one of the first mid-1950's trucks with the car-style wrap around windscreen). As mentioned, the Mitsu Triton is a really good looking vehicle from the front or the side.

But basically, pickups are for picking-up people and things, and carrying them.

[Plus]

Sorry, I just can't see them as being stylish. They (Toyota/Isuzu) may be selling their pickups to compete with the Civic and Corolla but comparing driving manners and design is a joke. Their driving manners are twenty years behind!

Well, maybe not you, but lots of people see them as stylish. Even here, on TV, if you look in pickup threads you can find plenty of pictures just showing off the "style". Chevy Colorado, for example, sells on looks only, as it's identical to Isuzu in every other way. And they sell more than Nissan, I believe.

Maybe that is the reason you can't find a new Ford or Mazda in Bangkok - they do not look attractive enough for urban drivers.

In terms of driving, pickup makers maybe not there yet but getting very close. They already have more power and better acceleration and they already offer the same level of creature comforts in the cabin, and space in the second row is on par with sedans. Handling at high speeds and leaf springs in the back are still problematic.

If they don't compete with cars for customers, they don't have room to grow. It's not really a choice anymore.

Back to Nissan - let's wait for better pix, but it's not a design revolution like Vigo or Triton were, it looks like face lift for old Nissans.

[nakhonsi sean]

Yes, I said ''I'can't see them as stylish'', of course if one likes pickups, there are differences for the better or worse in the styling dependent on your tastes. Despite having no particular interest in them I'll still be buying one in the next couple of years but for reasons of ruggedness. I have to go down some pretty appalling roads around the wifes house. This is why they will never come close to a car in dynamics. Its not only the leaf springs and live axle but the whole construction - ladder frame chassis with body on top. Great for what its designed for, but can't come close to a car in dynamics. Sure the new ones feel pretty civilised and can look quite plush inside, but you can tell your driving a truck as soon as you let the clutch out!

[Plus]

In fact Navarra has never looked like Triton, even when it was released in the West, so the looks are not surprising.

I WANT it to be a good truck, just to stir the competition. I doubt they will gain much on Toyota/Isuzu share in urban market with looks like that, so it's disappointing. The engine sounds interesting - 174 hp from 2.5l? Bet they used the French technology, not native Nissan's.

[nakhonsi sean]

I don't know about French tech. but 174 hp is about what most deisel cars get from that engine size these days. The 2 litre BMW pumps out around 165 hp. 3 itre engines 220-230 hp.

I would also like it to be good, don't realy care what it looks like as long as it drives decently. Would prefer to buy something other than the present crop, just to be different!

[Plus]

Japanese diesels are significantly less powerful - 3l toyota -163 hp, same as 3l Isuzu, Ford slightly less, Mitsubishi slightly more but from 3.2l.

Nissan has French Renault that makes diesels in Europe as partners - that's where they got the technology from, I think.