The Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior: South Africa's latest double cab bakkie with attitude

South Africans have a special affinity for their bakkies and when they get some extra swank, we like them even more.

Toyota has their Hilux GR Sport, Ford the Wildtrak X, Isuzu an Arctic Truck conversion on their D-Max, Mitsubishi the Triton Xtreme and now Nissan has the Navara PRO-4X Warrior.

It was jointly developed with Premar, an Australian engineering consultancy and second-tier manufacturing company in a joint venture with the Pretoria-based AIH group.

The arrangement allows them to operate from the Nissan factory in Rosslyn, Pretoria by taking it off the production line and then adding the Warrior goodies to it. 

Exterior and interior

The exterior gets a more aggressive look with a blacked out grille, door handles, roof rack, side steps, 17-inch alloys under flares and red accents while inside the seats receive Warrior-banded black seats with red stitching.

The modified front bumper improves the approach angle by two degrees to 35 degrees with the departure angle still 27 degrees.

Under the skin

Most of the work though has been done to the suspension set-up.

It’s been upgraded to provide the Warrior with an increased ride height, improved springs and recalibrated dampers providing better wheel articulation.

With 275/65/R17 MAXXIS RAZR all-terrain tyres, the combination improves the ride height to 232mm over the standard PRO-4X’s 221mm and increases the track width by 30mm.

The rest of the Warrior is standard Navara fare.

Under the hood is a 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine with 140kW and 450Nm of torque coupled to a seven-speed automatic transmission with 4H, 4L and a rear difflock.

Inside there’s an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a configurable seven-inch driver assist display and dual-zone climate control.

It’s not the most modern cabin in the business but everything you need is there and it’s easy to operate.

Driving

The Nissan Navara is one of the most comfortable ladder frame bakkies on the market thanks to its multilink rear suspension, beefed up in the Warrior edition, as opposed to the more popular leaf spring configuration.

The Warrior has a slightly stiffer ride as a result of the modifications and while the engine outputs remain the same, the increased track and rolling resistance didn’t feel like it had any significant impact on its on-road performance.

Road noise from the all terrain tyres wasn’t intrusive at all either and in any case, if you’re looking to improve a 4x4s ability with tyre selection, there is always a compromise. 

Off-road

Our off-road drive was at a section of the Piesangkloof 4x4 Trail just outside Brits in the North West Province.

I’ve driven this trail a number of times in some capable 4x4s and the Navara Warrior is right up there with some of the best.

There were some gnarly washaways after the recent heavy rains in Gauteng and the track is renowned for its rocky inclines and steep steps.

In 4L and with the correct line we had no problem and only once did I engage the difflock, more as a precaution than really needing it.

It’s easy to see the obstacles in your path thanks to the camera’s offroad view and its bird’s eye view of where your wheels are.

When we get it on a test I’d like to take it back and see how it tackles the whole route that has some serious obstacles along the way.

Safety comes in the form of Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility suite, which includes forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, and an intelligent around-view monitor and a comprehensive airbag system, with side-impact and curtain airbags.  

Premcar also provides Nissan’s six-year/150 000km warranty on all Warrior-enhanced components and modifications.

Priced at R924,000 the Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior provides a refreshing and capable update to the range and it will be interesting to see how it performs against some stiff opposition.