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REVIEW: 79 SERIES REVIEW: LANDCRUISER
NAVARA ST
STRONGER FOR LONGER VIDEO
that was subtly different but not
poles apart.
Then in 2005, the name
was shared with the new D40
Navara, a completely new buggy
built either in Spain or Thailand
depending on the spec. Now
D40s copped a lot of criticism for
a whole bunch of reasons that I
could never fathom, as I’d owned
a couple of them and thought
they were a decent ute. On their
features list alone they were
impressive, and when you add
their purchase price, they made
a compelling buying proposition
compared to Hilux. For a long,
long time, Navara had the number
two ute sales position in this
country and a legion of fans, but
with the release of the D23 three
years ago, those fans deserted
It’s funny how things stick in
your mind, and one that’s been
rattling around inside my feeble
brain is the tune to that silly TV
ad Nissan called “Stronger for
Longer”. You’ll know the one,
a dad and son playing in the
savannah in a Navara in amongst
a herd of Wildebeest. Yep
Wildebeest. I bet we’ve all done
that before?
Well, it was as you’d expect all
done via CGI, so no Wildebeasties
were harmed in the making of the
ad, but it got me thinking what on
earth happened to Nissan’s ute
fortunes, going from consistent
runner-up to just an also-ran with
the now D23 (AKA NP300)?
The Navara nameplate has
been around for donkey’s years,
yet has never been able to light
up the sales charts compared
to Hilux, despite it being a better
value proposition and the Nissan
badge having had an equally
reasonable cachet for durability.
The old D22s shared with
Hiluxes of the day a similarly
functioning and equally asthmatic
indirect-injection method of
fuelling that was typical Japanese
practice and slow, so they were
equals there. Suspension design
wasn’t that dissimilar either with
a parallel evolution that ultimately
ended up with a leaf sprung rear
and an IFS in the modern style