Faults:

Replaced driver's seatbelt.

Rear spring shackle bushes.

General Comments:

The Navara has been brilliant work vehicle, no problems as yet. Was bought ex lease with a full service history, and since then have replaced oil every 5000km and filter every 10,000km.

Powerful diesel engine great for towing. Good fuel economy.

The ride is quite bumpy when empty, but does improve with more weight in the back.

Rear seating is quite cramped (I have a double cab version), but is adequate for 2 adults if not too tall.

Fairly ordinary sound from the factory stereo.

The paint work does seem to mark fairly easily, as some other reviewers have commented.

The Navara still serves me very well, and over the last 80,000km I have had to spend practically no money, other than routine servicing costs.

No hesitation in recommending to anyone.

Faults:

Virtually nothing.

General Comments:

Original suspension was dreadful and unbalanced front to rear. Unless heavily loaded it had a lot of trouble on corrugated roads and corners. I replaced the suspension with after-market equipment and now it is much better.

This is a dual-cab, but rear, but there's not much room for rear seat passengers who are better off with very short legs. Excellent fuel echonomy, better than 10 liters/100km. Air conditioning has no trouble with very hot days (45C).

Low gear is too high for serious off-road work, but vehicle is still very capable in the rough.

Faults:

This car has been fautless since we bought it, we put the 36 000km on it in 4 months.

Needs some shock absorbers though.

General Comments:

The 36 000 km were put on it in 4 months, that was a couple of years ago, the car is hardly driven now as we have a company car.

As you can see with the full marks this is an excellent work Ute/ family car (it's a Dual cab).

Faults:

The original Nissan dealer I bought it from in Ipswich (Brisbane) had abyssmal customer service ethics, or lack thereof. After 3 trips back for the same problem (a misaligned wheel, which had the tyre 'screeching' around corners from the day I took delivery) the whole tyre was scrubbed out after 7,000 km of travel. The dealer rudely refused to help, and I have since taken all the service business to a dealership on the other side of town. Even though it's a chore, I get some satisfaction that the previous dealer won't see another dollar from me.

The quality of the finish on the syleside tray is terrible. It is obviously painted in a different location or method to the cab. The paint is thin and scratches incredibly easily. After only 6 months general use, I had to get the tray resprayed inside and out. As it is due to be repainted yet again, 2 years later I have decided to replace it with an aluminium after market tray.

General Comments:

Engine and gearbox are great. Heaps of power. If you need a work ute it would be worth considering. For a daily driver round town I'd think twice.

Handling is very average on road and passable off road. My wife still doesn't mind driving it to the shops (where it picks up a new dent or scratch every single trip, due to its tinny finish), and its reasonably comfortable at normal speeds on good roads.

According to car reviews the new models have sorted out the handling issues, I have yet to drive one. To be honest I wouldn't be buying another one, I'd get the turbo diesel hilux for the better finish and resale value.

Having said that, for the money, I believe the Navara was an "OK" buy. It was happy on our one trip to the beach. It hasn't got great approach and departure angles and is a bit 'plastic' but it will get around bush tracks OK.

Rather than lose money on their poor resale, I decided to keep it as my long term work vehicle, but only because I have to : (

Faults:

Nothing, but it's a bit slow.

General Comments:

Have a cup of tea while you're waiting to get to the top of the hill.