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By Brian Afuang
NOW this is something we don’t see very often. In highlighting the
strengths of the Nissan Frontier Navara pickup, Universal Motors
Corp. (UMC), an assembler and distributor of Nissan light commercial
vehicles in the Philippines, on November 6 put the truck through a
series of acceleration runs and braking test—a “drag race,” as
UMC called it—to show the Navara deserves its billing as a
“sport-utility truck.”
“It’s the first pickup to top-bill a drag
race,” said UMC Executive Vice President for Marketing Elizabeth
Lee. “First with an automatic transmission. First with a six-speed
manual. And now the first to be tested as a real sport-utility
truck,” she said, referring to the Navara’s lineage.
To demonstrate what UMC said is “the
Navara’s class-leading performance ,” participants in the event
dubbed as the Nissan Navara Speed Run were challenged to drive the
truck in a 0-to-100-to-0kph sprint and brake test, a 50-meter run
over potholes and mounds and in a 80-to-100kph top-gear acceleration
test on Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City.
Lee expressed confidence the Navara passed the
tests with flying colors. “This is a sport-utility truck that can
take on all comers,” Lee said. “Pickups are not normally tested
to perform like sports cars. But through the Navara Speed Run, we
want to show you that the Navara has the soul of a sports car but
without the gas-guzzling side effect [sports cars cause],” she
said.
And at the sprint and brake test where we
participated, Lee’s claim definitely holds true. Driving a 4x2
variant that’s equipped with the six-speed manual transmission and
with three passengers on board, we managed to sprint to 100kph then
brake to a standstill in just a hair over 14 seconds. The race
driver, Pacho Blanco, who was with our group in the truck, did the
run in 13 seconds flat—tire squealing takeoff, ABS-engaging
braking, power-shifting and all. Also, the century mark was reached
at only the third gear, illustrating how much torque the Navara has.
Speed specs
Speaking of which, the Navara is powered by
2.5-liter DOHC, 16-valve, turbo-charged diesel engine that’s
fitted with a common rail direct injection system. UMC said this
engine puts out the highest specific output per liter of any other
pickup in its class: 144 horsepower at 4,000rpm in the 4X2 variant
and 174 horsepower at 4,000rpm in the 4x4 model.
In terms of torque rating, the Navara leads as
well. Fitted in the 4x2 model, the Navara’s engine makes 356
Newton-meters of torque at only the 2,000rpm mark and an extremely
robust 403 Newton-meters of torque (also at 2,000rpm) when it’s
shoehorned in the 4x4. With only 2.5 liters of displacement, UMC
said this allows the Navara excellent fuel economy.
“In the Navara, there is now a replacement for
displacement,” Lee said regarding the truck’s engine.
Along with the abovementioned close-ratio
six-speed manual, the Navara’s power plant can also be mated with
a five-speed automatic—again one gear more than usual.
“With either transmission, the buyer will not
be left wanting whether to quickly overtake another vehicle, merge
with traffic, or smoothly and silently traverse an expressway,”
Lee said.
Tough, safe backbone
Besides the Navara’s class-leading engine and
gearboxes, it also flaunts an eight-cross member ladder frame
chassis, which has two more cross members than other trucks have,
UMC said.
The company added that its decision to use eight
cross members instead of the traditional six was driven by Nissan
engineers’ desire to create an ultra-stiff platform that boasts of
“the structural rigidity of a battle tank.” The result is a
pickup with none of the on-road jitteriness common to trucks, while
off road, the Navara has the backbone to take on the toughest
terrain, UMC said. It added the truck’s stiffness helps the Navara
be a more responsive vehicle as none of the driver’s inputs are
lost in the body’s vibrations.
In terms of safety features, Nissan equipped the
Navara 4x4 with a limited slip differential, which is extremely
useful in ensuring traction on slippery terrain. ABS in all
variants, driver and passenger SRS airbags, side-impact beams, a
third brake light, rear defogger and front fog lamps round out the
list. UMC said the Navara’s rack-and-pinion steering system has
been tuned for responsiveness and gives the truck the accuracy and
refinement of a passenger car.
Clearly, in the Navara safety and speed go
together.
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