NO COMPROMISE!

IS NISSAN’S LATEST NAVARA WARRIOR A TRUE ALTERNATIVE TO FORD’S RANGER RAPTOR? WE GET THEM BOTH DUSTY TO FIND OUT

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

FORD set the standard for factory settled 4x4 utes set-up to take on rough roads, and few companies have been able to produce a worthy rival to it. Nissan did it best with its Navara N-Trek Warrior and we’re thankful the brand has continued the trend with its latest iteration, the PRO-4X Warrior.

Like the N-Trek, the PRO-4X was handed over to Melbourne-based engineering firm Premcar for its chassis and suspension set-up, plus a styling package to make sure the Navara looks the performance part.

We hit some dusty tracks to see if it lives up to the Warrior badge and brought a Raptor X along for giggles. The Navara PRO-4X Warrior starts at $67,490 with a manual gearbox, or $69,990 with the auto like this test car.

POWERTRAIN & PERFORMANCE

AS Ford did with its Ranger Raptor, Nissan has left the drivetrain of the Navara PRO-4X alone in the Warrior transformation. That means the standard 2.3-litre, bi-turbo, four-cylinder diesel engine still rumbles under the bonnet where it makes a healthy but modest 140kW and 450Nm.

While these power and torque figures can’t match the best four-cylinder engines in the class such as the 500Nm engine in the Ranger Raptor, the Navara does benefit from being lighter than the bigger Ford. In fact, the Raptor is considerably heavier than a regular Ranger, while the Warrior remains closer to the Navara ST-X in mass and is around 180kg lighter than the Raptor.

This lighter weight transfers to improved performance both when you put your foot down and at the diesel pump. The Warrior is still no rocket ship but it gets along reasonably well for a one-tonne ute and doesn’t disappoint.