2018 Nissan Navara ST-X

By Alex Forrest

Nissan has given its Navara ute its third update in four years, and you could look at that in two ways. 

The glass-half-full view would be Nissan is very keen to ensure it has a viable product to compete against the big players in this market, being the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger.

The biggest changes have been to the steering and the coil spring rear suspension.  

When this generation Navara was first launched in 2015, its rear coil spring suspension was a first for the mainstream twin cab ute sector. Unladen, it rode well, but with some weight in the back the handing became somewhat less controlled. 

As a result it was revised in 2016 with some new dampers, which improved it but not completely.

This latest Navara was launched in February 2018 with far more extensive changes to the rear underpinnings. 

In particular, this Navara  gets dual rate rear springs, meaning the springs are relatively soft when the ute is unladen, and get stiffer as the spring is compressed, such as when carrying cargo and towing. 
  
The previous Navara’s ‘dynamic rebound damper’ bump stops were retained for this revision.

On most vehicles bump stops are small, solid rubber items designed to absorb energy when the suspension reaches the end of its travel.

On the Navara, they are larger and play more of a role in controlling the suspension travel, which Nissan says also helps reduce lateral body movements and improve the Navara’s handling and stability.

We tried the Navara with a number of different rear tray loads and a couple of trailers. It was definitely better controlled than previous iterations and more so than some leaf-sprung rivals. 

There are also fewer turns of the steering wheel from full left to full right and vice versa. Where the previous Navara required 4.1 turns lock-to-lock, the new one only needs 3.4 turns. 

This has made the vehicle feel more responsive to steering inputs and easier to manoeuvre.

With safety tech upgrades including a 360-degree camera system on the ST-X models, this new Navara is not just better at being a serious workhorse, it’s also a safer family hauler.