Nissan Navara at home in the bush

There’s something empowering about sitting up high and mighty, dwarfing the other cars on the road.

Looking down on sedans, hatchbacks and even medium SUVs, sitting in the Navara N-TREK felt like being a reigning monarch hoisted up high by loyal subjects.

Ah, the view from above!

Of course, it’s totally unnecessary for regular commuters who don’t need to tow 3.5 tonnes or pile a tonne of tools and supplies in the back.

But given the specced-out insides and comfort of the ride, even hopping around the city was a pleasure.

Parking was not so much fun. But with cameras everywhere you get the hang of it pretty quickly, though the quality of the reversing camera was mediocre.

This version, the kitted-out N-TREK, was 1855mm wide (5cm bigger than standard) with a minimum turning circle rating of 12.4m and ran on a diesel twin turbo capable of getting out of sticky situations.

No racing through the roundabouts though.

And it was black. Paint, upholstery, sports bars, 18-inch black wheels, mirror caps, rear bumper and step, side steps and even front grille. There was an orange accent line on the steps, which proved handy at night.

And the sound system and comfort of the seats were well above normal “tradie” vehicle quality.

If you took it easy, the driving experience was a pleasure. Even around the suburbs, the suspension upgrades from previous models made it drive pretty much like a big car.

The claimed 7.0L/100km fuel figure is about as frugal as dual cabs get, though we struggled to get better than 10L/100km in the ’burbs.

The Navara’s good looks soon attracted the attention of a West sub-editor, The Pommy Pedant, who talked me into lending it to him and brought it back with plenty of good honest red dirt on it.

With a family of four on board, plus pushbikes in the tray, they made their way along the 20km corrugated red dirt track from Karragullen to the Mt Dale lookout.

It soaked up the potholes without fuss and the family loved the ease of the sat-nav while listening to the kids’ latest Spotify playlist.

The Pedant reports the rear seats are just wide enough for three child seats, but doing up the seatbelts would pose a serious challenge if one was a booster.

Fitting child seats was a simple affair, once he realised the top tethers must be attached to a webbing loop and not a traditional anchor point.

The tailgate opens with a simple key which splits apart from the keyless ignition fob, where it is neatly hidden.

The only drawback with this design is when you split the fob in two, it is the cheap and cheerful tailgate key that remains attached to your keyring, while the brains part of the fob can’t be clipped to anything.

Our Pommy friend was worried he might drop it in the bush.

For the tradie, this Navara is no pretender.

It has an 80-litre fuel tank, dual range 4X4 with electronic 4WD selection.

The extras in the N-TREK cost about $3700 on top of the ST-X, which is a bit steep unless you love the black trimmings.

VERDICT

Comfortable, well-equipped ute with pulling power.

NISSAN NAVARA

Variant N-TREK

Price $58,950

Engine 2.3-litre four-cylinder twin turbo diesel

Outputs 140kW/450Nm

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Thirst 7.0L/100km