Nissan Navara owners share thoughts on their trucks

Six proud Nissan Navara owners were invited for a special interview session held by Tan Chong recently. The group was welcomed to share their experiences after having owned and lived with the D40 Nissan Navara for some years now. Also, to emphasise Nissan’s 80-year truck heritage, a classic Datsun GB120 and its owner was also present.

Richard Lum, an interior contractor and first-time truck owner, admitted that although the Navara wasn’t his first choice, eventually when he did settle on it, he had no regrets. “The commonrail diesel engine is very powerful,” Lum said. The 37-year old uses his vehicle for both work and leisure and in total, he has clocked in 180,000 kms on his Navara to date.

Having driven the truck to Thailand and back, he commented, “on the highway it is very stable.” Lum noted that the Navara was very reliable, having had no serious issues so far. He did say one of the downsides about owning a truck in general was the maintenance costs, “basically, the parts are on the high side compared to a normal sedan,” he said. In addition to that, he found the Navara to be a little too low compared to the competition.

Nurul Hakim, a business manager and a mother of four found the Navara to be “very practical”. She uses her truck to transport cargo as well as long-distance travel between Kedah and JB. Hakim, 33, says that her truck is solely for on-road use only, and has yet to try to venture off the beaten path. She also added that having previously owned a truck from a different brand, she found the Navara to have lesser problems.

Chan Kok Wai, a parts dealer, owned a Nissan Frontier before upgrading to a Nissan Navara SE. He has made minor modifications to his truck including a lid cover that can be lifted up to store axles, gearboxes and even engines. Chan, 39, not only uses his truck as a workhorse travelling between Perak, Terangganu and JB, but for leisure trips including camping and fishing. In total, he has clocked 300,000 kms. “It doesn’t feel like a truck, it feels like a sedan,” he said.

An adventurer at heart, Hassan Abdullah, 59, who prior to this owned a Nissan Frontier as well. Clocking in over 600,000 kms in total he’s travelled into most countries within the Indochina region. His latest trip after upgrading to a Navara was Thailand and then Laos. “Sometimes we go in a group, about 10 or 15 cars, it always ends up that the Navara is the most economical among all,” he said.

Jeff Yap, has modified his extensively. His hulk of a Navara is painted in green with the words “HULK” on his windscreen. His inspiration came from a modified Navara in South Africa, one he saw on the internet. A loyal customer to Nissan, Yap has owned two Sentras and a Nissan Terrano. The hulking truck has tweaks done to the engine, 15-inch rims wrapped with extreme off-road tyres. The next modification would be a new transmission imported from the US, according to Yap.

Student Maikel Sudharshn, owns a 1974 Datsun GB120 truck. The 22-year old, has spent over RM30k restoring the classic. Ordering “new old” stock parts inclusive of the new engine directly from Nissan Japan. A true classic truck enthusiast, Sudharshn’s GB120 won the Best Pick-up award at the 2015 Art of Speed.

With mostly positive comments at the interview, it looks like the twelfth-generation Nissan Navara will be a much-anticipated arrival. Already launched in Thailand, and recently spotted in Malaysia, we’re expecting it to make headlines quite soon, so stay tuned! In any case, we’ve driven it, read our test-drive report.

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