NISSAN NAVARA 4X4 ST-X

Macca172
I have a Navara sep 03 model 3.0 TD STR ,,, Great vehicle, cheap to run , ,, ,tough as hell
I will advise you to the only fault ,,, its rough ride ,,
I believe Nissan has finally listened, and ( suposedly ) fixed the rear suspension
But thats in its Spanish Model,, the Japanese one ( like mine ) is still rough,, But I accept that ,, the Mrs hates the ride.
Have taken it up over the Simpson and she performed very very good, but tyre pressure ( 18 psi ) did the trick too,, and Cooper ATR tyres

Of course the first thing you might have to do is get rid of the " Turbo Lag ", done by taking it to a good garage with a Dyno Tuner ,,,, and dialing out all the flat spots ,, forget about those special chips that improve the power, just put it on the Dyno and that should fix the problem

I fitted " Poly Air Bags " to help it carry a reasonable load,, as I had problems with the over tight rear suspension ,, bottoming out with only 650kg's on it ..

Keep the above in mind, but get ong ,, they are great and versitile

Cheers Mate

Hi macca172,

I purchased my ST-R in May 03, so I guess you would call it a Series 1 model.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the vehicle, it does everything I want it to do and more.

I purchased my vehicle because I wanted a bulletproof car that I could take 4x4ing, tow almost anything, and still have some interior creature comforts.

It has all of the above, but the trade off of having a vehicle that can do the above is things like: - the suspension is a bit stiff, diesel engines a bit noiser than petrol, etc.

I was prepared to have these trade off's.

I can not understand why they want so much money for the new model navara, 50K seems a bit rich for a dual cab ute.

When I purchased mine in may 03, it was approx 40K, so how can the new model be that much better to demand an extra 10K.

If you can find a 2nd hand ST-R with less than 100,000kms on the the clock, then snap it up.

Even though I usually update cars every 4-5 years, I as a ST-R can see no reason to update to a newer model when I don't think I am getting good value for money with the newest model.

Please feel free to ask any specific questions relating to the ST-R if you want more info

Thanks

TonyG

I got one of the first ST-X 2.5 TD early in December, after having had a V6 Jackaroo and a normally aspirated 4.2 Patrol (all from new). The Navara makes them all look like slugs!. The performance is superb - it towed my 2.3 T Scenic from Vic to Sydney in 6th all the way, pulled up Macquarie Pass in 3rd and was pushing the cars, even with the van on the back. The comfort factor is better than any other with fully adjustable seats, 6 stack CD, air, cruise, electric everything. It has more space in the rear seats and tray than any of its competitors. The 6 speed manual is a pleasure to use and the fuel consumption is normally 9.2 l/100 km and increses to 12/100 when towing. Ride on the black stuff is no problem, but corrugations do tend to have the rear leafs bouncing a bit, but you don't normally notice it. Does not roll, even when cornering at high speeds. Off road (just done 300 kms in Vic high Country) the entry and exit angles are good, but being such a long wheel base it did tend to scrape lightly on some of the steeper washouts. Other than that it handled eveything as well as the Cruiser we were with, and a bloody site comfier, and more flexible.
In summary i am delighted with it - it really is everything and more that all the reviewers have said about it.
I am not one that believes in the fallacy of all these small engined diesels being a problem longer term. I think technology has advanced to the extent that the performance of these vehicles will start to see the demise of the larger more inefficient diesels. Besides most of the reports on the old 3.0 diesel were mates of a mate of a mate type!!.
Only one thing wrong with it Mack - it doesn't have BFG AT's on it!!!

We purchased a new ST-R 3.0 in Sep 2003. We sold the vehicle and updated to a Patrol Wagon in Feb 04, the navara only had 10,000 klms on the clock. I have recently been informed from the new owner that they had to replace the injector pump (35,ooo klm)which cost $7,000 in total and Nissan would not cover it under warranty as two of the services they did not use genuine parts.

Were having a similar problem now with our 3.0 Patrol we purchased, so it might pay to make sure the servicing etc has had genuine parts fitted.

Hope all goes well.

Thanks all, a wealth of information there! Im currenlty doing my sums for the extras I would wish to purchase. Genuine Nissan versus ARB or TJM, now there is another topic.

Once again thank you all, I will let you know what the final outcome is when I purchase the beast.