SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home. To read one of our road tests or launch reports, just select from the menu on the left.
* Please note that prices quoted are those in effect at the time the vehicle was tested
This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
A worthy successor to the “Champion of Africa”
“The 1400 was a grand little bakkie (pickup), but we promise not to keep you waiting 37 years on a replacement to its successor,” quipped Andy Palmer, VP in charge of Nissan Motor Limited’s light commercial vehicle unit at the launch of the new NP 200 in Pretoria, recently.
To get the obvious question out of the way: NP 200 simply means Nissan Pickup (with) GVM 2000 kg. Its actual gross vehicle mass is 1 890 kg, but let’s not be pedantic. The nomenclature carries over to the NP 300 announced a short while ago and will continue in similar vein with NV (van) models and others, in time to come. It is part of Nissan’s drive to standardise on naming protocols, so that fleet buyers worldwide will know that the vehicle they buy in Europe is the same as the one they use in South Africa, for example.
Aimed, like its predecessor, at small businesses and young buyers wanting a good looking and practical lifestyle vehicle, the NP 200 is a basic “half tonner” priced at R 88 900, a tiny cut above that of the outgoing “Champ.” For the additional R 400 you get a 1 600 cc engine, the biggest bin in its class (precoated with vinyl) additional in-cabin storage space and a payload capability of 800 kg.
The multipoint fuel injected, 1 598 cc 8 valve engine develops 64 kW at 5 500 rpm and 128 Nm of torque at 3 000 rpm. The lower three ratios in the five speed ‘box are geared for pulling power and acceleration, while the upper two are for refinement and economy.
Standard features include power steering, rubberised load box with protective trim on the upper rails and 14 lashing points, bucket seats with cloth upholstery and height adjustable headrests, body coloured bumpers with a step on the rear and a rev counter. A radio system is available as an optional extra. Wiring and aerial are already in place – just add your choice of sound equipment.
Excellent front and rear visibility, a commanding driving position and good ergonomics make the cabin comfortable and user friendly. Stowage areas are placed throughout the cabin with a glove box, door bins and cup holders all easily at hand. Tipping the driver’s seat forward accesses a sizeable open space behind the seats. This is ideal for smaller items such as toolboxes or other valuables that can be stashed out of sight, while freeing up the load bed for heavy and bulky loads.
Two interior hooks on the rear bulkhead provide places to hang work clothes while there is also a net for holding small objects in the middle of the partition, behind the seats.
The rear window is fitted as standard with a double-barred partition than can be reinforced with a safety hoop with load restraint in order to protect the cabin against load intrusion from any heavy or dangerous objects loaded in the bin.
On the road, suspension is comfortably firm, steering is positive and direct and the overall experience is very pleasant. Performance in the lower three gears is satisfying, but progress in the upper two is strictly “cruise mode,” however.
Seventy-three percent of half tonners are used as basic business vehicles or entry-level lifestylers. As such, this new pickup is hard to beat. Buyers looking for more power, air conditioning, sound equipment, ABS braking and other refinements have only to wait until April 2009, when two additional trim- and equipment levels become available.
The basics
Price: R 88 900
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Anti corrosion warranty: 6 years
Service intervals: 15 000 km
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport, so barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed by me is given my own personal evaluation and receives my first-hand seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to in order to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and visit to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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This site is operated by Scarlet Pumpkin Communications in Pietermaritzburg.
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are courtesy of www.quickpic.co.za
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8