prospective Navara owner

[offroad23]

Hi all thanks for having me.
I have been spending much time lately researching on the net for my coming purchase of a 4x4. I will be doing a fair bit of travelling around Aust so the thing should get a fair bit of offroad use and I would want to keep it for a while.
For a variety of reasons I reckon the Navara D40 was made for me. However, I have been put off more than a bit and concerned over the bad reports, delays in fixing problems and poor dealer service, timing chains,etc etc. Having owned numerous Fords I am accustomed to crap from dealers, but the problem reports for this model are incredible, almost as bad a Range Rover.
I know that there surely must be plenty of happy owners out there too, but I don't want to buy a lemon. I must say I think the Mitsu Triton appears to be an excellent vehicle, but the twin cab models to me are plain ugly. (matter of taste)
Anyhow, I will be keenly reading bits from this site to learn more.

Any comments from anyone able to further advise me would be very much appreciated.
l

 

[KraftyPg]

Welcome Offroad

As stated in many posts previous, bad news always travels quicker and further than good news. The D40 is a well suited and well brought vehicle and yes like every other vehicle on the road they have had problems but problems arise from many and varied different issues, some warranty some misuse. Dealers are similar, some fail due to a lack of useful functions and others excel because they got the extras fitted, neither reason is really enough to turn away from a make or model.

You'll find there are a large number of D40 owners on here who are happy with their ride, sure they might make a few bitches now and again about things like DPF's, recalls and the like but most of them are still happy. Also take into account that despite the large number of members to this or any other site we are still a small minority of the actually owners on the road so even if every D40 owner here had a gripe that still doesn't mean all D40's are crap.

On this forum you'll find plenty of biased and unbiased information, some is proven, some is just internet theory but in general most of the reports are fairly reasonable when it comes to reliability and usability of these utes and most users are honest about their experiences, but above all you'll also find many happy to try and assist with potential problems rather than just bag out people for their choice.

 

[ozlauterbacher]

Very well said Krafty. I have had my D40 for three years and the only problem I have had is a leaking Air Conditioner hose that wet the front passengers floor. Apparently this was a problem accros the board and was fixed without any fuss at all. Can't wait for my new V6.

 

[NavaraD22]

I've had my D22 since about September and have been very pleased with it. I've had a few minor issues such as leaky diff and poor workmanship by nissan, but overall I do like the Nav.

Make sure you check absolutely everything when you go to pick it up. Check all accessories are in perfect shape and fitted correctly. Also make sure the wheel alignment is good. Insist they fix any issues immediately.

 

[offroad23]

thanks for the replies and info, I'm going to organise a drive soon and do some talking with the sales people.
D22 would probably fulfill my needs too but I need an auto as wife only drives auto, it seems a fair buy for the money.
From the reading I've done there seems to be quality (& other) issues with this vehicle (D40), might have something to do with where it is made, but I think I'm going to get my arse in one pretty soon. New Ford Ranger looks great, but it'll be too expensive and I don't want to wait that long.
I think the wise move is to get extended warranty and pay the higher servicing costs to keep the warranty up. For me it's a second vehicle and will only do about 10,000k per year.
Yep, like it a lot. (I had a Nissan Z once but serviced it myself and never got involved with Nissan)
Thanks again.

 

[KraftyPg]

Good luck with the bargaining and purchase offroad, I'm sure like the majority of us you'll be happy with your purchase.