Nissan Reviews

There were versions of this car with a CVT rather than a conventional automatic. And, over time, that CVT has proven itself to be a bit of a problem for some owners. Refusing to drive in one (or both) direction is a sign that there’s something pretty major wrong inside the transmission, so a visit to a transmission specialist should be your first move.

But don’t drive the vehicle any farther if you can help it, as you may be doing more damage by doing so. And don’t rule out something simple like low transmission fluid level or even a problem with the electronics that select each gear.

You might be dealing with a broken engine or transmission mount that is allowing the driveline to `flop about’ when it’s running. The looseness is allowing the small vibrations from the engine to turn into big vibrations that are causing the exhaust to hit something it shouldn’t be. Perhaps the engine is running rougher than usual, at which point you need to look into its tuning.

But, equally, you could be looking at a simple rubber exhaust mount that has either broken or jumped ship, allowing the exhaust to flail around under the car. You really need to get the car on a hoist and look underneath to see what’s loose and what’s not where it should be. A good mechanic should be able to pin point the noise (and its cause) pretty quickly.

The simple answer? There are probably better alternatives. While the Nissan Navara of this era was very popular when brand-new, these days, many of them are getting pretty long in the tooth and are beyond economical repair. Throw in the fact that they weren’t the longest-living ute in the world, and you can see how you might wind up with a donkey if you’re not lucky.

Some of the Navara’s problems come from the way it was typically used, combined with its design. The radiator, for instance, hung under the bottom of the chassis, so it was pretty vulnerable off-road. But even the basic design of the engine and transmission mean that problems like clutch failures and rattling, worn out turbo-diesel engines at 160,000km are a reality.

Better options? Things like the Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton and, of course, the Toyota HiLux all have been reputations in the trade.