Nissan Navara vs Volkswagen Caddy 5

What's the difference?

The Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior is a purpose-built adventure vehicle and it’s ready for action as is.

It drives nicely on-road – making those long necessary road-trip days on bitumen less of a chore – and is impressively capable off-road.

Buyers benefit when companies such as Premcar complete top-quality conversion work on vehicles with their design, development and testing undertaken in Australia and all of that work and the fitment of accessories are then covered by a comprehensive warranty.

There will always be 4WD enthusiasts who prefer to cherry-pick their own aftermarket accessories for their off-roader – because researching and hunting is a lot of fun. But there will also be just as much demand for the convenience of adventure-ready 4WDs that are capable of being driven straight out of a car dealership and into the Simpson Desert.

And the Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior is one of those vehicles.

The VW Caddy Cargo feels sporty and is undeniably fun to drive with its lively engine and responsive handling. But that doesn’t detract from its light workhorse capabilities.

Given the choice, we’d prefer the TDI320 turbo-diesel’s superior torque, payload and fuel economy, but for $2000 less this turbo-petrol version with enhanced safety still has plenty of appeal for small van buyers.

This is the coolest and toughest Navara on the mainstream market.

The Warrior is 1895mm high, 1920mm wide, 5350mm long (with a 3150mm-long wheelbase) and has a listed kerb weight of 2298kg.

It is taller than a standard Navara, with 40mm more ground clearance than its Pro-4X stablemate and the wheel track has been extended by 30mm (from 1570mm to 1600mm) giving it an aggressive posture.

The bullbar, eye-catching red steel bash plates, wheel arch flares, chunky Cooper Discoverer All Terrain AT3s and black stainless-steel double tube sports bar with sail panel all add to that tough appearance.

Our SWB test vehicle has a 2755mm wheelbase and compact 4500mm length.

Its front-wheel drive chassis, which shares some architecture with the iconic Golf sedan, rides on simple but robust MacPherson strut front suspension, a coil-spring beam rear axle and four-wheel disc brakes.

With electric power-assisted steering, it has an 11.4-metre turning circle (larger than we expected) and load access is through asymmetric rear barn-doors and a kerbside sliding door.

The dash has a clean and minimalist look given that most functions including heating/cooling are controlled via the central touchscreen, which, like a phone, can be fiddly and therefore distracting while driving.

However, it does at least retain traditional rotary dials for audio volume and radio tuning.

The moulded composite bulkhead between cabin and cargo bay, with its mesh-protected central window, is effective as a cargo barrier and in minimising noise from the load area.

However, it appears Volkswagen has also fitted noise-absorbing fixtures over the rear wheel housings, which combined with the bulkhead, create civilised cabin acoustics.

Even so, tyre noise can still be intrusive at highway speeds on coarse bitumen surfaces.

Inside the cabin, the new updated dash – with an easy-to-use 8.0-inch multimedia screen, which has wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – is the focal point.

The cabin is a well designed space, a neat combination of nice materials and good build quality. But even with leather accents, ‘Warrior’ branding and other nice touches, the cabin feels a bit old and a little smaller and squeezed for space inside than some rivals.

The driver's seat is eight-way power-adjustable, but the front passenger seat is four-way manually adjustable – and that’s disappointing in a circa-$71,000 vehicle.

There are plenty of storage spaces, cupholders, bottle holders and receptacles in which to place your everyday carry gear.

There’s a USB-A charge point in the console tray, and a USB-A and a USB-C in the centre console proper, as well as a 12V outlet in the console tray and one in the centre console.

The seats are quite comfortable and though some people might whinge about them being undersized I reckon they’re okay.

The rear seat, while comfortable enough, is really the realm of two adults only or three children. It’d be a bit squeezy for three adults.

There is a fold-down armrest with cupholders, as well as bottle holders in the doors, map pockets on the seat-backs, directional air vents but only one USB-A charging point on the back of the centre console.

Get ready for the teenage arguments over that!

The Caddy’s 1433kg tare weight and 2150kg GVM result in a 717kg payload rating.

Up to 100kg can be legally carried on the roof, where external anchorage points covered by protective caps are provided for installing roof racks or rails.

It’s also rated to tow up to 1500kg of braked trailer but VW does not publish a GCM (Gross Combination Mass) rating, so we don’t know how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time.

The versatile cargo bay, which offers 3.1 cubic metres of load volume, is 1797mm long, 1614mm wide and 1272mm high. With 1230mm between the wheel housings, it can carry either a single 1165mm-square Aussie pallet, one 1000 x 1200mm Euro 3 pallet or two smaller 800 x 1200mm Euro pallets.

All can be loaded through the rear barn-doors, with 180-degree opening for easy forklift access. The sliding side-door’s opening is only 695mm, partly due to intrusion of the bulkhead, so kerbside access is only for smaller items.

There are six load anchorage points and even though the cargo bay’s walls and doors are lined to mid-height, there’s no protective floor covering, which we would recommend to avoid unsightly dents and scratches. There’s also bright LED lighting and another handy 12-volt outlet.

Driver and passenger have plenty of cabin storage with large bottle holders and bins in each door, dashboard bins, a large glove box, full-width overhead storage shelf and a centre console offering four open storage nooks and dual small-bottle/cupholders.

The Cargo range offers eight variants (10 if you include the Crewvan) with a choice of petrol or diesel engines, manual or auto transmissions and two wheelbase lengths comprising Standard (SWB) and Maxi (LWB).

Our test vehicle is the Cargo SWB, equipped with a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic for a list price of $39,990.

Externally you get a no-frills workhorse designed for hard work, with ample dark grey plastic in the usual places where bumps, scrapes and wear occur, including the bumpers, door handles and door mirrors.

However, at least there are silver plastic wheel covers (easy to replace if damaged) to add some bling to its robust 16-inch steel wheels and 205/60R16 tyres, with a full-size spare.

There’s also work-focused rubber flooring in the cabin as you’d expect, which is in stark contrast to numerous creature comforts you might not expect like keyless start, height/reach adjustable leather-rimmed steering wheel, adjustable lumbar support on both bucket seats, heated door mirrors, a reversing camera, rear parking sensors and separate cabin/cargo bay locking.

There’s also standard wireless smartphone charging, two 12-volt accessory outlets and a pair of USB-C ports, plus a four-speaker multimedia system with 8.25-inch colour touchscreen and multiple connectivity including Apple and Android devices.

However, in stark contrast to this tech, there’s no AM radio band. Go figure.

The Pro-4X has the Navara line-up’s 2.3-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo-diesel engine, which produces 140kW at 3750rpm and 450Nm at 1500-2500rpm.

That's okay because that engine and auto work really well together, yielding more of a subdued, quietly effective partnership than an exciting one.

This ute has a part-time four-wheel drive system with high- and low-range 4WD, and a rear diff lock.

The spirited and economical 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine produces its maximum 84kW across a 1500rpm-wide power band between 4500-6000pm.

Torque enjoys similar band width as its 220Nm is served at full strength between 1750-3000rpm, which showcases this little engine’s impressive flexibility.

The seven-speed dual-clutch automatic offers three drive modes comprising Drive, Sport and Tiptronic; the latter for manual-shifting using the steering wheel-mounted paddles. There’s also an electronically-controlled automatic locking diff.

Fuel consumption is listed as 8.1L/100km on a combined cycle. 

Fuel consumption on this test was 9.9L/100km. That’s fine considering we included a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing during this test’s hours-long off-road section.

The Warrior has an 80-litre fuel tank, so, going by those fuel-consumption figures I’d expect an effective touring range of about 778km, but remember that figure includes a built-in 30km safe-distance buffer.

That's a fair travelling distance for a contemporary dual-cab ute, but keep in mind that your fuel-consumption will be higher than that because you'll be carrying a lot more gear than we had onboard during our test.

That included vehicle-recovery equipment, a portable air compressor, tool bag, puncture-repair kit, a tyre deflator as well as food and water.

VW claims an official combined figure of 6.2L/100km and the Caddy’s dash display was claiming 7.2 at the end of our 252km test, of which about one third was hauling its maximum payload.

After crunching the numbers from tripmeter and fuel bowser readings, our own figure was very close to the Caddy’s at 7.4L/100km.

So, based on our figures, you could expect a ‘real world’ driving range of around 670km from its 50-litre tank using 95 RON fuel.

A maximum five-star ANCAP rating applies to all Cargo variants built from July 2022.

The Caddy Cargo offers numerous safety features headlined by seven airbags and AEB, along with new MY23 upgrades comprising 'Lane Assist' and 'Front Assist'.

Lane Assist operates above 60km/h to provide steering correction when the vehicle appears to be leaving the lane without the driver using the turn signal.

Front Assist detects cyclists/pedestrians plus oncoming traffic when turning at an intersection and can apply autonomous braking to avoid a collision.

There’s also a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, daytime running lights, non-adaptive cruise control, a driver fatigue alert system and more.

The Navara range is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and capped price servicing. That’s adequate in terms of years, not the best, but the unlimited km factor is in its favour.

Service intervals are set for 12 months or 20,000km. Capped price servicing is available for up to six years, with prices ranging from $574 for the first service through to $916 for the sixth service. The annual average is $703.50. Not particularly cheap.

The Volkswagen Caddy Cargo is covered by a five year/unlimited km warranty with 12 months roadside assist.

Scheduled servicing every 15,000km or 12 months whichever occurs first.

Total capped-price servicing for five years/75,000km is $3142, or a pricey average of $628 per year.

However, VW offers an upfront five-year care plan that represents a $1492 saving (that’s almost 50 per cent) for the same service period.