Nissan NP300 Hardbody Review – Double Cab 2.5 TDi Hi-Rider 4x4

And now for something completely different.

Well it is and it isn't, you see the new NP300 is many things, but hardly rebuilt from the ground up. Our test car comes with a snorkel and is immediately recognizable as a result - the Hi-Rider 4x4. It cuts a familiar profile and offers performance and capability that builds neatly on what comes before it – that’s several iterations over the Datsun Pickup lineage which began in 1955. So, well over six decades.

But what really differentiates the Hardbody in 2019 is its non-urban stance. Behold, with the Hardbody, Nissan gives us an anti-Navara. That's zero tinsel and chintz, avoiding the firm rides of the curb-hopping modern SUV clan and opting instead for a workhorse utility vehicle that can actually mix it up with properly capable 4x4 icons.

Nissan's Defender

It’s easier to think of it in the same way we regard the Land Rover Defender. That is, comically old, and retro, only because it hasn’t succumbed to Father Time. At R438,239 the flagship undercuts the cheapest double cab Navara (R484,900 for a 4x2, R567,900 for a 4x4) and for good reasons, the first of which being that 98kW/304Nm 2.5 litre turbodiesel engine.

It pulls well, makes for good noises but ultimately is an agricultural affair – truck-like and hell-bent on eating the environment with a carbon footprint measuring a world-killing 247g/km. And that’s the problem with legacy products in a ‘woke’ culture, but there’s a bigger problem here.

Safety, we have to talk about it

The Nissan NP300 Hardbody is a very selfish car. For selfish drivers who enjoy its rugged ride and retro living quarters, it is after all a very old thing by today’s standards. But sadly, this translates into far less than stellar safety standards.

Specifically, a Euro NCAP rating of no stars. None. And that's just not good enough for a sometimes-family-car. Sure, there's strong debate as to whether or not the safety levels of double cab workhorses (in this case one with a structure over 20 years old) should be subjected to the same kinds of testing as more modern family cars - but this is Mzansi where bakkies are life and this one puts yours in danger.

Okay, let’s wrap this

Personally I loved driving it, enjoying that sense of go-anywhere, anytime flexibility and capability. I even enjoyed piloting along national highways and suburbs where it stood out like a sore thumb.

The handling and suspension favoured the realm of roly-poly as opposed to road racer naturally, but it all added to the charm of what I still consider to be a loveable, capable truck. I just hope Nissan can give it the safety upgrade that Datsun successfully pulled off on the updated Go. Here's hoping.

Nissan NP300 Hardbody DC 2.5 TDi Hi-Rider 4x4 Specs: