Nissan Nt400 Cabstar Swb Diesel 35.13 Dci Chassis Cab

Ten Second Review

It might be a little rough around the edges but you can't deny the Nissan NT400 is great at its job. An ultra-tight turning circle and good all-round visibility make it a dab hand at moving heavy loads into tight spaces. Likewise, the engine and gearbox can be found lacking on the open road but both are just what you need in the in the NT400's native urban environment.

Background

There's something refreshing about a vehicle that bypasses the airy-fairy stuff that's increasingly prevalent in the modern automotive industry. Nissan's NT400 has always been a prime example, a complete stranger to soft-touch materials, integrated control systems and retro design concepts. It's built to do a demanding job and if it assaults your eardrums and puts your breakfast through the spin cycle in the process, you'll just have get over it. The latest model was designed to be easier to live with but you just know it's still going to be a tough customer at heart. The qualities that make a product excel at one thing often make it borderline useless at something else. In the same way that you wouldn't use your iPod to stir your tea in the morning, you wouldn't try to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo across a ploughed field. You can have a highly evolved piece of design that's beautifully fit for purpose but take it away from its area of specialisation and it may start to flounder. Like the Lamborghini, a vehicle created for the express purpose of looking sexy and going quickly, Nissan's NT400 is built for a clearly defined role. Use it for moving dirty and/or heavy cargo over short distances in areas where space is at a premium and there's little to beat it. In some other respects it can seem a little uncouth.

Driving Experience

Power in the NT400 comes from one of two common-rail diesel powerplants. There are two engine outputs available - 130PS and 150PS. In all cases, power is directed to the rear wheels. The power outputs might look meagre on paper for a vehicle that can carry as much as 1,500kg but the NT400 isn't built for speed and its engines are tuned for torque. You get up to 350Nm pf pulling power and the torque curves are flat so the shove you need to get a fully-laden NT400 moving is on tap even at low revs. The engine is hard at work just below where you sit in the vehicle. It clatters and wheezes away in the background but noise levels aren't too bad at all. 1st and 2nd gears are very short to get you off the line and make sure the truck doesn't flounder on steep gradients but once you get the hang of it, you can spirit the NT400 along at quite a lick. It will lift an outside front wheel under hard cornering and you feel like you're going rather faster than you actually are with nothing but the windscreen in front of you but these factors can be put down as inbuilt safety features, encouraging hot shoe drivers to slow down a bit. The ride quality has improved on the NT400 in recent times thanksto revised independent front suspension, but don't get your hopes up. The experience on poor surfaces is now merely like riding a mechanical bull whereas the old model could have served as a training vehicle for those planning a crossing of the Southern Ocean by lilo. The rigid rear axle is partly to blame here but it does allow the NT400 to take those large payloads and the rear wheels put the engine's power down without any problems.

Design and Build

The first time you clamber up into an NT400, you find yourself with a lot to get used to. Many of the defining factors that make up the this Nissan's driving experience stem from its design as a forward control vehicle. A forward control vehicle is one with its steering rack positioned ahead of the front axle. This layout gives the NT400 a super-tight turning circle of 9.6m and positions the driver right at the front of the vehicle with an unrestricted view through the vast windscreen. This is great for easing the NT400 in and out of tricky situations but it also means that you're sitting on top of the axle and every imperfection in the road surface can seem like it's being transmitted through the heavy-duty suspension and straight up your spine. The NT400 is distinctive to look at with its flat front and those oddly tall light clusters. The dropside model we tested was very strongly built with robust catch mechanisms that allow any combination of side panels to be lowered for easier access when loading. The side indicators that stick out from the body on stalks were the only things around the exterior that seemed in any way vulnerable.

Market and Model

There's a wide range of models to choose from with short (2.5m), medium (2.9m) and long (3.4m) wheelbase versions available in chassis cab, dropside truck and tipper form. In addition to the standard single cab bodystyle, a six-seater double cab layout can be specified with the medium and long wheelbases. Standard equipment includes a driver's airbag, pretensioner seatbelts, a CD stereo and powered windows. Payload capacities range from 1,269kg in the short wheelbase tipper to 1,579 in the short wheelbase dropside model. The key alternatives if you want a vehicle with a similar blend of lugging power and manoeuvrability are Toyota's Dyna and Mitsubishi's Canter which is sold through Mercedes dealerships. Otherwise, buyers can look to open-backed versions of the leading panel vans which will be smoother and more refined on longer trips but won't be as nimble around town or as generally tough as an NT400.

By Steve Walker

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