Skip to content

You are here: Home

Which 4WD?

If you're in the market for a new 4WD vehicle, here's our take on what we've driven lately...

Toyota Workmate 70 Series 2010

I reckon Toyota have got themselves into a bit of a bind with the 70 Series in the same way Land Rover did with the Defender. Because their audience doesn’t like change they’re stuck with a foot in the old camp and the other in the new.

The body, chassis and ergonomics on both vehicles are really pretty average (I can already hear readers crying foul with me comparing the Defender’s appalling interior with that of the Toyota… I concede that the 70 has had some evolution whereas the Defender barely any).

By retaining the same chassis design for around 20 years now, only changing the front springs to the current coil spring design, Toyota have been stuck with a narrow cab and a narrow track. In the cab-chassis and the wagon it’s really obvious and if you’re a big bloke there’s not a lot of elbowroom. The accommodation in the cab-chassis feels even worse because there’s so little cab length, so even sliding the seat right back still leaves you short of comfortable room to the steering wheel and pedals.

The troop carrier has a different feel, probably because of the higher pitch of the roof to accommodate the patrons perched on the bench seats in the back atop the wheelarches, but it’s still cramped.

Nissan Navara STX D40 2010

Navara The D40 Navara has been a very popular ute in this country and around the world since its release in 2006. In fact we were so enamoured with the D40 that we paid real money for one to act as our principal training vehicle and since that time it's clocked up nearly 140,000kms in some pretty hard terrain and with a demanding task as a demonstration vehicle, so we're in a pretty good position to report on the current model.

The platform is a good one, a powerful 2.5L 4 cylinder intercooled turbo-diesel with full electronics for fuel management including common-rail and direct injection (see our discussion on why diesels rock), this 2010 version pumps out 450Nm compared to our original offering of 403Nm. Torque is the key to vehicle motivation, the more you've got and available at lowish engine speeds the better, so the new D40 answers the criticisms sometimes heard of the superseded model. It's worth mentioning that if you've come from a petrol engined driving experience and you're stepping into a diesel for the first time you probably won't appreciate the benefits immediately, as there's a different way of driving them.

Firstly maximum mumbo arrives at 2,000rpm so your optimum gearshift points should be planned between 1,800-2,500rpm. A petrol engine often needs significantly more revs to really get going, typically 3,500-4,500rpm, so by comparison in the diesel you learn the art of short-shifts pretty quickly to ride that sweet seam of "phat" diesel torque. Fortunately the Navara has a sophisticated 16V top end and the torque will hang on past 3,500rpm, but more often than not you just don't need to rev it that hard, even when overtaking.