King of the off-road

“Warriors, come out to play!” The 2022 Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior is here and it beckons you to take it on adventure. Tall, draped in White Pearl and with rugged good looks, it’s probably not everybody’s ideal partner, but love is blind.

That’s especially so when you’re traversing a secluded off-road trail or getting some airtime over the golden sand dunes. Weighing in at an elephant sized 3,150kg and standing 1.85m tall, the Warrior is Nissan’s heavyweight contender.

Developed in conjunction with Premcar in Australia, the Pro-4X Warrior goes head to head with Ford’s Ranger FX4 MAX or perhaps even the Raptor X, and Toyota’s HiLux Rugged X. It’s an all-terrain explorer with intimidating features and factory decals.

Everything from a black stainless-steel double tube sports bar and red bash plate, to a light bar, black and red accents, and 17-inch PRO-4X specific alloys wrapped in all-terrain rubber complement the Warrior’s tough pumped fenders.

Driving through suburbia, the Warrior just feels like it’s longing for high-vis action or off-roading shenanigans. The PRO-4X flashes its twin turbo decals and draws looks wherever it goes.

If you listen carefully you can hear the wolf whistling coming from the local construction sites. Tough truck attractiveness aside, it’s really not designed to be a tradie truck, in fact it’s far from it.

And while the tray isn’t very impressive size wise, you can throw a fair few tools in if you need to. We reckon you’d be better off throwing the camping gear in though, and heading for the hills.

Inside, the leather accented PRO-4X seating (complete with embroidered logos) features 6-way driver and 4-way passenger adjustment up front. If family or communal transport duties are called for, the rear row at least gets cup holders and rear vents.

There’s a single USB charge point back there too (which may call for a stand-in referee when the fight breaks out over who is charging their device first). Rear seat room is good for two child seats or three adults (as long as they’re under 180cm tall).

Awards for luxurious comfort won’t be won by the Warrior, but it’s a straight forward tough truck, that’s no nonsense and built to rumble. Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, DAB+ digital and AM/FM radio are all on hand though.

The 8.0-inch Nissan Connect touchscreen infotainment system has Bluetooth for phone connectivity and audio as well, and there’s a decent satellite navigation setup. The factory 6-speaker sound system is surprisingly good too.

The 2022 Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior features a 2.3-litre intercooled twin turbo DOHC diesel powertrain, matched with a 7-speed automatic with manual mode transmission. It delivers 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque.

That’s plenty for your day to day needs or weekend ‘Warrior’ (pun intended) activities. While we secretly lust for the Nissan Patrol V8 to find its way under the hood, the powerplant is pretty decent, and will deliver 7.9-litres/100km in fuel economy terms.

The PRO-4X is not going to do wheel stands when you take off at the lights though, and in-fact the ‘Sport’ drive mode, like a lot of other cars, is kind of a novelty feature. It changes things up, but you aren’t going to be floored by a massive power increase.

In terms of driving experience, the steering feels stiff, and as a result it can be tedious when in tight spaces. The tilt-adjust only, leather accented steering wheel can be slippery too (sweaty palmers beware).

The suspension setup though is the result of some proper R&D, delivering outstanding feedback in most situations, but particularly when you get down and dirty off-road. The Warrior eats up bumps and divots so well that even your tiny people will stay asleep.

It excels in the natural environment, whether that’s climbing up a muddy embankment or taking on some hard sand beach driving, with handling and driveability excellent in such conditions. Here is where the 275/70R17 Cooper Discoverer AT3 tyres really shone too.

In pouring rain on the blacktop though, proper attention is required as the big ute can get a little friendly with slipperiness. The factory brakes don’t provide confidence either as we were genuinely worried they couldn’t pull up the Warrior tank because of its sheer weight.

Smallish brakes aside, the Navara has a 5-star ANCAP safety rating and is packed with a heap of safety technology, including moving object detection, intelligent driver alert, and vehicle dynamic stability control.

There’s seven airbags, parking sensors, an around view monitor and blind spot monitoring as well, but what’s missing is speed sign recognition, radar cruise control and a significantly better quality reversing camera would go a long way to making this the leading big ute.

Nissan have additionally added LED DRLs, headlamps and tail lamps, a tub liner, and a windshield that blocks heat and UV rays, for what is a reasonably impressive package overall. It’s available in Burning Red, Black Star, Stealth Grey or White Pearl.

It has a 3,500kg braked towing capacity and comes with Nissan’s 5-year unlimited kilometre warranty. While it’s not got all the bells and whistles you might expect for $67,490 (manual) and $69,990 (automatic) plus on-roads, that’s not the point.

That’s because here’s the thing; you’re buying the car for the lifestyle it offers. You’re not living in it; you’re living life with it. So if it’s for you, get the jet ski, boat, and dirt bikes ready, hook the trailer up to the factory tow bar, and hit the dirt in the PRO-4X Warrior.

You can find out more from Nissan’s dedicated Warrior by Premcar microsite, and we do of course recommend shopping around for a good deal. If you're in Australia, you can also visit a site like PriceMyCar for the best price.

Our test vehicle was provided by Nissan Australia. To find out more about the 2022 Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior, contact your local Nissan dealership.

Prices are Australian dollars. This story written by Jason Fernandez first published on Exhaust Notes Australia.