Considering a NP300

marsie · Jan 14, 2018

My 2007 D40 is away in spain getting its chassis sorted and i have been loaned a brand new NP300 tekna. It has got me thinking about our current fleet. We currently have

2007 D40 outlaw- for work
2011 BMW X5 40d- for posh and previous holidays
2016 Mini Cooper JCW 5 door -missus's car

Last summer we had another child (making a total of 4! varying from 7 months to 21 years old). Since we have had him the mini gets very little use and my wife is using the X5 more and more due to having a bit more space

So i am considering selling the mini, selling the D40 buying a newer NP300 (with canopy) ,letting the missus have the X5 and cutting down to 2 cars (will be a bonus when our 17 year old decides she also wants a car!!)

That way i can use the navara everyday for work but also have a large useful 4x4 when we go on holidays to the snow (usually me, missus, 14y/o, 16y/o and baby+luggage and baby clobber)

In the past i have had a Discovery 4 for this purpose but it seems a waste having a car stood on the drive that only gets used for its full potential for maybe 5-6 weeks per year and weekends. Especially when i could combine my work car with holiday/weekend car?

Do any of you use your NP300 as a family/work car and do you consider it a serious rival for plush SUVs?
If i was to do it, i would have to get a tekna just so i felt like i hadn't been short changed after being used to Discoveries/range rovers
Thanks in advance
Paul

42618 · Jan 14, 2018

marsie said:
My 2007 D40 is away in spain getting its chassis sorted and i have been loaned a brand new NP300 tekna. It has got me thinking about our current fleet. We currently have

2007 D40 outlaw- for work
2011 BMW X5 40d- for posh and previous holidays
2016 Mini Cooper JCW 5 door -missus's car

Last summer we had another child (making a total of 4! varying from 7 months to 21 years old). Since we have had him the mini gets very little use and my wife is using the X5 more and more due to having a bit more space

So i am considering selling the mini, selling the D40 buying a newer NP300 (with canopy) ,letting the missus have the X5 and cutting down to 2 cars (will be a bonus when our 17 year old decides she also wants a car!!)

That way i can use the navara everyday for work but also have a large useful 4x4 when we go on holidays to the snow (usually me, missus, 14y/o, 16y/o and baby+luggage and baby clobber)

In the past i have had a Discovery 4 for this purpose but it seems a waste having a car stood on the drive that only gets used for its full potential for maybe 5-6 weeks per year and weekends. Especially when i could combine my work car with holiday/weekend car?

Do any of you use your NP300 as a family/work car and do you consider it a serious rival for plush SUVs?
If i was to do it, i would have to get a tekna just so i felt like i hadn't been short changed after being used to Discoveries/range rovers
Thanks in advance
Paul

My biggest gripes with the NP300 is its thirst for AdBlue, my np300 consumption is around 1 litre for every 150ish miles, the other is the poor quality rear springs, any weight in the back and the suspension is right down, I've had to fit Helper Springs to compensate.

Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk

landmannnn · Jan 14, 2018

I think you have hit on the very reason that double cab pickups are so popular. Without doubt the dual purpose nature of our vehicles means we can work and play with one, not two vehicles, the compromise being even a fully specced pickup isn't a substitute for a premium SUV.

Jem · Jan 14, 2018

My NP300 (euro 5 no adblu) gets used as my work truck (I'm a field engineer) but also as our main family vehicle.

My wife, daughter (2yo) and I use it for family holidays and general running about as my fuel is fully expensed by work.

My wife also has a Mito, but that only gets used for the supermarket when I'm in work.

Both my wife and I love driving my truck, and find the interior pretty nice. Mine is the Tekna.

Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse brevity and mistakes.

TJ16 · Jan 14, 2018

We use our pickups as family vehicles. We have a lower spec n-connecta but still pretty nice, very comfortable and a good compromise vehicle for us as we can't fit any more vehicles on drive!

Rather than repeat all my gripes and likes again probably best if you just read the blog I started about our truck. It is a bit barren at the mo as only had our NP300 for two months. It will grow over time

https://np300navara.wordpress.com/

Initially, despite my wife loving the Navara, I had reservations because it was not as nice to drive as my B2500 that I'd had for ten years. However it is growing on me each week and there are many things that are better on the NP300 than the B2500 (fuel economy and ride comfort) which are making up for the main negatives (naff gearbox/gearchange).

In our experience pickups tend to be cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, cheaper to insure, more reliable and easier/cheaper to modify than equivalent sized SUV's. We have run them for decades as family cars in addition to working use. Can't say I've ever really missed anything a posh SUV could offer but then my wife and I drive classic leaf sprung Land Rovers as daily drivers so anything newer than 1985 is pretty posh

Jem · Jan 14, 2018

TJ16 said:
Rather than repeat all my gripes and likes again probably best if you just read the blog I started about our truck. It is a bit barren at the mo as only had our NP300 for two months. It will grow over time

https://np300navara.wordpress.com/

Probably worth adding your link to your signature.... if you're struggling, I can do it for you. :thumbleft:

quavey · Jan 14, 2018

I use my NP300 for work, however its used to convey me and light IT equipment to and from customers in my job as as service engineer, the vehicle actually doesn't do any work at all. Since having the NP300 I've cut this back to around 35k a year and its pretty good at this role. On occasion my other half has come with me for the day with our little boy. For such a large vehicle I can't believe how little interior room there is, I would say you will struggle using it for 3 children but then if you still have the X5 you'll be OK.

I also have a Supercharged Range Rover for the weekends/as a family car. The NP300 is not a rival in any shape or form other than ironically its handling is better (But then the L322 is 10 years old!). Performance, comfort, equipment, build quality, NVH etc but then we are comparing what was once an £80,000 to a £20,000 vehicle. It is of course better on fuel, but only if you drive the NP300 with utmost care and keeping the speed below 70mph will you see 35mpg. If you drive with some enthusiasm you'll be down to late 20's on the NP300 where the 400bhp Range Rover will return 21mpg if driven in a similar way.

(Note, driving with enthusiasm in the NP300 is about as slow as you can go in the S/C!).

For me, its better than any van on the market, its comfortable and fairly quiet, I can do 500 miles in a day in it and still walk so that's pretty good. Although its fuel economy is OK, I do find it slightly disappointing that its so far from the MFR figures. I remind my self regularly that its a commercial vehicle, I suppose it depends on your expectations!

TJ16 · Jan 14, 2018

Jem said:
Probably worth adding your link to your signature.... if you're struggling, I can do it for you. :thumbleft:

LOL, I'll add it at some point, thanks Jem. Not much on there right now. Will be more interesting stuff come summer when I get the lift, big tyres etc fitted. TBH, most of time I'm on my phone and the sigs etc aren't visible so I tend to forget about them.

marsie · Jan 14, 2018

Thanks guys, i have had various double cab pick ups over the years(rangers/hilux invincible,defenders etc) but have never really considered any as a serious replacement for my previous range rovers (supercharged 4.2/5.0 and 4.4TDV8 )/discoveries due to the choppy ride. But when i was given the new NP300 a few weeks ago, for the first time i thought-i could live with this every day!! Although its no SUV, the ride is way better than any of the leaf sprung pick ups i have owned in the past

To be useful it would have to have a canopy fitted, and be a specced up model to at least take the edge off not having a plush SUV anymore (although we would still have the X5-for a while at least). The tekna i currently have on loan is reasonably well specced and even has some goodies my range rover didn't like keyless entry. I suppose the other big selling point of the Navara is that i can offset some of the cost through my business

Fuel economy isn't too much of a concern as because of the cars i have owned in the past i consider anything over 25mpg to be excellent. The NP300 i have at the mo usually shows average mid 30s and even 43(once!) so i can live with that.

To be honest, i think i have (with your help) made my mind up

Anyone want to buy a 2016 mini :grin2:
Paul

marsie · Jan 15, 2018

craig.cannon@avnet.com · Jan 15, 2018

Hi, we went from a Discovery 4 as our every day car to a 66 plate NP300. The reason we changed was to accomodate our gundogs, and i have to say I don't miss the discovery at all! The NP300 has proven to be a great everyday car, taking us all over the country in relative comfort. It's a great car and having a 5 year warranty makes it more enjoyable to drive than the discovery!

marsie · Jan 15, 2018

Thanks Craig, thats good to know that somebody else has made the switch and is happy. My D4 was a great allrounder but the fact i can get an almost new navara with 5 year warranty for the price of a 7/8 year old discovery is a major attraction. I have also been looking at BEDRUGS which when combined with a good canopy make the rear load bay almost luxurious for the dogs
Paul

landmannnn · Jan 15, 2018

marsie said:
Thanks Craig, thats good to know that somebody else has made the switch and is happy. My D4 was a great allrounder but the fact i can get an almost new navara with 5 year warranty for the price of a 7/8 year old discovery is a major attraction. I have also been looking at BEDRUGS which when combined with a good canopy make the rear load bay almost luxurious for the dogs
Paul

The only problem with bedrugs, even though the resist battery acid, is that they trap dog hair. Even using the gaffer tape trick the hairs don't all come out.

quavey · Jan 15, 2018

marsie said:
Thanks guys, i have had various double cab pick ups over the years(rangers/hilux invincible,defenders etc) but have never really considered any as a serious replacement for my previous range rovers (supercharged 4.2/5.0 and 4.4TDV8 )/discoveries due to the choppy ride. But when i was given the new NP300 a few weeks ago, for the first time i thought-i could live with this every day!! Although its no SUV, the ride is way better than any of the leaf sprung pick ups i have owned in the past

To be useful it would have to have a canopy fitted, and be a specced up model to at least take the edge off not having a plush SUV anymore (although we would still have the X5-for a while at least). The tekna i currently have on loan is reasonably well specced and even has some goodies my range rover didn't like keyless entry. I suppose the other big selling point of the Navara is that i can offset some of the cost through my business

Fuel economy isn't too much of a concern as because of the cars i have owned in the past i consider anything over 25mpg to be excellent. The NP300 i have at the mo usually shows average mid 30s and even 43(once!) so i can live with that.

To be honest, i think i have (with your help) made my mind up

Anyone want to buy a 2016 mini :grin2:
Paul

Sounds good, you will be well versed with it then having had the big three fattys!

marsie · Jan 15, 2018

quavey said:
Sounds good, you will be well versed with it then having had the big three fattys!

Land rovers are my thing Quavey (both work and personal). I have owned over 50 of them in my driving career including just about every type of range rover model

range rover classic 2.4d 3.5v8 3.9v8 4.2LSE
P38 range rover 2.5Dse, 4.0se, 4.6 autobiography
Range rover sport 3.6Tdv8 HST
L322 3.0dvogue se, 4.4 vogue se(bmw), 4.2supercharged, 5.0supercharged and finally my 4.4tdv8vogue se (most recent)

Before we had the little one i decided to sell it and buy a discovery 4 but my mate kept pestering me to sell it to him and i gave in

But now we have a BMW X5 40d which at the moment is ideal for my missus but will not be big enough for family jollies. Its a shame its not a bit bigger because its a phenomenal car and puts a lot of sports cars to shame and the equipment is amazing

TJ16 · Jan 16, 2018

When we were looking for a new car last year we had a budget of £20K. We were actually replacing a little Vauxhall Corsa (admittedly a high spec £16K 150hp version). We found that slightly larger, more practical family cars such as Astra or Insignia size were £24-28K for decent spec versions (eg. 200hp 2.0 Astra). In the end we got a very low mileage (just 1700 miles on clock) NP300 within our budget and cheaper than a new mid spec family hatchback.

We already had two Land Rover pickups which is why we downsized our B2500 pickup for the 'theoretically' cheaper to run small Corsa two years ago as at the time we thought it was silly having 3 pickups. However the Corsa proved utterly impractical for family use, was only super economical on motorway (70mpg), in town it rarely got better than 40mpg. In the end it worked out barely cheaper than owning a pickup while losing out on all the advantages the pickup offered us. Also the Land Rovers are primarily two seaters. The 109" has proper seats in back but only canvas top so freezing in winter, really only suitable for kids in summer. Hence the reason we are back in a modern double cab.

So for us the NP300 cabin is plenty spacious, very comfortable and well equipped as we are comparing it to everyday family hatchbacks that would have been in our budget or our previous jap pickups, not large SUV's. I've not owned a Range Rover or Discovery (although have driven my bosses) but their price would have been well out of our budget. Maybe this explains why we think leg room and seating is good while others think there is no legroom and uncomfortable seats. Guess it depends on what you are comparing it to? Because of the huge spectrum of people owning pickups I suspect you'll get a wider range of opinions than on normal cars.

TJ16 · Jan 16, 2018

I think when comparing cabin sizes and comfort etc it would probably fairer to think of a double cab pickup as a Focus/Astra cabin with the addition/advantages of a big bed and 4x4 rather than compare directly to a large premium SUV. Maybe our family is a little odd in the way we use our pickups

RandomKamikaze · Jan 16, 2018

I moved from a D3 to the New Navara (NP300) and am very happy with my choice.

The Disco was very capable, but having the dogs in their own separate bit now means their fur, smell and dirt doesn't go in to the boot, but rather the tub which can simply be swept or if really necessary jet washed clean.

The load space is also twice the depth of the D3 which means I can get the dog cages in the back and then still have more than enough room for 2 adults and a child's worth amount of rubbish.

The Navara is also very capable off road. At the weekend I was able to keep up with other Navara's, a RRS and some other pickups, all but one of which were wearing AT tyres. I was on the standard Conti LX2's that it arrived on.

duffs54 · Jan 17, 2018

landmannnn said:
The only problem with bedrugs, even though the resist battery acid, is that they trap dog hair. Even using the gaffer tape trick the hairs don't all come out.

Thanks for info, we were thinking of having one fitted if the one we buy doesn't have one.

How do you stop your dogs sliding about then?

landmannnn · Jan 17, 2018

duffs54 said:
landmannnn said:

The only problem with bedrugs, even though the resist battery acid, is that they trap dog hair. Even using the gaffer tape trick the hairs don't all come out.

Click to expand...

Thanks for info, we were thinking of having one fitted if the one we buy doesn't have one.

How do you stop your dogs sliding about then?

Current dog gets the back seat, a cage is the best and safest option for the rear.

Considering a NP300

marsie

42618

landmannnn

Jem

TJ16

Jem

quavey

TJ16

marsie

marsie

craig.cannon@avnet.com

marsie

landmannnn

quavey

marsie

TJ16

TJ16

RandomKamikaze

duffs54

landmannnn

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