Cape York with a caravan

Taking the ute to the tip takes on new meaning when it’s the latest Nissan Navara ST-X Crew Cab V6 diesel, with Track Trailer Topaz hybrid caravan hanging off its tow hitch, and the ‘Tip’ is 4300km away at the very top of the Cape York Peninsula. But there were good reasons.

The Navara is a blue singlet favourite, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary in Australia, and the range-topping ST-X 550 with its class-leading 170kW/550Nm, 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine is touted as ‘Australia’s most powerful tradie’, which on paper translates into a top tow vehicle for a marathon trip.

As dual cab diesel utes are by far the most popular work and play vehicles in far north Queensland, the Navara was a perfect match.

It costs a hefty $62,990 (plus on-roads) – $6000 more than the V6 ST-X without the leather trim, 7-inch colour touch screen with sat nav and reversing camera, smoked plastic bonnet protector and tub liner, but a whopping $13,940 more than top spec 2.5-litre four cylinder Navara ST Dual Cab with five speed auto. This places the ST-X 550 at the top of ute market in Australlia, both in price and grunt.

We reviewed the latest Topaz hybrid camper a couple months back, but there’s nothing like living with a vehicle for nearly six weeks and 10,000km to give you a true appreciation of its strengths and weaknesses.

With a travelling weight of around 1950kg, the trailer was still well within the Navara’s rated braked towing limit of 3000kg.

The only issue with putting the Navara and Topaz together was hitching up, as the Topaz’s drawbar with its excellent multi-directional DO-35 hitch sat well above even the inverted tongue on the Navara’s factory bar.

We leveled the van with the aid of an aftermarket adjustable tongue, but the downside was a slight reduction in ground clearance below the rear of the ute.

Right from the start the Topaz felt totally at home behind the Navara. It rides on Track Trailer’s signature MC2 asymmetric link independent suspension, which counters bump steer and delivers a supple ride, while keeping the two fat 265 section, 16 inch tyres on the ground.

Its engineering ‘smarts’ contrasted with the Navara’s more basic rigid rear axle with leaf springs, but with a tow ball weight of around 100kg the Topaz didn’t impact on the Navara’s rear ride height while remaining stable at speeds up to the posted road limits, both on and off the bitumen.

Had we filled the Navara’s load bed with some of our equipment the story might have been different, but without a lockable hard lid fitted (an option that should be standard at this price) we were reluctant to leave items like recovery gear, exhaust jack, air compressor, plus folding chairs and a table unsecured, on display and exposed to red dust and rain.

Some of the gear went in the rear passenger compartment, with the 60/40-split bench seat folded to form a luggage platform, while the larger and heavier items went into the Topaz.

Heading north out of Melbourne we took the fastest inland route to far north Queensland with advice from Mr. Google and detailed navigation from our portable, Hema off-road sat nav unit.

In ST-X 550 spec the Navara comes with a quite reasonable, sat nav system with 3D mapping and 7-inch touchscreen dashboard display, but the beauty of the Hema Navigator HN5i is that it contains Hema’s entire Australian road atlas, plus detailed off-road maps in the one device, making it easier to evaluate options along the chosen route.

Mr. Google said the fastest way to Port Douglas was via the Kidman Way and a combination of the Kidman Way via Jerilderie and Bourke, then on to Townsville via Charleville, Charters Towers and Townsville – a total of just over 3000km.

It was good advice, with decent distances between 50km/h speed limited towns, plenty of wildlife to keep us alert and minimal traffic.

Initially we faced persistent head winds that kept the Navara shuffling between sixth and seventh gear in standard automatic transmission mode, and despite travelling consistently at a true 90-100km/h (equating to 1800-2200rpm) our fuel consumption averaged close to 17L/100km in high range, 2WD mode.

Under the circumstances this consumption was pretty good, with the slippery shape of the Topaz doubtless contributing without the taller body section of a conventional 4WD to break the airflow.

It took us around 32 hours’ travelling to make Port Douglas and despite the relatively high daily mileage, we arrived feeling fresh – a tribute to the Navara’s comfortable seats and absorbent although slightly jiggly suspension with the Topaz in tow.

Forging north of the Daintree River past Cape Tribulation and then on the snaking unmade coastal road via Wujal Wujal to Cooktown, the Navara had to work a lot harder and the lightly-loaded rear wheels needed little encouragement to spin on the steeper gravelly bits at slow speed in 2WD.

As a result we needed to select 4WD and even got down to first gear in low range to negotiate a number of steep and slippery hilly sections. We went back to 2WD when we got back to bitumen to reduce fuel consumption and also because of the noticeable transmission ‘drag’ in 4WD mode, which made it difficult to do slow, sharp turns without noticeable tyre scrubbing.

Despite the seven-speed transmission, which should have offered a ratio for any occasion, we also experienced some turbo lag and a reluctance for the transmission to kick down in some circumstances, meaning that it would lug quite roughly down to as low as 1200rpm before downshifting in high range 4WD. To overcome this we found ourselves manually downchanging using the transmission’s manual mode to keep the engine working most productively

We also tried to keep our revs below 3000rpm wherever possible, both because of the engine’s torque ‘sweet spot’ from 1700-2200rpm and also because it became harsh when revved higher. But when kept between 1700-3000rpm, it worked impressively and economically.

Forging on towards Cape York via the Lakefield National Park and the broad, but often badly corrugated Peninsula Development Road that continues north, we were also grateful that we had swapped the Navara’s standard 255/65R17 road-biased tyres for a set of much sturdier and more aggressive General Grabber AT2 245/70R17s of almost exactly the same diameter.

No one claims the AT2s are the best tyres for the moist extreme off-road conditions, but they’re a great all-rounder: quiet on the highway, impressively grippy in the wet, and offering plenty of bite off road.  They also proved highly puncture resistant and good wearing.

With 4WD engaged on the Navara we could confidently maintain 100km/h on the loose stuff. But conscious of stone damage and the unexpected, we limited our off-road cruising speed to a true 80-85km/h and were rewarded with a decrease in fuel consumption to an average of 16.6L/100km by the time we hit the testing Overland Telegraph Track just after Bramwell Junction, just 220km short of the tip of the Australian Mainland.

However while the Navara had the grunt to master the numerous river crossings and the Topaz had even better departure/ramp-over clearance, it was clear the combination wouldn’t work on the more severe opening OTT sections, like Palm and Gunshot Creeks.

At its standard suspension height, as distinct from the 4WDs and utes with aftermarket ‘lifters’ that are equipped for this extreme terrain, the Navara was on a hiding to nothing to destroy its front pick-up panel and potentially bend its rear end with the Topaz in tow.

After all when you’re heading down a 45- degree slope with 1.9 tonnes pushing you from behind, it’s quite clear who is really in control!

Despite its compact size (for a caravan), the Topaz is simply too big at its 6.2 metre travel length to perform the acrobatics required to negotiate the often tunnel-like entries and exits to some of these crossings without suffering almost certain body damage.

And after hearing tails of dual cab utes whose cab/load bed gap opened up while doing the OTL -- without a van in tow! -- we decided to tackle only the more open crossings and skip the rough, narrow ones by taking the bypass tracks back to the main Peninsula Bypass Road.

Despite the hard going in low range 4WD on the tight, often sandy tracks that form the OTL, the Navara’s consumption didn’t suffer unduly and by the time we reached the barge that provides the only safe vehicle crossing of the Jardine River and arrived in the NPA (Northern Peninsula Area), our consumption was back to 16.6L/100km.

From there it was just 80km to the Pajinka and the top of the Australian mainland, nearly 4300km from our starting point in Melbourne. The Navara was barely breathing hard and was obviously loosening up. Maybe the body was too, as despite being fastidious about keeping windows and doors closed, we took a fair share of the Peninsula Development Road with us to the top, most of it behind the rear seats.

The return trip via the Peninsula Development Road, Port Douglas and the eastern coast of Australia before turning inland at Brisbane, was uneventful and when we rolled back home to Melbourne the Navara’s report card read an impressive 15.8L/100km overall for 9369.9km at a total average speed towing (on and off-road) of 60km/h.

So would we buy one? It’s hard to make a good value for money case for the ST-X 550 when the same powerful mechanical package in the more frugally-equipped ST-X costs $6000 less.

And having spent a lot of time behind the 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel in the $49,050 ST Dual Cab Navara, it’s not that much behind its V6 brother as a tow tug, despite its five-speed versus seven-speed automatic transmission.

NISSAN NAVARA DUAL CAB ST-X 550

Engine: 3.0-litre, V6 turbo-diesel
Max. power: 170kW at 3750rpm
Max. torque: 550Nm at 1750rpm
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Length: 5296mm
Width: 1848mm
Height: 1795mm
Wheelbase: 3200mm
Ground clearance: 228mm (unladen)
Kerb mass: 2104kg
GVM: 3010kg
Fuel: 80 litres
Towing cap. unbraked/braked: 750kg/3000kg
Tow ball mass maximum: 300kg
Fuel economy (claimed): 9.3/100km
Price: from $62,990 (MRRP)