Reviews - Nissan

Overall Rating

The Nissan Cabstar is a simple and sturdy small truck. Aimed at urban drivers needing to make multiple drops and pick ups. The Cabstar is looking tired and outdated as the exterior hasn't really changed in years and the engine is painfully slow and sluggish.

• Good choice of body styles
• Improved standard equipment
• Option for additional seating

• Slow engine
• Outdated bodywork
• Only suitable for urban delivery/collection driving

The exterior of the Nissan Cabstar hasn't changed much since the previous version in 2000 except for the front grille with a large Nissan badge and slats. The inside of a Nissan Cabstar is simple and sturdy, carpets and seat trim have been upgraded to a better quality. CD player, driver's airbag and ABS brakes as standard. Engines now available by one of two 3.0-litre turbo diesel units; 3.0T and 3.0Ti. The 3.0T 105bhp an improvement on the 90bhp 2.7-litre engine that has been discontinued. The second and range-topping option, the 3.0Ti, has 125bhp more than the old 3.0-litre diesel in the Cabstar E. These outputs may sound low for a vehicle capable of hauling well over 1.5 tonnes but Nissan say it's the way it's delivered that is important. The engines are designed to produce their full force of torque from exceedingly low in the rev range meaning a fully laden Cabstar can move smartly away from standstill and negotiate steep inclines without the need for a run-up. These power dynamics do mean that top speed and 0-60mph acceleration figures look slow on paper but the vehicle is fast enough up to 30mph. As the Cabstar is targeted at urban drivers regularly stopping off to deliver and collect goods the power should be enough. The Cabstar is available in three wheelbases each with a number of cab and body style options. The short wheelbase derivatives all share a 3400kg GVW with the larger models at 3500kg. As is popular the GVW is in the name. The long and medium wheelbase models have the most choice of body styles; the single tilt cab or a double cab with an extra row of seating accommodation behind the driver and front passenger seats. Further to this, the load bay can be obtained in dropside or tipper form and also the bare-bones chassis cab that comes ready and waiting to take more specialist modifications. The short wheelbase models are offered with any of the three load bay options but up front it's a case of single fixed cab only. A repositioning of the rear axle on these smaller models has meant that the payload capacities are up by between 70 and 80kg with the dropside now managing 1,492kg all in. Further up the range capacities are much as they were and that means maximum payloads ranging up to 1,900kg.

Designed for urban driving with deliveries and collections so this is a niche vehicle that will either suit your needs to be quickly dismissed. Not the fastest truck around but does the job a work horse is intended to do.