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If you read one of my previous posts you will see that I do mention that on a 4x4 track the highest engine torque is not the thing that is making the difference on a track but rather the very low rev torque. unless the driver drives fast through the obstacles which is a risk to damaging the 4x4.

The 1HZ land cruiser is one of the ultimate proven touring vehicles with far better 4x4 ability than the navara and they only have 285 Nm torque. You cant tell me you think they are not better off road than the Navara. In my opinion a spike in a torque curve(sudden turbo boost) is not good off road.

If you want to have control all the time. the slower you drive the better. and then low rev torque is better. not torque at 2000rpm rather the torque at 1000rpm to 1200rpm. that is where the navara 2.5 diesel is weak because of the huge turbo boost. That problem with the navara is the reason why VW went the route of using 2 turbo's to start the boost at 1000rpm and not at 1500rpm. so the clutch wount be at risk when starting on a steep incline. It makes perfect engineering sense......

maybe some hiring companies have a 76 series land cruiser.

About Toyota, The Toyotas that I had were all quite good even in handling or relibility ( I drove Lite ace, Avanca, Corolla). So Toyota is not that bad as some of you mentioned. even off Road, they built good cars e.g. Hillux a very good Off roader and Land Cruiser.

To the Navara, NM is indeed quite important it has nothing to do with the torque, it has something to do with the the power of the torque. The Power does play an important part. The torque itself must be low to avoid damage but the power of the torque must be high. Meaning Full strengh by slow movements. I hope i don´t confuse you . Anyway i´m the oppinion of that a navarra is a good Off-roader of course other might be better but quite alot are even more worse. and for the purpose that the Author have, is to drive to bitterpan, that will be defenatly enough.

By the way cleareance is not everything when the Vehicle is not long then, Clearence is really doesn´t matter. best example Ssang Yong korando. also A very good off roader in my oppinion. but the Clerence is not high!

Malealea: Ground clearance vs wheel base length comes down to angles. but that is a whole other discusion.

Like i said I haven't been to KTP so dont have experience there. but just gave my opinion on the two 4x4's.

Just on torque: Without torque your car will not be able to accelerate. Mazda RX 8 (with the rotary engines) have high kilowatts (Power) but not much torque.

Torque(Nm) is the force of the piston onto the crank shaft times the distance from the center of the crank shaft to the connection point of the piston to the shaft. That is thus directly related to the ability of the engine to deliver a moment to the gearbox and in-turn to the wheels. That is the force which drives the car forward. You can never have enough torque. The Stress engineers just have to make sure the gearbox, clutch and prop shafts can handle the moment and transfer it to the wheels.

Diesels have higher torque than petrols simply because the diesel engine work at higher compression which means that the force from the piston that turns the crank shaft is higher. Petrol engines run at higher revolutions and the gearbox is used to give the lower torque a nudge in the right direction. Think of bicycle gears.

I am not going to give advice on which vehicle but just want to comment on my experience with a Nissan. We will put the Nissan Pathfinder, based on the Navara body, to test on the 4x4 Eco route in KTP end Nov. The car drove without much problem to Bitterpan (we had no back-up vehicle) while some Landies got stuck on the same route. The performance of the vehicle depends a lot on the driver and if you familiar with off-road driving both should do in KTP.

Driving in Lesotho again will be another story and there I will rather keep on the "normal" road and avoid the "build your own road" route.

Ahhhh heck, just get a Landrover and get it over with.

I'm with Weskusklong on this... Just one last thing, yes torque curves does differ, but man I still need to come across the 4x4 driver that complains about too much torque!

PS: Oh sorry, I had my facts wrong, the 4x4 Nissan Navara has 450Nm torque, even though it peaks only a few hundred RPMS later, even at low RPMS has more than anything else in its class...

PS2: Just for the record, I drive neither a Nissan or Toyota but speak of observations...

@ Scipio:

PS3: Also don't drive a LR but do respect them!

I can't give you all the technical reasons or talk, but just thought about the reason why the rental company closest to KTP keep Navaras.

Well if I am in there shoes I will rent out vehicle with the lowest accident record, with other word the best road handling performance. These guys are in the business for a long time and surely renting to you the best car for Northern cape will be in the interest of their business.

There are some threads under Arid Parks discussing cars that rolled on the dune road, so maybe we need to check these threads out to see what cars or drivers can not handle KTP roads I know Jeeps need flatbed trucks to leave KTP.

@ DR Phil

Well about the technikal Information, I´m not to well informed to discuss about it. you have a greater knowledge about technikal Details. But the technikal details are similiar sometimes better then from other 4X4 therefor it simply can´t be a bad 4X4.

Some of you mentioned about the good handling. the Test that I read siad something different. Bad handling On roads. E.g this pick Up have a great reputation in overdriving on Roads in curves. That means you have to know how to drive.

You have to know how to drive when driving a 4x4 on an offroad track anyway...

I think this thread has gone way off topic now!

The original question was: due to the unavailability of a Hilux, will a Navara do?

The answer is simple: yes, the Navara will do fine on all the Kgalagadi roads. End.

In fact, any 4x4 with low range will do fine in Kgalagadi - it is after all 80% about the drving skills of the driver and 20% the ability of the vehicle. Some very experienced sand drivers will even do better with a 4x2 than a lot of people with 4x4's.

Bitterpan - I was not aware that this was such a tough route? Would not have imagined Landies would have been stuck? What happened?

you guys are starting to worry me...is the Bitterpan route that hard to drive? I have a little 4x4 experience, none really in the sand... am I setting myself up for disaster?

Hi SheldonanAiri

Don, t worry that will be a piece of Cake in a Nivada. What happend with the Landie as I understand he had narrow set of tyres wich dont go well with sand and also I think he was pumped way to high. Secondly the car was a suv and it was packed high in the back with goodies against the windows . Now taking the above into acount the first real dune and only test will be I think the second coming out from Nossab(under correction here) the people have churned it up and you have to approuch it slowly at the start and 3 m before and 2 m in due to the area being churned up otherwise the car will rock heavy and thats not good if you have goodies hitting against your windows ,Bye Bye glass.

I think also he wanted a excuse to try out his winch.

Here is a short video of the road and the worst you can expect. Best is just to make sure to keep your momentum up the dunes and you should be fine.
All the shaking must have been due to the Landies in question I suspect.

SheldonandAiri, make sure to leave Nossob as the gates open. Should you get stuck, help will on their way to Bitterpan too. I've yet to meet one 4x4 driver who will not go out of his way to help another. Don't stress, just enjoy the trip!



Now I want to go back!
This is so not fair!

Not at all, an amateur can drive that route.