Nissan Navara AT32 2018 first drive

The AT32 is the pick-up equivalent of a trackday special: more compromised on the road but better equipped to fulfil its true reasons for being.

And when Arctic Trucks is involved – as denoted by the ‘AT’ – those reasons are fairly serious. The engineering company specialises in modifying vehicles for especially rugged terrain, having grown out of a Toyota franchise in Iceland that outfitted the Toyota Hilux, Land Cruiser and 4Runner for duties in Polar regions during the nineties. There is almost no place on earth the company cannot or will not go.

Since separating from Toyota, Arctic Trucks has established bases in countries as far afield as the UAE and Russia, and plies its trade on stock models from numerous manufacturers, including Mercedes. There are ultra-hardcore options for exploration, sport and the like (type ‘Hilux AT44x6’ into your search bar) but others are a touch more subtle, such as the Navara AT32 driven here.

‘Subtle’ is of course a relative term, and in reality this truck is as understated as a bull-bar bedecked Bentley. 

For the AT32, Arctic Trucks takes the top-spec Navara Tekna and fits a Safari snorkel whose watertight air intakes increase the wading depth from 600mm to 800mm. The next most noticeable element is the 20mm increase in ride height, courtesy of AT’s Performance suspension, which increases ground clearance from 223mm to 243mm and meaningfully raises both the maximum approach and breakover angles.

Beneath the thuggish wheel arch extensions are the 32in Nokian 275/70 tyres that give the car its name. And ensconced within all that rubber are the least kerb-able wheels in existence: attractive, black 17in items of AT’s own design. Crawl underneath and you’ll notice further modifications – a branded skid-plate and other protective underbody measures to help bat off boulders that threaten to puncture the engine, transmission, propshaft and fuel tank.

Along with a locking front differential to complement similar, existing hardware in the rear axle, the AT32 is the most capable Navara ever offered through official Nissan sales channels.

And you feel the effects of that – the AT32’s latent ability to ford considerable tracts of water, negotiate impossibly rutted trails and develop unbreakable traction in snowy climes – out on the road. The third-generation Navara might have the most sophisticated suspension in this class but the knobbly tyres undermine that by generating an endlessly busy ride.

Likewise, the raised ride height might build on already imperious forward visibility but does nothing to reign in pitch and yaw movements. To say the AT32 pogoes its way down a road would be grossly unfair, but its manners are sufficiently less refined than the standard car to give serious pause for thought. The vast majority of drivers in this country would be better off with the smoother, quieter qualities of the normal Navara.

The powertrain is unchanged, with a 187bhp 2.3-litre, four-cylinder dCi twin-turbodiesel mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. With the rack-and-pinion steering, the driving controls hang together well enough to make driving the AT32 easy enough to stroke along but no more. Direction changes are indirect rather than imprecise, and while the engine note is a touch agricultural, it isn’t aggravating.