Which way would you take it?

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 02/10/2019 at 14:30 • Filed to: None

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A german In Japanese clothing

A Japanese in German clothing?

Just watching a review of the Mercedes X-Class (A Nissan Navara tarted up and rebadged by Mercedes) and I was thinking about the Zupra.

Which is the one to have? German luxury and style (and price) with somewhat crude and simply, but reliable, Japanese underpinnings? Or Questionable Japanese styling over brilliant but complicated and likely unreliable German underpinnings.

On the one hand the German Japanese sounds like a winner but you pay a TON more for the Germanness and you still end up with a relatively crude, non-german product.

On the other hand the Excellent performance of the Germans is baked into the questionable styling you put up with to get the reliability Japanese products that you certainly wouldn’t have.

hmmm

Goggles Pizzano > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2019 at 16:08

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German style? Mercedes did a terrible job with the rear styling, IMO . Looks like an I-don’t-know- what with an owner applied star .

Brickman > Goggles Pizzano 02/10/2019 at 16:15

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Its a Nissan Frontier with lots of surgery :P

Goggles Pizzano > Brickman 02/10/2019 at 16:16

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Not enough surgery . :-P x

Gerry197 > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2019 at 16:35

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It’s based on Nissan’s F-Alpha platform and is built in both Nissan and Renault plants, however to it’s credit it actually uses Mercedes engines and uses a completely different interior.

This is much more than a simple badge job. It’s more like platform sharing, with unique exterior, interior and engines.  

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2019 at 16:40

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If I was to pick the X Class then I’d only go for the 6 cylinder version because it’s the only one with the M-B driveline. If you get the 4 cylinder as Autocar tested then you’d be better off financially and feature wise getting the Navara (especially the Oz market version which has a unique chassis tune) .

The new Triton (L200) has a gun of an engine and drivetrain but the steering and some chassis tuning is not great but it is still pretty cheap.

Hilux is tough but cramped, gutless and expensive.

Amarok is pretty tough and, when fitted with the V6 TD, goes like the clappers. The 4 cyl TD is no slouch either. Suspension tune is spot on. However, the rear seating is constrained and it’s no bargain.

Ranger has ok driveline, good chassis dynamics (2nd only to Amarok), excellent accommodation but poor visibility and some fragility.

What’s interesting is that in just a few short years  the five vehicles tested here will be based on just three platforms...

I’d still pick the one they didn’t test - Isuzu D-max.

ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2019 at 16:57

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Why not French?

ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 02/10/2019 at 16:59

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The D-Max is an old Chevy platform. Next.

ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. > ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. 02/10/2019 at 17:03

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Although...

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. 02/10/2019 at 17:13

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Not exactly. Yes it is Isuzu/GM co-development but the US hasn’t had it (assuming everything that US Oppo’s tell me about their Colorado is actually true) . And as a platform, it’s not much older than the others tested here. Plus it has a 3.0 litre Isuzu TD engine and drivetrain from their cab over truck range ...and the chassis dynamics are solid too.

Shift24 > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2019 at 17:15

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Until the others reach the north pole, get dropped off an exploding building, and taken away by the tide, the obvious answer is Hillu x.

Toyota pays so much attention to their markets they will beef up c ertain components in different regions due to how they drive.

I can’t remember where b ut they will increase rim thickness due to the drivers that just run over pot holes rather than avoid

HammerheadFistpunch > ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. 02/10/2019 at 18:03

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Renault carrying on the fine European tradition of naming desirable forbidden fruit after North American locations

pip bip - choose Corrour > HammerheadFistpunch 02/11/2019 at 06:01

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i’d pay the Toyota tax and go for a HiLux

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > HammerheadFistpunch 02/11/2019 at 14:42

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I have a problem with the whole four-foot bed thing. Not sure why you’d want that...

My brother and I thought these were way cool back in the day...

HammerheadFistpunch > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/11/2019 at 16:36

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Those are way cool.  As for short beds?  I mean, 4 feet of bed is still way more interior volume than any 5 seat wagon right?  People always have this “if it cant hold plywood its not a truck” thing going on.  I don’t ever haul plywood, I haul camping and camera gear.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > HammerheadFistpunch 02/11/2019 at 22:56

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“if it cant hold plywood its not a truck”

I confess I am biased this way, though not obdurately so. And I lean way more toward vans because things are inside and stay dry. I don’t like SUVs much because they aren’t generally very roomy and with the 4-foot bed, I see an SUV with a vastly shrunken cabin. But it’s purely a matter of my taste.