Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior 2025 review

Think of utes ready to hit the tracks, steep ascents and rocky escarpments straight out of the box and usually the Ford Ranger Raptor or Toyota Hilux GR Sport come to mind.

But did you know that there is a full-fruit Navara model that costs less than both of those models? It’s called the Pro-4X Warrior and has been developed by Premcar, an Australian company known in the past for tinkering with fast Fords and has also developed the even more off-road focused Nissan Patrol Warrior.

The Navara Pro-4X Warrior auto is currently priced at $73,490 driveaway, but a manual version is even cheaper at $71,490 driveaway. That’s significantly more affordable than the $81,400 driveaway Toyota Hilux GR Sport and much, much cheaper than the roughly $98,000 driveaway Ford Ranger Raptor.

It’s also a fair chunk more affordable than a 2.0L Ranger Wildtrak, which lobs at over $76K on road.

So is the Pro-4X Warrior just as good, but at a fraction of the price? We drove the Navara Pro-4X Warrior on and off road to find out.

What are the Navara Pro-4X Warrior’s features and options for the price?

Don’t get confused: the Navara Pro-4X Warrior is not the same model as the Navara Pro-4X, which you can read about here in my full written review.

Instead, the flagship Warrior variant, which Melbourne’s Premcar enhances further upon the regular Pro-4X, adds many more off-road goodies, including the following:

• 40mm suspension lift with new front and rear springs, dampers and jounce bumpers. 
• 30mm wider track width
• Safari-style hoopless bull bar with integrated 16-LED 470mm light bar 
• Warrior 17-inch alloy wheels 
• Cooper Discoverer all-terrain AT3 tyres
• 3.0mm steel red underbody bash plate 
• Redesigned towbar with crossmember, tongue and harness 
• 100kg GVM upgrade with 952kg payload in automatic guise
• Pro-4X Warrior embossed seats 

The Warrior still retains standard Pro-4X features such as:

• 8.0-inch central touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• USB-A and AUX ports
• Six speaker sound system
• 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster 

At the time of writing, and through to January 31st 2025, Premcar is offering a $3000 cashback on auto versions of the Warrior, effectively dropping the driveaway price to $70,490 as a cleanskin. 

You can specify your Navara with more options if you wish. Our test vehicle also came with an Australian-made HSP electric roller cover for the tray, which costs around $4000. 

All in all, it’s a compelling package considering you could easily spend more than this in the aftermarket alone, as many Australians do!

How does the Navara Pro-4X Warrior drive?

Having now tested at least six utes almost entirely back to back, I’ve only just got out of ‘standard’ Pro-4X. That was a model that deeply impressed me with his comfortable day-to-day ride quality, willing 2.3-litre engine and general ease of use.

Like my family’s old D40, the Navara recipe hasn’t really changed too much, but that’s no bad thing because I always thought Nissan’s model was the underdog in the current ute market.

Hopping into the 2025 Warrior, it’s certainly very familiar inside. It also sounds the same as the regular Pro-4X because, well, Premcar didn’t touch the engine for the Warrior flagship.

It remains the evergreen 2.3-litre twin-turbocharged four outputting 140kW and 450Nm, paired to either the seven-speed auto tested here or six cogs with the manual.

On the move, the Warrior certainly feels sturdy.

At 2298kg kerb you can feel the weight of those extra modifications that add a porky 161 kilograms over a standard Pro-4X. Regardless of whether it’s around town or when you do get up and moving at a decent speed, like on a country b-road, the Warrior can feel a bit blunted and boaty to drive.

Still, it’s refreshing to drive a ute on the road that now rides even better than before.

I was impressed by the standard Pro-4X, largely due to the coil spring, multi-link rear suspension, but the Warrior’s suspension updates have made things very controlled and stable. Those Cooper tyres also seem to take some of the edge off the ride.

That said it’s still quite firm, but the way the Warrior hits a bump and still feels remarkably settled very quickly afterward is something that a lot of utes just get wrong. Few leaf-spring systems will ever achieve such discipline, though Ford’s Ranger and Volkswagen’s Amarok certainly still remain benchmarks in the dual-cab segment.

It’s a bit of a shame that Premcar did not fiddle with the oiler engine for this special Warrior variant. The 2.3-litre mill is fine, but without extra enhancement it’s starting to feel a little breathless lugging around the weight that it does.

This could be fixed in the aftermarket, but that’s precisely where Premcar should’ve finished the job off, right?

I do like the pairing between the engine and the seven-speed torque converter automatic transmission on road. It’s smooth, pretty refined and quick to shift up and down gears.

When you do take the Navara off-road, the experience just gets better because the package feels more in its element.

With 40mm extra ground clearance and a 30mm wider track, the Warrior feels stable and immensely capable, well past my personal comfort levels. And with the independent rear suspension, the Warrior flexes and articulates with ease.

Off road, the transmission is nicely paired and allows pretty seamless control over obstacles. Dual range transfer case drops the drive ratio from 1:1 to 2.72:1 for slower progress.

I can say this definitively: straight out of the factory, the Warrior will not disappoint or let you down when the going gets a bit tough.

I come back to my story about my family’s 2007 D40 Nissan Navara ST-X. Big, hard to park and with a terrible turning circle, we collectively nicknamed it Yamato, after one of the heaviest and most powerful Japanese battleships that ever sailed the high seas.

Even in the more modern D23 guise, this Navara is still a big thing and not necessarily that easy to park, even with reversing and 360-degree camera fitted as standard.

Although it’s a size smaller than a Ford F-150 or a Chevrolet Silverado, this Warrior, in my eyes at least, is still a Yamato through and through.

What is the Navara Pro-4X Warrior’s interior and tech like?

Inside the Warrior, if you’re expecting a completely different interior, you’ll be a little disappointed.

The only change you’ll notice is the Warrior embossed seats, which look cool but I feel they could have done something a bit different. The driver gets an eight-way electric seat adjustment.

The Navara is certainly getting to its use-by date in 2025. Lots of hard, scratchy plastics and piano black trim make their appearances.

The materials used are fine and will be good for durability sake, but this cabin certainly needs an upgrade. I do like the seats which are nicely upholstered and fairly comfortable over longer trips.

Standard technologies for the Warrior are unchanged over a regular Pro-4X, so owners still gain a 8.0-inch centre touchscreen that runs wired versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The infotainment itself is a little outdated nowadays, but it still works as expected.

The driver gets a 7.0-inch instrument cluster which can be switched back and forth through menus using the steering wheel buttons. On the steering wheel, I like that all the buttons are labelled and do exactly as they say, which is not the case with some other automakers.

Other standard features include dual-zone climate control, USB-A and AUX ports, two generous cupholders, deep door bins, a sunglasses holder, but the cabin is missing a wireless charging pad.

In the second row, the seats are nice and high and taller passengers actually look over the front seats forward, which is a nice touch, especially for the kids. The rear seats get air vents and a sole USB-A port, along with magazine pouches and shallow door bins.

In the tray, dimensions are roughly 1500mm by 1100mm (between the wheel arches) so pretty standard for this segment.

This Navara gains a $4000 HSP electric tonneau cover that works pretty well and looks good, too.

Nissan also remains one of the few manufacturers to do a flexible tie down point feature, which is really helpful for those wanting to use this ute for tying down loads and for work. Tradies will love this!

The Warrior also gains an uprated towbar system. Braked towing capacity is still 3500kg, over a tonne more than its petrol rival the Ranger Raptor, while GVM (3250kg) has been upgraded by 100kg. Maximum payload is 952kg for the automatic version we had on test.

I’d also like to add how great this ute looks both in the front and the rear. I love the blacked out sports bar and the electric tonneau just adds to the overall look. Although it’s clearly subjective, in my opinion this could be one of the toughest utes on the market today.

Is the Navara Pro-4X Warrior a safe car?

As of September 2024, the Nissan Navara is currently unrated with ANCAP. Despite this, the Navara is still well equipped with safety, and includes:

• Seven airbags 
• Reversing camera
• 360-degree camera
• Autonomous emergency braking 
• Lane intervention
• Lane departure prevention
• Blind spot warning
• Rear cross traffic alert 
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• Hill start assist 

As for how these systems work on the road, you can easily switch off the settings by your right knee, but I found them to generally work quite well.

I think the safety systems were nicely integrated and not poorly tuned, an issue we are experiencing with many automakers in 2024. 

It would be good to see some more features integrated into the Navara, but this is unlikely until we see a new generation model in the next couple of years. 

What are the Navara Pro-4X Warrior’s ownership costs?

Like all other Navaras sold in Australia, the Pro-4X Warrior is covered under a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

To service, the Navara Warrior will cost $2975 for five years of servicing with a Nissan-backed pre-paid maintenance plan. Servicing intervals are every 20,000 kilometres, or 12 months, whichever occurs first.

As for fuel efficiency, the Navara has an official combined fuel consumption of 8.1L/100km. During our week of testing, we got pretty close to this, averaging between 8.2L and 8.5L/100km with a mixture of driving, including highway and city commuting.

The Navara has an 80-litre fuel tank and does not require AdBlue, unlike some utes such as the Mitsubishi Triton.

The honest verdict on the Navara Pro-4X Warrior

Is the Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior even better now with its Warrior enhancements? I definitely think so.

The Nissan Navara is a good and somewhat underrated ute to begin with and I believe it’s now even better in Warrior guise in 2024. Not only is this a decent riding ute, it also looks the goods, has a smooth powertrain and is pretty frugal, too.

But no ute or car is perfect. The Warrior is a heavy thing and it feels it when you drive it day to day.

It’s also lacking a bit of firepower from its 2.3-litre engine. While that can be pretty easily fixed in the aftermarket, I feel that Premcar could have done a bit of an engine spruce up to bring its outputs into the same realm as its competitors.

At around $70K driveaway on cashback offer, I think this ute is good value when you look at what you get for the outlay.

The Warrior undercuts its rivals by up to $20,000 and does a great job not just as an on-road lifestyle ute, but also off the beaten path as an off roader. It’s not too shabby on credentials as a workhorse, either.

A true underdog and, of course, a true Yamato.