Gutless 09 D22

I brought myself a new D22 this year because I was impressed by a mates D40. I'm fairly happy with the ute except for the power while towing. Towing a bike trailer with 2 dirt bikes and about 150kgs of gear in the tray up steep hills (eg. clyde mountain NSW) and my car only just pulls second gear. I've come from a V6 rodeo that was a towing machine to a car I have to ring it's neck out to pull my bikes. It has a 2.8 ton towing rating, I'd hate to see how it preforms close to that load rate...

Is there something wrong with it or is it just me (first diesel I've owned)?

Also is it worth getting a DP diesel chip?

Thanks guys, like the site

It's all about the rev's, I tow a campervan (about 950kg') with mine and have learnt to keep the rev's up. Being a diesel you do have to ring them a bit harder than the petrol motor. You will get used to it and find it's not so bad! As for the D40 they have another 30kw or so to play with than the D22.

PS welcome to the forums Azza

30kw makes a very big difference. The difference between my car and my old man's is less and his will pull (axle hopping) burnouts off the line mine never would.

The difference between a diesel and a petrol, and this is totally personal seat-of-the-pants science, is that when you're towing 2800kg with a diesel it feels much the same as towing 300kg, whereas with a petrol with similar torque but more power you can feel every extra kilo.

Back to 2nd gear sounds pretty extreme, must have been a big hill?

I towed my tinny (4 metre) back over Mt Mee on sunday with a fair bit of camping gear and thought I would hold everyone up, but I had a new bloody commodore holding ME up! I think the bigger turbo on the D40's really makes a big difference, even though the 40's are much heavier.

I definately wasnt going to buy an 09 STR until I test drove one because I was a bit concerned the little 2.5 motor might be a tad gutless but I was pretty impressed actually.

The little 2.5 certainly doesnt rocket away from the lights like my petrol Jackaroo does but it has a shitload more power everywhere than my old 96 diesel Hilux had and motors up hills very well I think.

Azza, I have to ask, did you test drive it before you forked out the money?

What colour STR did you choose btw?

30kw yeah, the extra 100Nm of torque makes a huge difference.

A chip will make it pull as hard as a D40.

Dave.

I reckon my D22 has become a different car from 10,000 k's on. Revs over 3000 rp's much easier now and is a bit pokier getting there. Hope it's not all in the mind!

To answer some of the questions:

Yes I test drove it, like I said I'm pleased with the car and towing on flat ground is actualy preety good. It's just the steep hills it struggles with.

I got the cosmic black with alloy bullbar, tonneau, head light protectors/bonnet, weather sheilds, tow pack and mud mats. I'm kicking myself for getting black, shows up every little scuff and scratch. But when it's clean gee it looks nice.

My mechanic mate can get me a DP Chip for $750 (mates rates) give or take. Is this a good price?

Thanks for the replys fellas, I don't mean to bag the Navara, I'm super happy with my choice of ute.

Tweake might correct me but im pretty sure the D22 motor runs smaller injectors or something so a chip will only take it out to maybe D40 standard specs

i don't know what difference are exactly between full D40 motor. i suspect its just a remapped 2WD D40 (which is lower powered than 4WD D40). as far as i could tell its different turbo. quiet possible differet injectors.

at least the D22 dosn't have the D40 problems with 4WD selectors, brakes etc.

if your doing a lot of towing i would have a look at fitting a fan on the intercooler.

Do you think that the fan would make a big difference if speed never dropped below
80km/h

depends on how bad they are for airflow. some top mount intercooler can have very poor airflow, especially when radiator fan kicks in.
certainly for crawling up hills in 2nd or even 3rd gear, its very worth while.

I am in the process of exploring the victorian high country in my new d22. I have just done 1600km, nice to drive, but it does not like the hill climbs. No towing, just lots of luggage, 2 adults and 1 child.
I have also noticed it really lost power when i got lost in snow!! Maybe that was because I was using the remaining 9 litres of "normal" diesel in the tank before it got to the alpine diesel. But it was really gutless on top of the mountain. Anyway, back to normal now.
I am very impressed with fuel consumption, 9l/100 km, just those damned hills, climbing up the mountain is real hard work....

Hi,

The air is less dense at higher altitudes, so the engine produces less power. On the diesel, only what is in your lines when you refill will be 100% summer diesel, once you put 75%+ of alpine diesel in the tank it dilutes the summer diesel. However, if you had some waxy deposits in the fuel lines close enough to the tank for the engine's warmth to not reach, you could have a bit of fuel starvation. Hope you loved the snow?

Loved the snow, fantastic places to see. That little town called Bright where we stayed is like something from the movies. What a beautiful place to live. Nice place, cheap as chips. Anyeway, the Navara is now averaging 8.6l/100 km and running smothly. Just gone over 2600km, it still does not like the hill climbs, but I can live with that.

mojo said:

Loved the snow, fantastic places to see. That little town called Bright where we stayed is like something from the movies. What a beautiful place to live.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear it, I reckon anywhere alpine in Australia is really beautiful. We have the best alpine trees I reckon.

mojo said:

the Navara is now averaging 8.6l/100 km and running smothly

Click to expand...

Sweet as.

i actually considered buying a 2.5 D22 str but after i took it for a test drive i parked it back in dealer and didnt look back. i suspected it wld be lacking goolies so i took my 3.0L for a run up this steep hill up to a lookout and then test drove 2.5 up same hill, 3.0L did climb in 4th accelerating thro gears to 70kmhr (cld of kept accel but corners to tight)....2.5L struggled to get to 3rd and cldnt even hold 60kmhr...lol took 1100kg campertrailer with my 3.0L up same hill few weeks later and did it in 3rd and still cld accel past 60km and she was barely workin. needless to say whats still parked in my shed

Yeah, the lady I bought mine from went and bought an 09 and she has been really disappointed with the power. It is really pathetic of Nissan to go backwards with the 2.5L motor. I know my next ute won't be a newer Navara with the 2.5L motor. All the competition are running 3L or bigger motors and most of them haul with very little turbo lag, especially the Ford Ranger. As more people come to realise the above it looks like Nissan have put themselves out of the game. The only thing going for the d22 is price, but I would sooner shell out a few extra grand for the extra power of 1 of the other dual cab utes.

i completly agree, when the d22 came out with the ZD30 they were the absolute best of the dualcab diesel utes, now with the re-release of the d22 with the yd25 they are sadly lacking. hate to say it but when (or if now) we upgrade it will prob be to a patrol wagon or a D-Max dual cab.

I'll repeat what I've already posted. I tow a 950kg campervan with my 2.5 and I don't struggle with power issues. Maybe it comes down to driving style!