Motoring in Morocco with Nissan LCV

The Nissan LCVs took the challenge of the tough Moroccan desert, not only validating their reputation for strength but revealing a few surprises as well,

"You want me to do what?” I asked the Nissan #GoAnywhere experience instructor in disbelief, half expecting the crew from a local YouTube prank channel to come out from behind the shrubbery laughing their turbaned heads off. “Follow the Armada down this 4-story vertical drop, [he called it a sand dune, but I digress], then drive through the river bed to the lunch destination,” he repeated, with all the seriousness of Tony Robbins doing an intervention in one of his motivational conventions.

“This is probably where they got the word sandwich from,” I said, staring down the windscreen into a sea of sand, hoping for some sobriety to prevail. “You’ll be fine,” he assured me. “Just keep your momentum up. Not too fast, though.”

They could have picked a quaint country hotel in England or rented a mediaeval castle in Scotland to test-drive Nissan’s line-up of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and had us sipping expensive champagne while listening to a string quartet from Austria. But no. Instead, there I was, barrelling through a flowing riverbed deep in the mountainous regions of Morocco and climbing up sand dunes the size of Megamall, feeling like a modern-day Moses, and praying to hear the Almighty say in His booming voice, “Thou shall not get stuck!”

Above James and The Terra

Welcome to the Nissan #GoAnywhere experience—where the fun only begins once the road ends. As our chartered plane from Madrid touched down at the Errachidia Airport, about 23 kms south of nowhere, I wondered why Nissan was doing this. We’re used to Nissans being mechanical icons of the desert. (If there is anyone that can rightfully stake its claim on land that others fear to tread, it’s got to be Nissan. Think: UN and Red Cross. Aha—you pictured a Patrol, huh?). So why go through this very costly exercise to prove what we already know?

Then, it dawned on me: for a 40-something writer who has spent most of his career writing about cars I already know the toughness of these trucks. I watched the coverage of Operation Desert Storm on CNN. But to younger generations who have grown up with safe spaces and trigger warnings, they see them as luxury passenger vehicles and may not have any idea just how capable they really are. Therefore, it’s a reminder. Conversely, if you are the 40-something-year-old who is more familiar with Nissan’s toughness, it’s now a crash course on appreciating how refined they are on the road. Either way, whether it’s experiencing the off-road capability or on road manners, prepare to be blown away.

Above The Nissan Navara prepares for the four-storey dune drop

Above Revered symbol

Above The tough convoy tears through rough roads

The cast of blower away-ers was made up of the Nissan Navara, the Patrol, The Titan (the full-sizetruck designed to go head to head with the F-150), and the All-New Nissan Terra, flown in from the Philippines! We each took turns behind the wheel and as a passenger as well in each of these vehicles just to be able to appreciate it from every angle. While initially we all fought over the Patrol, being the most expensive and refined of the lot, as the days went by, I started finding myself more and more impressed by the Terra and the Navara.

I say this only because while it’s a given that the Patrol would be the star in all of this (which it was), I was amazed at just how close the other two come in every single aspect. I mean if you were to prorate it, at half the price, the Terra should perform at half the level of the Patrol. Yet it was anything but. I’d say that overall, it performed around 85 per cent of the Patrol, with some areas—like off-road capabilities—climbing somewhere over 90 per cent.

Simply put, if you have the money, splurge it on the Patrol. At around Php 4 million, you will struggle to find anything that matches it for comfort, performance, space, and prestige. But if you’re watching the budget, the Terra is an extremely impressive package that is only let down by the choice of plastics inside. Other than that, it is a wellequipped and formidable competitor in what must be the most cutthroat segment in the Philippine market.

Above The Nissan Armada headed the convoy of cars through rivers, mountains, and deserts

As our convoy tore through the sunburnt African coastal landscape, crossing rivers, mountains, and sand dunes, it was difficult to not be impressed by the Terra’s comfort, handling, body stiffness, and sheer performance. Insulated from the harsh realities outside, and with the electronic 4WD system taking all the guess work out of the tricky off-road bits and making such light work of it all, it was easy to take it all for granted. But try this in anything else straight off a showroom floor and you’ll soon begin to appreciate the depths that Nissan have gone to produce such a fabulous line of vehicles.

12 years may be a long time to come up with a competitor to the Fortuner, but whoever it was that lit a match under Nissan’s development team ended up setting the stage for an all-out war where there are no losers—at least on the consumer end. Not only has it given us choices, it has pushed the entire segment forward with safety and comfort levels that surpass even the previous generation Patrol.

After three days and almost a thousand incredible kilometres of punishing trails, serpentine roads, and powdery desert driving, most of the international press were left very impressed with the LCV line-up. One of the journalists, however, opined that the cars were over-engineered and that most of its buyers will never use it to its full potential. To which we all replied, “And that’s bad, because…?”

I mean, that would be like buying a car with a top speed of 120 km/h just because that is the speed limit in your area. Cars have always transcended logic, and Nissan’s LCV line-up is no different. Just because you can’t, it’s still nice to know you can.

Tatler Asia

Motoring in Morocco with Nissan LCV