ROADIES' NISSAN
Page 30
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TERRANO II VAN
2.7 LITRE
CAB COMFORT
As you would expect, given its passenger car background, the Terrano's interior is well trimmed, with no painted steel visible in the cabin. The seats, which could be rather too plushly trimmed for serious mud wallowing, are well shaped and comfortably firm with height-adjustable head restraints and seat-belt mountings. Finding the ideal driving position is helped by the tilt-adjustable steering column. Although the centre of the steering wheel, which incorporates the horn, is well padded, no airbags are available. Rear vision is helped by good-sized door mirrors, a rear wiper with continuous operation and a heated rear window, although one element of the latter had already failed on our test vehicle at less than 5,000 miles. The view forward through the deep win dows is also good. In the wet, the two-speed wipers have intermittent and flick-wipe facilities, while the excellent headlamps have a four-position adjuster and are backed up by a pair of projector-style foglamps mounted in the restyled front grille. End-of-day procedures are helped by an interior light which considerately comes on when the ignition key is removed.
The instrument panel, which includes a rev-counter and digital clock, is a model of clarity, although it reflects in the side window at night. A decent R DS/EON radio cassette is mounted high on the dash in the driver's sightline. The various items of switchgear are all of excellent quality, but the otherwise luxurious specification is let down by manual window lifts and mirror adjustment. Hard plastic sun visors unfold with a clang and have no document holders, but a vanity mirror gives away the van's origins.
Adequate storage is provided by pockets in each door, a glove box, a deep dash-top tray, and various spaces in the centre console including a useful lidded cassette box. We were initially pleased to see a cupholder on the dash but this turned to disappointment with the discovery that it's too small to accommodate a standard 300ml drinks can! Nervous passengers have access to one grab If you really want an off-road panel van then your choice is much narrower than it was. Other than the rivals shown in our comparison chart, the alternatives come from Solihull. The Land Rover Discovery Commercial has recently been dropped pending the arrival later this year of the Freelander van, but the Defender Hardtop now has a state-of-the-art engine and a few new hi-tech tricks up its sleeve.
The Terrano II offers the most car-like standards of refinement and road manners, together with tolerable economy, reasonable payload and excellent performance. The build quality of the Barcelona product is the equal of its Japanese fellows, with not a single squeak or rattle in evidence. Our only major gripe is the lack of a bulkhead.