Nissan Pickup cabins are comfortable, nicely finished and functional. As you'd expect,
the King Cab provides extra room up front, as well as just enough space for two behind
the front seats. Instead of a conventional bench seat in back, which would be
extremely cramped, Nissan's King Cab provides two small jump seats that fold down from
the sides and face toward the center of the truck.
The jump seats wouldn't be a comfortable place to roost for a long trip, but they work
fine for a jaunt to the beach or getting a small crew to a work site. And without
passengers, the seats can be folded up, creating a good-sized space for storage of
stuff you don't care to stow in the cargo bed.
Driver and passenger seats are supportive and comfortable. Once we figured out how to
work the tilt option on the steering column, we were able to get the relationship
between the seat and various controls arranged in a configuration that was more car-
than truck-like.
Nissan has installed a better grade of cloth upholstery on the '96 models, and
cupholders have been integrated into the center storage console in King Cab models.
The control and gauge array is logically and visibly positioned save for the dashlight
dimmer control, which required some searching to find. Nissan added a driver's airbag
for +96, but dual airbags won't be available until the new truck rolls out.
Ventilation in the King Cab is excellent. The rear side windows swing out, and the
rear window has a slide-open feature. Using a combination of side and rear windows,
it's easy to achieve an excellent flow of fresh air without any buffeting.
Nissan lists air conditioning as an "accessory," rather than an option, but the net
result is the same. You pay extra for it, something that's true of every
comfort/convenience feature you can name as far as the Standard truck is concerned.
The sound system in our test truck was an optional AM/FM/cassette unit with two
speakers--not exactly orchestral, but it did deliver a good range of sound and
maintained a tenacious hold on radio station tuning.
Although it's well made and nicely appointed, the absence of a V6 engine definitely
diminishes the appeal of this truck. The 4-cyl. engine is adequate in most normal
driving conditons, but begins getting buzzy at higher rpm and has to work hard to
propel the truck up steep grades at highway speeds.
Although its payload rating is respectable, we think performance with 1400 lbs. of
cargo on board--or a 3500-lb. trailer hooked on behind--would be sub-standard.
On the other hand, ride quality was surprisingly good for a 4wd pickup truck, and the
truck felt stable at all speeds.
Pickups equipped with 4wd have a high center of gravity, which doesn't lend itself to
agile handling, and so it was with our test truck. However, its responses to quick
maneuvers are about average for 4wd trucks in this class. The same can be said for
braking performance, although ABS--a feature that's showing up on more and more
pickups--is available here only on the rear wheels. It's standard equipment, but a
4-wheel ABS system simply isn't offered.
The 4-wheel drive system is of the on-demand variety, with a separate shifter for the
transfer case. Like virtually all pickup truck systems, it's designed for occasional
use, rather than full-time.