Review
The Cabstar is a paradox.
It looks like a 40-tonner but isn’t – it feels like a truck but drives like a car.
Amazing.
Those chunky lines simply put the Cabstar on a different playing field to its rivals such as the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter and Toyota Dyna, which now look distinctly ‘last century’.
Climbing aboard is an easy matter – there’s a step and a grab rail for those who can’t manage it on their own, although it isn’t a very big climb up.
And what a transformation in the cab.
Those old bargain basement plastics are gone, along with the workaday dash.
In their place is a dashboard that wouldn’t look out of place in a passenger car.
There are plenty of storage spaces both above the windscreen and below it and even a special slot for A4 paperwork.
Two large drink holders are conveniently placed on either side, although they won’t hold white truck man’s beloved two-litre cola bottle.
The seats are more upmarket affairs too.
The driver’s is hard, flat and upright – comfortable too on long journeys – although there isn’t any side support at all.
The middle seat in the front folds down to form a handy desk, but passengers of more rotund proportions probably won’t fit in to it.
On the other hand, the double-cab version we tested had plenty of legroom for three more passengers in the back, although the middle seats in the front and rear only have a lap belt.
Mind you, most Cabstars won’t be undertaking marathon journeys so seat comfort probably isn’t a top priority.
On the road
We tested both 130bhp and 150bhp models and both engines fire up with a quiet, powerful thrum – no rattling and clouds of black smoke here.
The cab offers fantastic views all round and there are two giant mirrors on either side to aid safety on the road.
On flatbed models, reversing and manoeuvring is a doddle as you can see the rear of the vehicle by looking out of the back screen.
Once on the road, the Cabstar’s paradoxical nature once again shows itself.
Its driving position is pure truck – an upright seat, a steering wheel almost at 90 degrees to the driver’s body and that typical cab-over-engine gearstick that is set beside the driver’s body.
But it feels just like a car to drive.
That gearchange is the slickest of any vehicle in the sector, the power steering is light – a little too light for my personal taste – and the Cabstar will happily throw itself into fast corners and come out smiling.
First gear is hardly needed unless you are carrying a full load and going up steep hills.
Our half-loaded models happily pulled away in second and even on steep inclines, the 150bhp never needed nudging down into fifth.
On a specially-created slalom course, we tested a long wheelbase model and found it made easy going of the cones that had been laid out, making the Cabstar an ideal vehicle for inner city deliveries.
Verdict
Once again, Nissan has not only moved the goalposts but has put one of its vehicles on to an entirely new playing field, leaving the opposition to play a very big game of catch-up.
Our only concern with the Cabstar is that maybe – just maybe – it is TOO competent for the purpose for which it is built.
Do Britain’s white truck men really deserve a vehicle this good?