Nissan rebadged their NV300 mid-size van in 2022 as the Primastar. We got to grips with one recently, courtesy of Westway Nissan in Manchester.
What’s new ?
Based on the Renault Trafic, the Primastar features a refreshed exterior, a more upmarket interior, loads of new safety features & improvements in tech & connectivity.
Model 
Range
Panel van with two heights & two lengths. Crew van with six seats, platform cab or Combi with up to nine seats.
Engines
Four Euro 6D engines are available. A 110hp 300Nm manual, 130hp 330Nm manual, a 150hp 350Nm manual or auto & a range topping 170hp 380Nm manual or auto.
Panel Van
There’s L1H1 & L1H2 versions offered. The L1H1 & L1H2 load compartment measures 2537mm long, 1662mm wide, with the H1 height being 1387mm, the H2 height 1898mm. Payloads are L1H1 1017kg, L1H2 1227kg.
Plus there’s longer L2H1 & L2H2 versions, which increase load length to 2937 mm. with payloads of L2H1 909-1251kg & L2H2 1009-1032kg.
Primastar also comes with 1 or 2 sliding side doors & features up to 18 load securing rings & offers up to 8.6m³ of cargo space. Side hinged rear doors open 90/180 degrees or up to 255 degrees as an option, with a 1.3 m wide access.
The bulkhead flap increases load lengths to up to 3.75m in the L1 & 4.14m in the L2 vans.
Specs
Visia from £28,790 comes with LED front headlights, cruise control, remote central door locking, AM/FM/DAB audio system with Bluetooth telephone integration, Blind spot Mirror in passenger sun visor & a drivers airbag.
Acenta from £30,290 adds manual air con, rear parking sensors, front fog lights, full wheel covers, the load-through facility in the bulkhead, a fold-down central seat with detachable A4 clipboard with under-seat storage & a passenger airbag.
Tekna from £31,790 up’s the ante with a rear view camera, MediaNav 8” touchscreen, SatNav, Android Auto & Apple CarPlay, 17″ alloys & front parking sensors.
Range topping Tekna+ costs from £33,690 & features Lane Departure Warning, Auto High Beam headlight, Blind Spot detection, a driver attention alert, Traffic Sign Recognition, keyless entry & go & forward emergency braking.
Exterior
The latest Primastar has a squarer more bulbous front end than before, with a large black & chrome grill, C-shaped daytime running lights as standard & deep boomerang shaped bumper indents which contain the fog lights. In effect, the revamp moves it away from the look of the previous NV300 & old Vauxhall Vivaro, which is now built under the Stellantis umbrella.
Interior & infotainment
The switchgear is very car-like, which is a good thing, plus there’s a new dashboard. The build quality is very good as are the seat fabrics & door finishes. Our Acenta test van featured a drivers armrest & manual seat adjustment, single USB, ECO driving function & the AM/FM/DAB radio with Bluetooth connection.
With Tekna & above, NissanConnect is on board for your entertainment, settings & SatNav. This includes voice recognition & smartphone integration so that you can monitor your van via the Nissan App.
Economy & performance
Stop-start technology comes on nearly every version & there’s an ECO button on the dash that you can push which helps with economy too. The Blue dCi 110 that we drove will go from 0-62 mph in 16.8 seconds & will reach a top speed of 103mph. Emissions are 182-186g/km with combined economy of 39.8-40.9 mpg.
All Primastar vans come with an 80-litre fuel tank & a 25-litre tank of AdBlue, that need’s to be filled every few thousand miles or so. The van’s trip computer will let you know when it requires topping up.
Cabin practicality
84 litres of cabin storage is very impressive, including two decent door pockets, three drinks holders & 54 litres of space located under the passenger bench. Furthermore, on some versions the centre seat back folds down to reveal a desk.
The gear lever is set slightly right of the centre front seat so there’s actually more passenger leg room in the Primastar cab than in the Stellantis competition. And, don’t forget on Acenta & above, the flap located in the bulkhead for longer loads, & the easy to use rear door catches, making opening the rear doors to 180 degrees simple.
Warranty
Buyers get a pan- European five-year or 100,000-mile warranty, in addition to the eight-year or 100,000 miles battery warranty for the EV version. This includes bumper-to-bumper protection, genuine parts & accessories & roadside assistance.
Driving
We were testing the L1H1 110 Acenta Panel Van & it offers a very decent drive. The six-speed manual gear box is smooth & combined with a light clutch, the Primastar made light work of Manchester’s early morning gridlocked roads. In town it’s simple to manoeuvre & straight forward to park. The 110 dCi engine is extremely quiet & feels quicker than the claimed, especially when accelerating to join the motorway. Talking of which at motorway speeds & on pouring rain, some wind & road noise does enter the cabin, but overall it’s one of the quieter medium van cabs we’ve experienced.
We were driving unladen, but even then the ride comforts very good. On the motorway, simply select cruise control & away you go, adjusting your speed on the steering wheel with your left thumb. You need to use the stubby steering wheel stalk controls to adjust the entertainment volume & we connected our iPhone via Bluetooth which was easy.
The adjustable drivers seat & reach & rake steering wheel, mean it’s easy to get comfortable & if you have three up-front, there’s decent leg room for both passengers. Thanks to the location of the gear lever, which makes more room for the centre front seat passengers leg, there’s not much room for the drivers left foot.
Pros
With two load lengths & two load heights there’s a Primastar panel van for everyone. The cabin is both comfortable & practical with the addition of improved safety & tech on higher spec versions good news as well. The range of Euro 6 friendly engines all offer decent fuel economy & the 80 litre fuel tank will take you a very long way. Above average front centre passenger leg room is very welcome.
Cons
It doesn’t have the highest load volume in the class. On longer journeys, the lack of left leg room when driving is noticeable. It’s almost identical to the Renault Trafic.
Verdict
Nissan has always had a good range of vans & with the introduction of the small Townstar & Townstar EV they’re finally shouting about it. Customers can now see that they’ve an excellent mid-range van too, with the Primastar offering a high quality, comfortable cabin with good safety & tech on higher specced versions. It also looks better on the outside than the Trafic. It’s now on equal footing with most of the competition & with Nissans 5 year warranty, offers a better back-up than many.
Mightier than before 4/5
Rod Taylor at Westway Nissan can be contacted on 0161 425 3283.
