The new Nissan Primastar is a fresh face on the UK van market, as Nissan moves away from the ‘NV’ naming structure for its commercial offerings. It’s got a new front bumper, LED headlights and a new grille, to bring it in line with Nissan’s evolving corporate face.

The Primastar sits between the larger, more versatile, Interstar van platform, which is available in tipper, dropside and box van conversions, and the smaller all-new Townstar compact van.

Not so new is what’s going on underneath the Primatsar’s skin, with the range of new-for-2019 engines retained for the van. There’s no electric version of the Primastar yet, though it’s no doubt only a matter of time. What the medium-sized Primastar panel van does have is an dual-clutch automatic transmission that improves efficiency, smoothness and ease of driving.

The Primastar can be had in four height and length configurations, combining standard and extended dimensions, with load volumes ranging from 5.2m3 for the L1H1, to 8.6m3 for the L2H2. The maximum load length for the L1 starts at 2,537mm but can be extended with an optional front seat hatch to 2,950mm. The L2 load length is 2,937mm, extendable to 3,350mm with the hatch. The maximum payload weight the Primastar can take ranges between 1,073kg and 1,243kg.

On the inside, the Primastar gets a new steering wheel and a refreshed 8.0-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s also new driver assistance and safety tech to boot, including lane departure warning, adaptive cruise, emergency braking and traffic sign recognition. The 2.0-litre diesel can be had in 108hp, 148hp and 168hp outputs, with the latter two available with that impressive dual-clutch transmission, with all returning economy in the mid-40 miles per gallon on average.

Van Leasing Category: Medium
Select’s Van Review Score:
Payload: 901 to 1623kg
Engine options: Diesel
NCAP Safety Rating: Not Recommended

Read less