Road manners

Given their rather basic origins, it is hard to fault the road manners of these three bakkies. We found the Opel and Nissan, both with coil-sprung rear ends, to be similar in offering a good balance between ride comfort and handling, although the steering on both feels lifeless and uncommunicative.

The Ford Bantam offers a sportier ride, with agile handling and a more positive steering feel, but the leaf-sprung back end delivers a harsher ride on bumpy surfaces.

Considering that these three bakkies all cost more than R150 000, you would expect them to offer the ultimate in interior comfort after a hard day's graft or a punishing day on the trails.

Cabin comforts

Here they deliver. All come with air conditioning, remote central locking, a sound system, electric windows, sliding rear window, dual front airbags, fog lights, colour-coded bumpers and alloy wheels.

Only the Nissan and Opel offer ABS braking and a height-adjustable driver's seat, while the Opel is alone in providing a height-adjustable steering wheel with integrated audio controls and all-important pyrotechnic seatbelt pre-tensioners. The Nissan is the only bakkie fitted with electric mirrors.

While the Opel is better equipped than the others, its R184 000 price tag seems excessive when you can get the Nissan, which is almost as well-equipped, for R151 800. Opel does offer a 1.8i Club that matches the Nissan's price, but it loses out on much of the specification, including the electric windows, adjustable steering, sports seats, passenger-side airbag, pre-tensioned belts, ABS brakes and the styling kit that comprises coloured bumpers, fog lights and alloy wheels.

We would advise against buying the Bantam XLE at R163 050, when the R143 500 XLT only loses out on the airbags, which you can fit as an optional extra, presumably for less than half the money you saved.

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