Nissan Pickup (D22) review: the truck Bahrain kept buying because it never really broke
3.1/5MotorsSouq Editorial Team
Buy a D22 pickup for what it is — a cheap, mechanically simple commercial truck that Bahrain's independent garages can fix blindfolded — and it will not disappoint. Do not buy it expecting comfort, refinement or resale value; those were never the point. A single-cab commercial example with full service history and no rust around the bed rails is the sweet spot; double-cab private examples cost more for equipment most buyers of this truck never wanted in the first place.
Pros
- Mechanically simple enough for any independent garage to fix
- Very cheap parts after decades of regional volume
- Body-on-frame durability that shrugs off rough use
- Among the cheapest working trucks on Bahrain's used market
Cons
- Stiff, unrefined ride even by pickup standards
- No modern safety equipment on most surviving examples
- Air conditioning and interior wear are common on high-mileage trucks
- Discontinued for years, so buyers need to check remaining stock carefully
The D22 generation is what most people in Bahrain mean when they say "Nissan pickup" without further qualification — not the newer Navara, but the older, simpler truck that Nissan kept selling alongside its own replacement for close to two decades because fleet buyers and tradesmen would not stop asking for it. The 2.4-litre four is not fast and was never meant to be; it is meant to start on the first turn of the key after sitting in a construction yard for a week, and it generally does.
Why it survived so long
Mechanical simplicity is the entire case for this truck. A fuel-injected four-cylinder with a five-speed manual and a live rear axle is about as little as there is to go wrong, and every garage in Bahrain from a mall service centre to a roadside workshop in Sitra can diagnose and fix it without a factory scan tool. Parts are cheap because the platform sold in huge numbers across the region for decades, not because anyone still officially imports it.
None of that comes with comfort. The ride is stiff unladen, the cabin is loud, and there is no pretending the seats or the plastics belong anywhere near a modern vehicle. Air conditioning on higher-mileage examples is often the first system to need attention, and buyers should budget for it rather than be surprised by it.
On the used market, D22 pricing reflects exactly what it is: cheap money for cheap running costs. A well-documented single-cab commercial example, ideally one used for light duty rather than construction-site abuse, is the safest buy — check the bed rails and chassis rails for rust and the clutch for wear before anything else.