Nissan Townstar

Nissan Townstar at a glance

Nissan's naming scheme puts the Townstar in its "-star" family of commercial vehicles, and it was the first model to wear the brand's new flat emblem, later used on the Ariya. Other Nissans are in the Nissan catalogue.

Generations and versions

The Townstar is in its first generation. Nissan did not develop its own platform for it: after closing its Barcelona plant, the company moved its compact van to Renault's Kangoo technology, so the Townstar, Kangoo and Citan are three faces of one vehicle.

The range has grown in steps:

• September 2021: presentation of the van and passenger versions.
• January 2022: sales start with the petrol engine.
• August 2022: the electric Townstar (Townstar EV) follows.
• December 2023: a long version is unveiled; as a passenger car it carries the Evalia name.
• July 2024: in Germany, the Kombi range is revised and long L2 petrol versions and automatic gearboxes appear in the ADAC price list.

Trim names in Germany have been Acenta, N-Connecta and Tekna, with an N-Design version listed from June 2022 to April 2023.

Engines and performance

There is one combustion engine and one electric drive. The petrol is a 1.3-litre (1,332 cc) four-cylinder turbo with direct injection, called DIG-T 130.

The electric version charges at 11 kW AC as standard, with a 22 kW onboard charger as an option, and at up to 80 kW on a CCS fast charger. Electrive reported a range of up to 300 km in 2022, after a preliminary 285 km; EV Database lists 285 km for the passenger version, and a 10-80% fast charge in about 40 minutes. More electric vans and people carriers are collected in our electric cars section.

Dimensions, load space and boot

The figures below are for the petrol Kombi L1 in German ADAC data.

The panel van has no rear side windows and takes up to 3.9 m3 of cargo, two Euro pallets and up to 800 kg of payload. Both versions have two sliding side doors and either a top-hinged tailgate or split rear doors, and the Townstar can tow up to 1.5 tonnes. To see whether it fits your garage, try the garage fit tool.

Running costs and warranty

The petrol Kombi is rated at 6.7 l/100 km and 151 g/km of CO2 in the WLTP cycle. ADAC lists the warranty as five years or 160,000 km, extended for cars from October 2025 to up to ten years or 200,000 km if the car is serviced every year at a Nissan dealer. The traction battery of the electric version is covered for eight years or 160,000 km.

Prices in Germany (ADAC list prices):

At launch in early 2022 the petrol van started at EUR 19,250 before VAT in Germany.

Safety

Euro NCAP tested the Townstar in autumn 2021 together with its Renault sister and awarded four stars out of five. The scores were 78% for adult occupants (29.9 points), 87% for child occupants (43 points), 67% for vulnerable road users (36.6 points) and 72% for safety assist (11.6 points). Compare it with other tested cars in our safety rankings.

Reliability and sales

The Townstar has been on sale for less than four years, and we have not found sourced data on recurring faults, so we do not list any. Its mechanical parts are shared with the Kangoo and Citan.

In Germany, 6,642 Townstar passenger cars were registered up to December 2024, of which 125 were electric; commercial N1 registrations are counted separately and not included.

Rivals

The Townstar's closest competitors are its own sisters, the Renault Kangoo and the Mercedes-Benz Citan (passenger version: T-Class). Outside the alliance, it competes with the Volkswagen Caddy, the Ford Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect, and the Stellantis vans sold as Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Rifter, Opel Combo and Toyota Proace City.

The Kangoo E-Tech uses the same 90 kW motor and 45 kWh battery and quotes 285 to 300 km of WLTP range.