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Current model Nissan Patrol owners looking to upgrade to the new Y62 Patrol due in 2012 may have to think again: the new vehicle is all luxury and seems certain to come with a price tag to match, somewhere north of $100,000. Nissan Australia managing director, Dan Thompson admitted only a few current Patrol owners would `trade up' to the V8 petrol-powered Y62 model.
This leaves owners looking for a new, rubber-mat, workhorse Patrol with only one option if they stick with the Nissan brand: the current Y61 Patrol which is now 12 years old and comes with a not particularly popular 3.0 litre in-line, four cylinder turbo diesel. The price tag for the entry level 3.0 DX is $53,190. Mr Thompson said a new 550Nm 3.0 litre V6 turbo diesel which will power Pathfinder and Navara is not being considered as a replacement engine for the current Y61 Patrol. “We are looking at other options,” he said.
Nissan gave motoring journalists a Melbourne Cup Eve test drive of the Y62, 5.6 litre V8 Patrol at Queensland's Mt Cotton Driver Training Centre south of Brisbane in off-road and on track conditions. It's an impressive piece of machinery, light-years ahead of the more than capable Y61 Patrol, and packed to the roof with the latest advanced technology. It's rivals will be luxury 4WDs, Toyota LandCruiser 200 Sahara, Range Rover and Lexus LX570. The test car is a Nissan Australia import from the Middle East and was a top-specification model in left-hand-drive.
It's a large vehicle, 5140mm long, 1995mm wide and with a 3075 mm wheelbase. Ground clearance is a huge 275mm while the vehicle tips the scales at 2785kg. It seats eight people and has 100 litre fuel tank with a 40 litre auxiliary. The 298 kW V8 is linked to a seven speed automatic transmission with a manual shift mode.
Australian buyers may wonder why Nissan would consider this vehicle for the Australian market, with the simple fact they had no choice. It was developed for the wealthy Middle East market which demand luxury and high-powered petrol engines. It will also find it's way to the US where Nissan want to gain a foothold in the smaller SUV segment, the US also being a petrol V8 market. The bottom line is sales and Nissan will sell around 25,000 of the Y62 vehicles in the Middle East this year, compared to the Australian right-hand-drive, diesel market of around 4000 units. Mr Thompson has not ruled out a de-specced, entry-level variant of the Y62 for Australia, but this would still come with the big V8. Right now there are no hard plans for a Y62 diesel although Nissan Australia is lobbying the Nissan Japan HQ on this.
The new Patrol V8 dramatically slashes fuel consumption compared to the current petrol Patrol which runs a 4.8 litre six cylinder that returns a whopping 17.2 litres/100 km. The new V8 achieves a combined 14.4 litres/100 km. The new Patrol uses technology adapted from the World Rally Championship for the first time in an off-road passenger vehicle. Called Hydraulic Body Motion Control, the system controls body roll and stability for on and off-road use. The system does not use stabiliser bars and replaces the roles of the stabiliser bars and shock absorbers, giving flatter on-road performance and more wheel articulation off-road. New suspension hardware includes 4-wheel independent double wishbones, upgraded from the previous rigid axle set up.
We had the opportunity to test the system off and on road as well as follow the vehicle off-road in a current model diesel Patrol. When following the new Patrol off-road it becomes apparent the suspension does a huge amount of work with wheels dropping into washouts and climbing over mounds while the body remains relatively flat. It was impressive. The results for passengers, as we later found out during our off-road test, was a calm, comfortable ride over rough terrain.
Over the same tracks the current Patrol did it with ease, but with the passenger comfort levels somewhat higher on the Richter scale. Our black-top road test was limited to a quick run around the Mt Cotton road course where the body roll seemed okay for a car that tips the scales, with passengers, at around three tonnes. The engine and transmission are impressive and we had no trouble hitting the old money 100 mph (160 km/h) down the main straight.
Nissan has incorporated an all-mode 4WD system in the centre console where the driver can flick between auto, high range 4WD and low range. There's also push-button terrain choices of sand, on-road, snow and rock for the various on and off-road conditions. In addition there Hill Descent Control which limits the downhill speed to 4km/h in low range and 7 km/h while in high range, as well as hill start assist.
We were also impressed by the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) that includes an individual tyre pressure display and tyre inflation indicator atop the centre stacker. At a glance you can see exactly what tyre pressure you are running, as well as for off-road work the exact direction the front wheels are facing, as well as a central compass. The vehicle also comes available with a hard drive-based navigation system and a 9.3 GB `Music Box' audio.
New technologies aimed at great safety and crash damage minimisation also include lane departure warning and prevention, intelligent cruise control, distance control assist, forward collision warning system, vehicle dynamic control, traction control, helical brake limited slip differential, mechanical diff lock and intelligent brake assist. The new Patrol has six airbags.
The interior is plush with pleated leather on the door panels, wood grain inlays, polished aluminium club-like leather seats, three DVD players, limousine-like legroom for the second row of passengers all atop a traditional ladder chassis that boasts twice the lateral rigidity of the current Patrol. The NVH is negligible at speed on-road or rock-hopping. Pricing and Australian specifications and variants will be announced at a later date. |
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