ON PATROL & IN CONTROL

Nissan Patrol takes luxury off-roading to a special level

I’ve always believed that Nissan missed a trick with its Patrol when it was first introduced here as an all-powerful incredibly capable and even then luxurious 4x4.

In those days the Patrol had a solid front axle, and along with the

Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land

Cruiser, was considered a big daddy of the off-road world.

But somehow the ama-clevers at Nissan couldn’t capitalise on its status as a real offroader to challenge the more traditional guys – and among those in the know, issues surrounding spares and other gremlins started circulating, and the Defender (now discontinued) and the legendary Cruiser simply dominated serious off-roading excursions, despite a loyal following of Patrol fans.

While South Africa is only a drop in the ocean in global vehicle sales, Patrol sales ticked over here – unlike the Middle East, where it remains a popular but thirsty beast to play in the dunes. But hey, when you’re paying virtually nothing for fuel, who’s keeping track?

Enter then the new Nissan Patrol, still an enormously (and enormous) capable 4x4, except that it takes luxury off-roading to a special level.

It’s one of the biggest vehicles on our roads and the sheer size would be intimidating to most, including taxi drivers, who tend to give it a wide berth. Also intimidating is the size of the engine: a good old-fashioned normally aspirated 5.6 litre V8 that gives you 298kw and 560Nm of torque that’s powerful enough to drag your house from its foundations – also why they are so popular in oil-rich countries.

You do get a 140-litre tank, which at today’s prices will set you back R2 210.60, and at an average of 16l/100km you get to do about 2 200km. But in low range and sand it jumps to almost 20l/100km, so playing in the dunes will probably be out of reach for most of us Joe averages.

Style-wise there’s only so much you can do with a behemoth, and despite the design being a little aged, the sheer size of it makes it almost irrelevant.

Inside it’s a little like being called into a multibillion-rand company CEO’S office. The smell of quality tan leather abounds and even though the wooden-styled inlays are again a bit dated and out of place, it somehow works and you soon get used to it.

With ground clearance of 272mm, it stands high as well, and once you’re behind the wheel the driving position is commanding to say the least.

Both front seats are electrically adjustable and are heated and cooled, while between them you’ll find a refrigerated cooler box under the large armrest, which works brilliantly – as we found out after spending a day off-road.

There are enough USB and 12v outlets to keep everyone happy, a sunroof, triple-zone climate control and a third row of seats, which have enough room for adults and leave decent enough space behind them for luggage.

If the kids get a bit bored and irritated on a long trip there’s always the option of watching a DVD on the screens set into the front headrests and fitted with wireless headphones.

Nissan call it their intelligent mobility, which is a list of features including (but not limited to) blindspot intervention, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, lane intervention, lane departure warning, around-view monitor and smart rear-view mirror technology. Pretty much everything technologically and safety-wise you could ever wish for except an espresso machine.

And if you’re into towing, the Patrol has an impressive towing capacity of 3.5 tons.

On-road manners are superb, the hydraulically compensating suspension gobbling up every bump and pothole, and the steering incredibly light and responsive, even when parking at a shopping mall. Impressive too is the ease with which the Patrol’s seven-speed automatic gearbox handles the oodles of power that powers 18-inch tyres, which are a perfect size for going off-road with a vehicle of this size.

And it’s off-road where the Patrol made its name, so we took it to a track close to Hartbeespoort with two or three serious obstacles and a couple of axle-twisters.

I deflated the tyres, which immediately gave the tyre pressure monitor an opportunity to remind me of that, but it did go off when I moved into four-wheel drive.

Changing between auto/4h/4lo is easily done with a dial on the console, and diff-lock, should you need it, is just a push of a button on the same dial.

Because of the Patrol’s size you have to choose your lines very carefully and even more so when negotiating a bend, which forces you to continually concentrate on where the back wheels are trailing.

Once you’ve got to grips with it, the Patrol is unstoppable and it was only because the vehicle was stock standard, including running boards and highway tyres, that I wasn’t able to drive one obstacle that a heavily modified Jeep Rubicon climbed over.

The only (minor) irritation was that every time I switched off the engine to inspect an obstacle, the fourwheel drive setting would default back to auto on-road.

At almost R1.34 million, the Nissan Patrol will get most bank managers’ eyes watering when you ask for finance, so too every time you swipe the garage card. But if you’re in that league, and you park it in your enlarged garage every night, you have a vehicle that will put a smile on your face every time you drive it around town and when you cross our borders on another adventure.

The Patrol comes with a sixyear/150 000km warranty and a threeyear/90000km service plan.