2010 Nissan Patrol .Every exterior panel, bar the roof, was altered on all seven-seat variants, and include redesigned headlights, grille, bonnet, bumpers, mudguards, rear valance, tail-lights and wheels. The biggest engine change has been to the 3.0 TDI four-cylinder five-speed manual; it now emits 118kW/380Nm (116kW/354Nm for the auto). More and more vehicles are borrowing from the ‘soft-roader’ philosophy of vehicle engineering.
No such fears for Nissan’s Patrol. A low range transfer case and rigid axles might put it in rare company these days, but there’s no doubting the Patrol’s desire to play dirty.
2010 Nissan Patrol Ti
What’s new?
The Patrol doesn’t offer much that’s new; what it does offer is plenty of tried and tested hardware.
The 3.0 litre common-rail engine, four-speed automatic, manually selected low-range and rigid front and rear axles may not represent Nissan’s most cutting edge technology, but offer rugged durability that’s hard to beat.
What’s the appeal?
Front seats are electrically adjustable.
The Patrol, unashamedly a body-on-frame style 4x4 in the old school idiom, now comes up short in terms of ride, handling, comfort and some features. It's noisy and coarse as a result and we can't help but wonder if a more modern transmission wouldn't help the diesel Patrol overcome some of its less socially acceptable traits.
Nissan's access to Renault technology would surely suggest that the new Nissan Patrol will get a modern V6 oiler. On the road, Patrol is a natural understeerer and this feature gets worse the harder it's pushed. While high-speed cornering is obviously beyond the Patrol's design brief, even winding tarred roads in National Parks will tax unwary drivers, as the Patrol pushes its nose out of the expected arc of travel.
Off-road, the Patrol is better than good. Make no error, this is a big, heavy social renegade; it is over 5 metres long; weighs 2477kg (the manual is 35kg heavier); and has a turning circle (in two wheel-drive) of 12.5 metres.
Keen to keep the aging Patrol as current as possible, Nissan has added features to tempt new buyers and existing Patrollers back. Note too with the asymmetrically split rear doors, the camera is off to one side. Patrol's seats, leather-clad at this spec-level, are electrically operated up front, with height adjustment and manual lumbar support on the driver's side. Despite the Patrol's size, getting into the third row involves folding down the second row, so it's a bit of a mission. The overhead ones are sprung and extend slightly, if needed.
Safety features include dual front and side airbags and ABS brakes with a gravel sensor.
Fundamental electronic driver aids like stability and traction control are entirely absent. Deliberately tacking some steep dirt roads in two-wheel drive saw the Patrol resolutely inching its way up, irrespective of throttle position; once four-wheel drive was engaged, the Patrol unsurprisingly disdainfully thundered up the hill as if it wasn't there.
The asymmetrical barn door rear-end treatment achieves little -- as the primary smaller door leads directly onto the folded left rear-most seat; to stow anything bigger than a shopping bag, you need to open both doors. One would think that the Nissan Patrol, even with its' smaller 3.0-litre turbodiesel and less-than-hi-tech auto gearbox, would make a fine towing vehicle. The Patrol is showing its age undoubtedly but while there are more youthful rivals on the market, for the money there are few that can match the Patrol's legendary offroad ability, space and unbridled reliability.