Nissan tweaks Patrol

NISSAN Australia has given its hulking Patrol upper large SUV a mild update for the 2018 model year with tweaked styling, an upgrade to standard kit levels and a price hike of $2000 over the outgoing model.

The range now opens at $71,990 plus on-roads for the Ti variant, while the more luxurious Ti-L will now cost $88,990.

It is the first time Nissan has updated the largest model in its range since the petrol-only Y62 Patrol landed on Australian shores in February 2013.

Since its launch, Nissan Australia has retired the trusty Y61 diesel-powered Patrol, after more than 100,000 sales and over 20 years on the market, due to increasingly tight emissions regulations.

Visual changes to the updated model include a revised grille with horizontal metallic bars in keeping with other models in Nissan’s SUV range, new foglight housings and revised 18-inch alloy wheels.

Inside, the updated Patrol gains an updated infotainment system with a multi-touch panel, two USB charging points at the rear of the centre console and 8.0-inch screens built into the back of the front headrests for the Ti-L variant.

To make parking easier in the 5140mm long, 1995mm wide, 2.7-tonne Patrol, Nissan has doubled the number of front and rear parking sensors to four at each end.

No changes have been made to the Patrol’s 5.6-litre aspirated V8 engine, which continues to develop 298kW at 5800 rpm and 560Nm at 4000rpm, while sipping 14.5 litres of fuel per 100km.

The V8 is teamed to a seven-speed automatic transmission with low-range transfer case, accessible through the All-Mode four-wheel-drive shift switch, which sends power to all four wheels.

Six airbags are included as standard, while the Ti-L gets active safety features such as blind spot warning and intervention, forward collision warning, distance control assist and lane departure warning.

Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester said the Patrol updates would make driving the big SUV a simple proposition.

“The changes to Nissan Patrol are sure to attract Patrol devotees and be appealing to new large SUV buyers,” he said.

“Rearview cameras and 360 all-round views are important on larger SUVs, but doubling the parking sensors to four at the front and four at the rear will make parking, and the manoeuvring of the vehicle in tight spaces, significantly easier.”

To the end of September this year, Nissan has sold 711 examples of the Patrol, representing a 50.6 per cent slide over the 1440 it sold to the same point in 2016.

It is well of the pace of its main rival, the Toyota LandCruiser, which has found 9575 homes with a greater range of variants, as well as the choice of petrol or diesel powertrains.

2017 Nissan Patrol pricing*

Ti (a)	$71,990
Ti-L (a)	$88,990

*Excludes on-road costs