NISSAN PATROL
Ever since the Y61 Patrol was pensioned off
everyone laments that there is no true Land
Cruiser 200 competitor from Nissan. They are
forgetting the Y62 Patrol, which is very much a
competitor, if heavy-trailer towing is your thing.
Sure, compared to the 200 Series (which has had
several significant upgrades since its arrival in
2007) the Patrol does seem underdone with some of
its outdated and clunky controls, and it feels even
bigger to drive around town than the Cruiser.
The biggest problem in most people’s eyes is that
there is no diesel Y62 Patrol, just the whopping
big 5.6L petrol V8. Driving solo around town, it
will slug down fuel at an alarming rate compared
to the 4.5L diesel 200 Series. Driven gently on
the open road, it’ll get down to around the
12L/100km mark.
The Y62’s will burn more than 20L every 100km
if you’ve got a 3000kg caravan behind it, but so
does the turbodiesel Land Cruiser 200 Series.
Diesel is about 15-20 per cent more expensive
than unleaded, too, so when it comes to fuel costs
on the big tour, you can’t say diesel is the cheaper
alternative. The Patrol is a very good tow
vehicle, with great performance,
pretty good stability
and ride, and it’s much cheaper to buy than a
Land Cruiser 200, too.
One fact to be aware of, however, is that the
Patrol’s GVM is reduced depending on the towball
mass – with 350kg on the ball, it’s reduced from
3500kg to 3370kg.
Y62 NISSAN PATROL
PRICE
$88,990 (PLUS ON-ROAD COSTS)
ENGINE
5.6L V8 PETROL
OUTPUT
298KW/560NM
TRANSMISSION
SEVEN-SPEED AUTOMATIC
TOWING CAPACITY
3500KG/350KG
KERB WEIGHT
2750KG
GVM
GCM
3500KG 7000KG
10 \