Nissan Patrol Ti 2013 review

The challenge was how to shoehorn it into a shopping centre parking bay. Nissan's new Patrol V8 is a big machine, more than 5.1m in length and close on 2m wide and tall.

It did fit, but it took some manoeuvering, and left only about the length of a matchstick between its bumpers and those of the vehicles front and rear. That apart, the big boy was more pleasant than expected, indeed, it was an adventure in luxury and technology.

Price and range

The new Patrols come in three grades, ST-L, Ti and Ti-L priced at $82,200, $92,800 and $113,900 respectively. All have a 5.6-litre, V8 petrol engine matched to a seven-speed automatic transmission and a smart All-Mode 4x4 system with 4H and 4L with sand, rock, snow and on-road modes.

Explore the 2013 Nissan Patrol range

• Nissan Patrol Ti-L 2013 review
• Nissan Patrol auto 2013 review
• Nissan Patrol V8 2013 review: snapshot
• Nissan Patrol Ti-L 2013 review: road test
• Nissan Patrol V8 Ti 2013 review
• Nissan Patrol Ti 2013 review
• Nissan Patrol 2013 review

If you're serious about going onto cliff faces, there's a rear differential lock and electronic hill start assist and hill descent control. Diesel? The sole oil-burner in the Patrol range at present is in the cab-chassis version, and it's a rather dated powerplant.

That big V8 generates 298kW and 560Nm, and if you drive it carefully on a windless day and on dead level smooth road, you should average 14.5litres/100km on premium fuel. That's not bad for a wagon of this size, and considerably better than the earlier 4.8-litre straight-six which had a reputation for its drinking problem.

Equipment

The interior gets leather-accented seating, wood veneer dash trim, all the electronic connectivity du jour, power-adjustable driver and front passenger seats and tri-zone automatic climate control. There's a six-speaker audio system with a 2.0GB music hard drive, a 7-inch screen, four power outlets, eight bottle holders, rear aircon controls, a couple of DVD players, multiple steering wheel controls and intelligent key access.

Vital to life in the urban area is the rear view camera with predictive path, and front and rear parking sonar. It also has auto-on headlights and wipers. Also new is the suspension, an all-independent coil-sprung double wishbone system that's streets ahead of the old live axles.

Driving

The new suspension set-up gives Big Butch a more comfortable, confident ride, in keeping with its elevated status of luxury transport. No doubt it can still tackle the worst Oz can throw at it, but its big chromed mirrors, deep gloss paint, shiny 18-in alloy wheels and road tyres suggest 9.75 out of 10 will be on the tarmac, rather than the bush.

Our mid-range eight-seater Ti test vehicle also came with Hydraulic Body Motion Control, featuring adaptive dampers that firm up during cornering and maximises suspension travel on rough roads.

Climb inside and you'll find it a very spacious and pleasant place with superb visibility. Spacewise, even with all eight seats occupied, there's 550 litres of cargo room. And the third row seats can be laid flat in an easy  one-hand operation to greatly increase the boot area.

The big fella drives beautifully and despite its 2.7 tonne mass, it can really get a move on. That hairy V8 and the smooth seven-speed trannie can push it to 100kmh in about seven seconds, but it will do dreadful things to the fuel economy. The Patrol has a 140 litre fuel tank to give it a good touring range and a braked towing capacity of 3500kg.

Verdict

Luxury and performance on a large scale.