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'It's a beast': Think the all-new Y63 Nissan Patrol is tough? You ain't seen nothing yet

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Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
6 Oct 2024
3 min read

The all-new Y63 Nissan Patrol NISMO is such a terrifying beast the brand's head of design jokes it kept him up for four nights when he saw the finished version for the first time.

And unlike the Y62 Nismo, which was largely sold in the Middle East, Nissan expects the Y63 version to go global, so it could act as a flagship model alongside, or even above, any future Warrior product in Australia.

So what to expect? For that we turn to Nissan's senior vice president of global design, Alfonso Albaisa, who jokes about just how terrifying the Y63 version of the Patrol Nismo is.

"When I first saw it, I didn’t sleep for four days," he says. "When you see sketches and things like that, you lose the sense of scale. (But) when you see it full-sized? It’s a beast.

"I was hugging my pillow, I was afraid. I thought it new where I lived.

"They really went for it. That is a beast."

The big question is, just what will be powering it? We know the Y63 Patrol has ditched the petrol V8 in favour of a Godzilla-derived twin-turbo V6, producing 317kW and 700Nm.

But the engine's GT-R heritage means there's likely more to be squeezed from it. The GT-R Nismo, for example, managed a whopping 441kW, albeit with a lower 652Nm torque figure.

“It’s the same family. The GT-R engine is the grandfather, this one is the child, and a brother or a sister to the new Z. It’s the most powerful engine we have ever done, and the way the the oil is moved through the turbocharger is taken from the GT-R,” says Antonio Lopez, the Y63’s Chief Product Specialist.

It's worth pointing out here that the Y62 Nismo produced more power than the regular version, too, with its thumping V8 pumping out a sizeable 320kW and 560Nm, up from 298kW and 560Nm.

The Y62 Patrol Nismo was created largely for the Middle East, where Mr Albaisa says every vehicle they produced "vanished".

"The problem we have with Patrol Nismo is that it gets swallowed up in this (Middle Eastern) region. You literally can’t get one. And it’s mass purchasing, where people buy 70. They vanish," he says.

It's popularity means the program was baked into Y63 development, this time with global ambitions.

An Australian debut? You'll have to watch this space.

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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