The Nissan Patrol is back with the 2013 facelift and a whole lot more oomph for your dollars. This certainly isn’t the sort of Patrol that the late Steve Irwin used to drive on his adventures (we still get out the old videos and relive the memories). This is the all new 2013 Nissan Patrol at your service, ready to take you on adventures both expected and unexpected.

The new 2013 Nissan Patrol is big, bold and beautiful. Gone are the old chunky square looks of the older ones. Now, the Patrol has the curves and the tasteful touches of chrome that characterise most modern designs, but with a few touches that set it apart. Take the shape of the rear window when viewed from the side (from the back, it’s a big square, of course, that gives you heaps of visibility). Although the rear of the car has the classic straight-down lines of a 4×4 – which the 2013 Nissan Patrol certainly is – the rear window has a backward-pointing angle at the top that makes the vehicle look a lot more streamlined and slick. It also echoes the shape of the front bumper and the lights as they curve from front to back. The front of the 2013 Nissan Patrol is smart and stylish – if you didn’t see the logo, you’d be ready to swear that this was something from a posher marque like Volvo rather than the good old Nissan at first glance.

Not that there’s any shortage of poshness on the inside of the 2013 Nissan Patrol. If you were expecting rough and ready stuff to match the sort of terrain that the 2013 Nissan Patrol was built to handle, you would be completely wrong. While the Patrol is designed to cruise over, around and through the toughest stuff that the Outback or the Top End can throw at it, the inside is set up to keep you comfy while you do. This interior comfort goes way beyond lots of very comfortable seats (eight in the ST-L and Ti; seven in the top-notch Ti-L). We’re also talking about triple-zone climate control, which has a memory function that ties in with the Intelligent Key system in the Ti-L. In the ST-L and Ti, the Intelligent Key function is your good old (?) keyless entry system, but in the Ti-L, it knows from the moment you get in how you like it for the climate control, the tilt and telescopic adjustment of the steering wheel, the audio system and the heated power-adjustable and folding exterior mirrors. The gadgets that everybody gets no matter which type of 2013 Nissan Patrol they get are push-button starting, cruise-control, leather-wrapped gear knob and steering wheel, Bluetooth prep, 60/40 fold-down seats in the middle and back row, rear park assist and airbags galore. You’ve also got sat-nav with an 8-inch in the Ti-L, and a 7-inch display screen (but not sat-nav) in the other two models. The Ti-L also throws in a screen for the back seat as standard – with headphones, which will be a bit of a sanity saver on long journeys.

But we all know that the main aim of the game in a 2013 Nissan Patrol isn’t just about getting from A to B in comfort: it’s about going off road and getting into the rough stuff. So can the 2013 Nissan Patrol do it? By the looks of the promo videos, it can. While the default transmission for the 2013 Nissan Patrol is automatic but you can put it into manual mode – a bit of a must in the rough when you know what you need and when. To get you over and through any sort of road (or nearly anything off the road), you have independent double wishbone coil sprung front and rear suspension to keep things comfy, rear differential lock, rear helical limited slip differential, hill descent control and hill start assist, as well as the usual active safety things like traction control, EBD and ABS brakes. With 283 mm of ground clearance, a front approach maximum angle of 34.1° and a departure angle of 25.9°, the 2013 Nissan Patrol is more than capable of doing anything you want it to.

The 2013 Nissan Patrol Ti-L ups the ante a bit on the active safety front with a forward collision warning system, lane departure warning & prevention, blind spot warning & prevention, intelligent cruise control, distance control assist and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

But what’s under that tough-looking bonnet? Under all variants of the 2013 Nissan Patrol, you’ll find a VK56VD, 5.6-litre VVEL V8 petrol engine with plenty of oomph. The power curve maxes out at 298 kW at 5800 rpm while the torque peaks at 560 Nm at 4000 revs. This translates to plenty of grunt when you want it, and if you are considering a 4×4 for towing purposes, the 2013 Nissan Patrol is more than capable – it can haul a maximum weight of 3500 kg if your trailer has brakes (750 kg if it hasn’t). The typical fuel consumption is around 14.5 l per 100 km, which isn’t bad going for a big engine and a big vehicle. So far, only petrol variants are available, and the torque and fuel economy for diesel ones will be even better.

The current model series includes the:

• 2013 Nissan Patrol ST-L
• 2013 Nissan Patrol Ti
• 2013 Nissan Patrol Ti-L

For any more information on the 2013 Nissan Patrol, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Nissan dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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