2020 VISION
NISSAN PATROL
Nissan’s Y62 Patrol has been around a surprising 10 years now (eight in Australia), but somehow still seems new, perhaps because of its still-ahead-of-the game high-tech suspension.
For 2020, all the Y62 basics, including the trick suspension and thundering V8 remain, but there’s new safety tech galore, especially on the less expensive of the two models, the Ti.
It gains radar cruise, lane-departure warning/intervention, and blind-spot warning/intervention. The Ti and the Ti-L then gain automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning and rear cross-traffic alert. New colours, distinctive new front and rear styling, and some seemingly unnecessary fiddling with high-speed damper response complete the 2020 overhaul. And while prices have drifted north by $2,000–$3,000, they still remain well south of what Toyota asks for its LandCruiser 200.
What you don’t get with the Patrol is, of course, a diesel engine – long rumoured but mirage-like to date. But just in case you missed it, the Patrol’s 5.6-litre petrol V8 is a cracker; energetic, urgent and free revving, it brings performance aplenty despite the Patrol’s notable size, which has it bigger and a bit heavier than an LC200. And while the lusty V8
