Down & Dirty
Newcastle Herald
Saturday September 11, 1999
DON'T ask a dedicated four-wheel driver about vehicle style.
No, your average four-wheel-drivin' bloke or blokette does not give much credence to shut lines, angles and aerodynamics.
They will tell you about front and rear overhangs, ramp angles, mounting points for winches and bull bars and tell you that the jack wouldn't lift the car if life itself depended on it but styling? No way.
Mr and Ms Four-wheel-drive are more interested in performance, grunt in measurable quantities to propel their chosen form of transport through mud, across rocks and logs, ford swollen rivers and crest sand dunes.
That would be Mr and Mrs Deadset Four-wheel-drive, incidentally, because their close relations, the Pretend Offroaders, would be looking for something a little different.
For them its a case of `maybe'. `Maybe,' they say, they will do the `Big Trip' or the `Desert Trek' or will `tow the 'van to the Snowies'.
In the meantime, though, they will use the fourbie for carting the kids to school, driving to work and, every now and then, driving up and down the highway.
The pretenders will harp about style, demand the classy velour seat trims and the carpet and absolutely have to have air, steer and CD while the dinky-di types will want only the practicalities.
Recently we drove a vehicle which will probably find friends in both camps, plush enough to drive around town, tough enough to have serious cred in the outback.
It is Nissan's latest Patrol ST, a soft-sided workhorse with a long pedigree.
Yes, we have tested Nissan Patrols before but this particular Patrol has something none of the others can lay claim to ? a turbocharged version of the latest 4.2 litre diesel engine.
The T/D Patrol is a classic example of how just one (admittedly major) component change can transform a vehicle yet the figures do not accurately tell the full story. Continued, Page 54
From Page 47
Top Patrol is down & dirty
In the Nissan line-up the big oiler can only be compared directly with the 4.5 litre, naturally-aspirated, petrol-powered six.
The petrol engine is more powerful (by 31kW) and has more torque (30Nm more) but is by no means a lay down misere over its oil-burning brother.
Why not? Because the diesel's 114kW and 330Nm are developed way down in the rev range. It brings its maximum power and torque into play at 3600rpm and 2000rpm respectively while the petrol engine does not get its power and torque into stride until 4400rpm and 3600rpm respectively.
It might not seem like a lot but the application is all chalk and cheese stuff. Neither of them are exactly high revving powerplants but where the petrol engine has urge the diesel has surge.
The petrol-powered engine might run a little faster but the oiler runs harder, the stump-pulling, low-down torque making up for any deficiencies in the power department.
That sheer grunt is most apparent offroad where the diesel will lumber along easily and without apparent effort while the petrol-engined offroader is sometimes caught short of a ratio. Low is sometimes too low, second is just a tad too high.
The diesel, by comparison rocks along comfortably and often one gear higher than the unleaded-guzzling beast.
And speaking of guzzling the diesel does not break the bank at the bowser. It is less thirsty and more thrifty, especially at a time (like now) when diesel is actually cheaper by the litre than petrol.
On the road and around the suburbs the diesel is enjoyable simply for its laziness. For those who don't like changing gears it will start-off in second (we managed to get it away in third once, quite by accident) and can be driven without too much trouble simply by moving the shift lever between third and fourth.
Top gear is pure open road stuff and allows the Patrol T/D to show its other side ? a vehicle capable of cruising at close to 120kmh with the rev counter needle barely above 2000rpm.
The rest is standard issue Patrol which translates to robust and reasonably well-equipped.
For those dedicated to the idea of a vehicle with genuine offroad capability the Patrol has a separate chassis with coil spring suspension at both ends to give good wheel travel and a supple offroad ride.
Onroad ride is not so supple. In fact it is very firm with the big tyres picking-up every bump, hole and undulation.
Equipment levels are high, running to such niceties as power mirrors, windows and locking and an in-dash CD player.
The seats in our test vehicle felt too firm but they were well-designed with decent side bolsters to stop driver and front seat passenger from moving around too much in the rough.
Back seat passengers? They get a wide bench seat and plenty of legroom but unfortunately have to make do with grab handles and seatbelts to fight gravity in the bush.
And styling? Well, the Patrol (like most four-wheel-drives) has been designed with function winning-out over form in the design team's brief.
It still looks like a carefully sculpted house brick even though the lines have been softened over the old model.
But it works well and for us the finishing touch was the diesel engine.
It might sound like a truck at idle and it might growl like a grumpy old bear when the throttle is given a decent kick but it gives the ST Patrol the power to climb walls.
And for serious offroaders that has to be a good thing.
Specifications
Price: $52,990 (does not include options and on-road costs)
Dimensions:
Length: 5010mm
Width: 1930mm
Height: 1855mm
Wheelbase: 2970mm
Track front/rear: 1605mm/1625mm
Kerb weight: 2270
Engine: Turbocharged, overhead valve, 4.2 litre, inline six-cylinder diesel. 114kW @ 3600rpm, 330Nm @ 2000rpm.
Transmission: Five-speed manual, two-speed transfer case.
Chassis: Front, longitudinally-mounted engine, rear-wheel-drive (part-time four-wheel-drive), four-wheel disc brakes, automatic-locking free-wheel hubs, power-assisted ball and nut steering.
Suspension: Three-link coil springs and stabiliser bar front, five-link with stabiliser bar rear.
Fuel capacity: 135 litres (95 litre main tank, 40 litre reserve).
Fuel economy: 15.43 litres/100km.
© 1999 Newcastle Herald
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