Nissan Patrol Warrior 2024 review

There’s a new Nissan Patrol Warrior – well, sort of. This is largely the same model that launched at the tail end of 2023 top to tail, if one that now has a new infotainment system.

You might giggle but this actually stands to increase the appeal of this V8-powered, mud-snorting behemoth in somewhat of an outsized way. 

That’s because while the Y62 Nissan Patrol has been around since 2013, making it one of the oldest new cars still on sale. But the big wagon still has plenty of modern appeal, in the same way you might quite fancy wearing an old analogue watch.

For starters, the Patrol Warrior’s off-roading ability has fast become legendary, as is the way it effortlessly tows or tours, over vast distances and in surprising comfort. This is a vehicle suited to any Australian condition almost accidentally well, and still is.

For those who rue the loss of semi-affordable, naturally aspirated V8 vehicles, the Patrol breed also shines as something of an eight-cylinder hold-out. Its 5.6-litre petrol V8 produces 298kW and 560Nm, decent outputs although somewhat blunted by the 2884kg kerb weight. 

That’s a decent power-to-weight ratio of 103kW/tonne, if considerably less than even a Toyota GR86.

Despite that, though, the Patrol Warrior appeals like a tall pint of an icy ale after digging holes all a 40-degree day – and that has very much to do with that free-breathing, side-exhaust-exiting V8, which we’ll come back to later in this review.

Nissan has been able to offer this vehicle for as long as it has because it is the automotive embodiment of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. That is, except in one glaring way – its technology suite. 

Until recently, the Patrol still used seemingly the same central 8.0-inch infotainment screen as it had 14 years ago – with graphics looking like the digital version of an old street directory, making it feel like a used car even straight from the showroom.

Worse still, the entire centre stack appeared no different to that of the original vehicle that entered production in 2010. 

In 2021, left-hand-drive Patrols (called Armada in the US market) got a smart new interior, but smaller right-hand-drive markets were forced to soldier on with what already existed. This meant owners could forget about Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And you could count yourself lucky you got Bluetooth streaming. Or a CD player.

For 2024, however, Nissan has finally totally overhauled the right-hand-drive Patrol’s centre stack, fitting a new, 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen supporting wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s also DAB digital radio and now even a 15-watt wireless phone charging pocket, as well as a new higher definition reversing camera which displays nice and big on the larger screen.

Other additions for Patrol Warrior include a centre console cool box, video rear-view mirror, dual-zone climate control for the second row and a six-speaker audio system. There are now USB-A and USB-C ports for front-seat passengers, replacing the previous two USB-As. 

It all does come at a cost. The Patrol Warrior pricing is now up by $3000, to $104,160 before on-roads.

Impressively, the centre stack overhaul and new infotainment is all done in Australia. After arriving by boat from Japan, the vehicles head to Premcar’s manufacturing facility in Melbourne without any infotainment system. 

Premcar fits the new system itself – developed in part by an Australian supplier, Directed Technologies – which includes a new bit of plastic trim that repositions the HVAC controls, and installs a small cubby where the old, 8.0-inch screen used to be. It all looks really good.

While the new 10.1-inch touchscreen features in-built satellite navigation – and Hema off-road maps, although you will need to buy a subscription – most of the time you might be using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and the display is bright, crisp and colourful. 

The user-interface is easy enough to navigate, although it seemed the system could not auto-dim at night, the screen glowing brightly and needing to be manually dimmed in a partially buried menu. Despite the impressive a job in integrating it and making it look OEM, there is an unavoidable sense it’s an aftermarket job. If, to be fair, a good one.

Elsewhere, the interior is the same as it was before – including tall, archaic automatic gear selector – and fully analogue instruments that, to be kind to the Patrol Warrior, many will still prefer to a screen.

This is still a mighty comfortable place to be – and whether in the front, the rear, or using the gargantuan 1413-litre boot, there’s more interior space than you might possibly ever want or need. 

Being based on the Ti rather than the Ti-L, the Patrol Warrior’s interior is also a somewhat simpler place, with no heated or ventilated seats, no heated steering wheel, no sunroof, no memory front seats… The steering column also requires manual adjustment, there’s an old-school foot-operated parking brake and the tailgate is fully manual.

Despite the price hike, Nissan would argue that against key rival Toyota LandCruiser 300, you’re still saving potentially tens of thousands of dollars, though really these two competitors are vehicles that are literally generations apart.

To use the analogue watch analogy again, that is part of the charm of the Patrol Warrior. Climbing into what is a truly enormous vehicle, the Patrol’s VK56VD V8 fires to life and settles to a satisfying bent-eight burble. And the V8 continues to be the beating heart of the Patrol Warrior, in such a domineering way that you might not give this vehicle quite so longing a look if it had a twin-turbo V6.

The V8, which is connected (gleefully) to a Premcar-developed bi-modal exhaust, sounds glorious. Any opportunity to open the taps is one taken greedily, the 5.6-litre bellowing rudely out the side exhaust.

While there’s no exhaust button allowing you to fix the valve open, knocking the seven-speed torque converter automatic into manual mode has the same effect. Rev-matching on down-changes is surprisingly good, with faint old-school V8 Supercar vibes.

While the locally developed suspension delivers acceptable ride quality – one that shines best on corrugated dirt roads – this is still a hulking, enormous vehicle that corners with all the deftness of a Wallaby front-rower. Of course, the Patrol Warrior is much happier sniffing slowly up some dirt trail.

Just as we found when we last tested the Patrol Warrior in Tasmania, this is a vehicle you’d have no qualms taking to the toughest and most remote parts of Australia – or anywhere, really. 

On our short off-road test, the Patrol Warrior plunged into mud pits, wriggled through ruts and crawled up the most rutted of trails while shrugging as if to say, is that it? The way it solves off-road problems is mighty impressive.

And if you plan to venture far into the Australian yonder, it’s just as well the Patrol Warrior has a 140-litre fuel tank given its prodigious circa 14L/100km thirst – and that’s if you drive it sedately. Either way, prepare for a rude shock when filling up from empty with 95-octane at today’s circa-$2.20 per litre.

At the end of the day, has a new infotainment system changed the game for the Nissan Patrol Warrior? Not really.

It might be more accurate to say it’s saved you from fitting an aftermarket, double-din infotainment system yourself, something that wouldn’t really be possible given the previous design of the centre stack. 

Given the other goodies thrown in for the $3000 price increase, however, this has been a worthwhile upgrade for a reasonable additional price. It’s made a good vehicle with plenty of appeal slightly better – a roaring, last-of-the-dinosaurs V8, if one now wearing an Apple Watch. 

We say get in quick before the new-generation Y63 Patrol arrives in the next year or two with its twin-turbo V6, marking the start of a brand-new era for sure, but also the end of one that will no doubt be very fondly missed.