Are the Patrol CRD 3lts still a <span class="highlight">grenade</span>?

depends if you like soft drivelines and CV's made out of tissue paper.

I can see the value for money and old school toughness argument for the Patrol but if you can afford the 200 IMHO should be looking at a D4. It is cheaper than the Cruiser and perhaps better value for money than the Patrol and a far superior vehicle to both. My 3.0 is now consistently delivering low 10's solo and mid 11's with the Aussie Swag on the back. 20K on board.

FWIW no problems with my 02 Patrol 3.0Di Auto when sold at 140K.

OBT

Geez pepper,

With those fuel figures Id be better off keeping the 4.8.

Cheers

New patrol is 2 weeks old

Hi Peter

I have a 2008 CRD, and my fuel consumption was high 13's, but about 12 mths ago it started to drop. It started to improve about 50,000 km.

i keep all fuel records and now it is about 13.1 lt/100 over the liife of vehicle, and consistently low to mid 12's each tan full.


Alan

I'm betting that your Patrol is an auto! Seems high consumption is related somehow to auto transmissions and Nissan vehicles....my D40 Navara auto returns around 12.5 around town and 13 on the highway (go figure) - and when towing my 1.4 tonne camper gets 14.5.

Yea agree........we have an 80 series petrol auto, a 4.2 turbo diesel 100 series and my D40 in the family.....and I sure prefer driving the D40 and certainly feel much more relaxed at the end of a long drive. That said, off road the higher clearance of the cruisers is much better.

Hi Shaver

Thats about same as my new auto Patrol Petrol 4800 and I certainly like its refinement , but without getting into a Toyo/Nissan discussion what I am really try to find out is how much it uses in the heavy stuff.

Wonderer if you have tried yours out like that.

I am planning a Vic desserts trip now over march long weekend to sort this out.

I think the only way to find out, and cut out the guesses, will be to use a 50km sand track course I have previously worked with , fill the car up on the spot with jerries, drive out the course 2 or 3 times and re-fill it on the spot.

I am secretly hoping the use won't quite double (25lt/100km)

Robin,

Sorry can't help you there with fuel consumption, but it would no doubt be a bit heavier by any stretch of the imagination. I think the 200 with KDSS, Centre Diff Lock & Crawl Control (if used) would have the advantage though in regard to traction & wheel articulation.

Your tempting me with that reply Shaver , but I'll stay on message, its just that I have noticed a heavy fuel use increase whenever the torque convertors in these things go unlocked.

I know Robin from past Post's you can be a bit one eyed, but as you say, we will stay on track ! End of matter !

The 200 Series is light years ahead of the Patrol which is to be expected. So is a 100 series V8 in my opinion, in terms of refinement, NVH levels etc however the problem still remains fuel consumption and the Patrol Diesel is more economical and people don't take V8 cruisers off road that much. The 100 series 6 cylinder cruiser live axle is an old truck nowadays imo. The diesel 100 series still demand a ripping price so we have a void for large to medium sized diesel 4WD's in my opinion.

not really sure why people limit themselves to Patrols vs Cruisers - for most needs, there are plenty of vehicles out there that will do the job with much better fuel economy, handling etc, including Prados, Pathfinders and Discos. Patrols and Cruisers are quite space inefficient, so big on the outside doesn't always equate to being commensurately big on the inside.

Regardless of the vehicle choice, diesel will always be better than petrol for offroading and touring for reasons including: better fuel economy in general and therefore better range; smaller % increase in fuel consumption offroad; safer to carry diesel in jerrys than petrol; low revving and relaxed driveability both onroad and off... I'm actually not sure why they even bother making petrol 4WDs any more...diesel technology has advanced at a greater rate than petrol technology in the last decade to the extend that there's not much performance advantage with petrol, but a serious economy disadvantage.

Finally, fuel consumption increases at a greater rate as petrol engines age vs diesel engines.

Average Joes dont buy Discos nor was that the question, perhaps the Prado D4 is an alternative? I guess the problem and issue is Nissan's reputation and therefore the original question, we have already deviated ? Tell me do you think Nissan Patrol Buyers consider a new Disco's of some description?

IMHO The state of the market at the moment is quite interesting as it is becoming more fragmented. The GU Patrol started out competing against the 80 series and in many ways is still what people are looking at but the 200 is nothing like an 80. Probably the nearest thing in the Tojo catalog is the "4 door Troopie" which has several disadvantages to the Patrol but an advantage in the engine dept. The 100 took Toyota further away from the market that genuinely needed an affordable, tough 4wd wagon and the 200 even further again. I think the Prado has filled the gap for Toyota in the 'average joe' stakes as they can't stump the cash for the 200. Those that can are also considering the D4 because of the superior capability and value. These people are either not going to really hurt a 100K car (perhaps tow or tour only) and high end Prado buyers may be tempted too because of the extra size. If you check over at ALRO there are a lot getting into D4's as their 100's need replacing.

The Patrol is probably the only reasonably refined wagon out there now that you can buy new and build up into a rugged 'expedition' type vehicle relatively easilly and affordably, which is probably why it continues to sell and has not been discontinued. Toyota have tried to fill the same gap with the 79, perhaps they shoud bering back the 80?

OBT

agree with OBTs sensible comments

a bit more confused about where TerraFirma's coming from:

. another poster on this thread mentioned that the Pathfinder had surprised and I was simply pointing out that some "large" 4WDs don't have much more interior space than supposedly "medium" 4WDs, and the medium 4WDs often have better economy, handling and onroad performance (sometimes with a slight loss of offroad performance/durability, but this isn't the highest priority for many touring 4WD owners) - so therefore may be worth considering

. not really sure what is meant by 'average Joes don't buy Discos' - a similarly optioned Prado or Cruiser is no cheaper than a Disco

. and yes, Patrol and Cruiser owners do buy Discos just as the reverse is true

My point is Disco's are far more expensive than a Patrol. A Patrol buyer who wants to go offroad will not consider a Pathfinder IMO. Either way I don't believe a Disco or a Pathfinder are viable alternatives to a Patrol for the reasons mentioned above, thats my point, pretty simple really.