Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

My 5c worth .... I have my retirement vehicle - it is a 6 month old 4.8 GRX with 15000 kms on that I bought fully rigged for steal compared with price of new / un rigged vehicle. I did not rush into this and waited for the right deal to materialise and I am happy that I scored properly and someone else took the knock on the new car depreciation.

I traded my Discovery 3 in the process of this for 2 reasons - (i) the service plan was finished and dealer servicing is stupidly expensive and (ii) the gear box was showing symptoms of being unhappy while towing my ski-boat. This suggested an impending vicious circle ... more economic servicing elsewhere negates the warranty so should the gear box have packed up then I would have sat with a big bill. Clearly was time to change and my first thought was go for a D4 V8 given I hated the diesel's turbo lag.

Land Rover SA (after buying several vehicles from them) offered me way below trade on a Disco 4 .... makes no sense to lose in the deal, by a R750k vehicle and then get R350k for it a few years later .... sorry but the business logic that Land Rover now apply was the last criteria in moving to buy the Patrol.

I do miss some of the Disco's features but overall am a lot happier with my Patrol.

Regards,

diesel fan you must fokus!!!!!hahahaha
i agree with peter and peter vee and a bit with koos LOL
buy a good second hand 4.8 and you will be sorted for a long time i bought my 4.8 with 8000 km on the clock in 2005
i have only put tires and feul in it the normal service oil filters ect.the most expensive thing was spark plugs at 100000 the service cost meR 3500
the d4 is a great car on paper and is very capable but i will stay away due to service costs people that can work on it if it does break and you are in some place that is remote it has to be shipped back to sa to get it out of limb mode
my main reason for saying patrol is look at piet s 1996 GQ the same everything as my 2005 GU 4.8
the japs makes it work and sticks to it not new everything every year to fix the previous problem
but buy a good second hand one for 350k or so
then you can spent money on bumpers and suspension ect
and you will use it for what it was intent for

Contact for Theuhan at NorthWest Nissan and he will get you a demo one!

diesel fan there is a 2009 grx with 20000 km on the clock available for 375k not bad hey still under factory guarantee etc makes one think????

Tinus lotz wrote: i agree a bit with koos LOL

WHAT??????
I CANT BELIEVE

Thanks for the replies.

Koos they've had few if any issues.

- Pilanesberg the car got stuck in 3rd and gave a service error. Switched it off and on again and stopped driving in manual choosing my gears ie left in auto and had no hassles.
- Groenkloof suspension said + must wait to raise car as compressor is too hot. I was dropping and lifting it.

My fil also has one he bought 2nd hand around 90k km 2006 hse. Took it and my dads to Hennops on youth day, will post the youtube link. The IRS is DEFINITELY comparable to SRA, for two beginers the cars did better than some rubis and others! Very impressed.

BUT my fil two days later needed a flatbed, oil all over, gearbox oil. It's now almost 3 weeks at agents. I doubt related to hennops as we were gentle. This was bought from LR. He had 3 LR's before that but they all gave hassles. They were the crappy bmw engines.

I maintain the D3 is the best 4x4 allrounder but the gizmos HAVE to be a consideration taking it through africa.

I used to deal with LOADS of diesel engines and if the client was outside SA we tried to NOT use a common rail engine. The only two we did use both gave issues, one a Volvo 225kw and the second a German MTU 650kw engine - ecu failure. This is the concern for retirement, unexpected repairs. LRSA and about 4 dealerships could not tell me what a 100k service would cost almost asif how dare I ask.

LR have also NOT treated my parents well. They initially servi
ced every 24k km and then suddenly at 60k they said warranty and mplan void as it was meant to be e very 12k. They had to pay a 10k reinstatement fee.

The car IS brilliant but LRSA and it's mechies make me worry.

Back on topic

I saw some threads on an OZ Landy forum most said the patrol was kak on corrugations and compared it to a D1?
What is the worst and best fuel consumption you guys got?

Anyone doing hennops PLEASE let me know so we can join as see what a trol can do.

They were the crappy bmw engines.

What's the problem with the BMW"s?

koos you must understand that i think that landy has lost the plot all together !!!!!
tell me do you ever work ur disco ???like dieselfans friend all my friends that has discos has only had hassles once they work it!
i have never not liked landies it is just that the moment you work them a little bit harder than n moms taxi it breaks and keeps on breaking !!!then its every bodies problem except L D SA ?
mabe ur just lucky or mabe yours are build and maintained by pros ?
the thing is on all the forums ect you hear these horror stories about broken this and broken that !!!i have had my fair share of helping stuck and broken down new defenders pumas and D3 D4 and range rovers that go into limb mode because one computer cant speak to a another one ,we have all seen the bills at comes with repairs on just out of service plan landies have you had a look at n d4 in any mode on a wet and muddy trail ? it goes no were !!!!!!and makes noises that sounds like metal beaking!but hey it the people love them let them buy it !!!!!i will not after what i have seen and heard

i agree there are much more discos on the road than patrols but how many patrol horrors do know of?
i agree with you that the d4 is a great CAR if you change it before u start paying for the repair bills
to get back to a better retirement car ????
patol all the way
at least it will not bankrupt u on repairs and put a stop to trips by going into limb mode and need to take a lift on a load bed to S A
make peace with fuel consumption and know that it will probably outlast u and that u will be pushing daisies long before the solid machine that has changed very little in the last 15years will .
why ????
when something works don't change it

dieselfan wrote:Took it and my dads to Hennops on youth day, will post the youtube link. The IRS is DEFINITELY comparable to SRA, for two beginers the cars did better than some rubis and others! Very impressed.

Dieselfan the rear axle articulation on the Rubicon really didn't impress me. That Saturday when you couldn't make it, we had a brand-new Rubicon along, and although it's five-link front suspension flexes better than the Patrol's (at least once you have unlocked the anti-sway bar), but the rear axle doesn't flex as well as the Patrol's. Remember that a live axle's movement can be limited by any or all of the following: link lengths, bush cofiguration, shock length and anti-sway bar. I don't know about the Jeep, but I know that on the Patrol's rear axle, disconnecting the rear sway bar and putting in longer shocks can give you a huge increase in articulation.

I know this has got nothing to do with a retirement option, but a little bit of money spent can hugely increase the articulation (and off-road ability) on a Patrol, whereas on the D3/D4 I doubt there is much improvement you can make without huge capital outlay?

I also recall people who insisted that Lancias and other legendary automotive lemons were really reliable designs, misunderstood by the general public.

n.b. I love Lancias, I just don't operate under any illusions as to their reliability.