Nissan Patrol LWB test drive since 2004 SUV
Without quotes
The population of SUVs is growing steadily, and they themselves mutate, bending under a changeable world, new species and subspecies appear. At the same time, the founders of the genus, real SUVs, die out, are lost in the herd of those in the quotes of parquet. Nissan Patrol is precisely from such dinosaurs, a direct descendant of Willys grandfather, and, in principle, like him, can full right to be called a jeep.
In mid -September, Nissan conducted a presentation of the fifth -generation renewed Patrol, which started in 1998. Presentation of Sicily. Three hours from Moscow to Rome and an hour before the island. The airport of skating here is a real summer, heat over 30, not a cloud in the sky. 150 kilometers south Africa. Cars were waiting for the airport parking. For us, Russians, six were cooked: three silver, three burgundy and at the same time all diesel. The first impression of Patrol is still big, male. What's new? At first glance, so, according to trifles: new optics, bumpers, overlays on the arches. Brief briefing and by cars!. The flight is exhausting, and my partner Alexei and I choose a burgundy Patrol, which in this case means with an automaton. Here it is, the salvation of the air conditioner, the great invention is still a great! The machine, by the way, is in the top -end Luxury leather, wood, electric seats, navigation ...
When leaving the parking lot, I note the slowness of Patrol, a long steering wheel, thoughtful gas and huge dimensions (more than five meters), which, however, are felt well. The legend immediately takes us on the highway. The dynamics is not impressive. Still, almost 2.5 tons for a 3-liter diesel engine is much. And the machine gun protects it, does not load with fast and frequent switching. Do not get along.
Slowly but surely Patrol scored his passport 160 km/h. It is worth saying that the speed is not felt, in the cabin is quiet, the main sources of noise are the engine, the road and, surprisingly, the wind manifests itself in this sense modestly. Nevertheless, I am not very comfortable for me at the wheel, fuzzy zero, body rolls; I dump the speed to 130-140 km/h just right. Quietly, cool, large windows, beautiful views behind them ... The route goes to the mountains. We go along narrow winding paths with potholes and patch (almost like in Russia!). Hardly, irregularities report themselves through the body and the steering wheel with boom blows. Such routes, but at high speed not for Patrol. Large rolls, leaning off -road tires, a long steering wheel has to slow down. The sluggishness of the box has become even more noticeable. Before turning, I besiege, the steering wheel to the left, in the middle of the turn I can give for gas, and in response, silence, and only at the output Patrol wakes up and begins to accelerate. I take into account this peculiarity and act ahead of schedule: immediately after the gas brake. In general, in the mountains at the gas pedal, two positions are in the floor and not in the floor. The mechanics should be more interesting.
Further, the primer, in any way, is off-road, and how the rain begins to order. The legend advises to connect the front -wheel drive (by default Patrol rear -wheel drive). We will wait. The road is large stones, pits, steep climbs and turns, but there is enough rear axle. For the experiment, connect the front. Now we go without slippers. Tough, the car in corners on irregularities rearranges, pulling out the trajectory out, but in general Patrol behaves quite predictably, so we are not scared, although it is on the right, then to the left of us is a steep mountain slope with rare trees.
They imperceptibly reached the specialized expert. The instructor asks to switch to all -wheel drive, lowered row, transfer the machine to mode 1 and turn off the rear reptile stabilizer. And also strictly parted: neatly. And slowly, very slowly. I can take the car. Start. It looks like a high rise, descents, side rolls. Under the wheels of clay, and also, I remind you, the rain is going on. In front of the hood is the earth, then the sky. But in principle, the route was not complicated, the organizers either pity on the cars, or us, journalists, so we move without ambush. Coffee-stop. Kapuccino in this drink Italians know a lot. Exchange of impressions of my comments on controllability and dynamics meet a common opinion. Now Alexey is driving. Its section is the descent, the task is to bring Patrol to the hotel. I am for the navigator. Course for Taormina. The Nissanists, as usual, worked well on the map and route. But, noticing the indicator of Alkantara, we plunged into the discussion of the finishing material of the same name, slipped the desired turn and as a result were on the narrow streets of the mountain town. Here is our Patrol as an elephant in a chimney shop, in the center of universal attention. It seems that the street is one -sided, but a small fiat rolls towards us. Do not part. On the left and right, the cars are parked, despite the prohibiting signs. In general, here, it seems, only we are the rules and observe. The doors of the houses go straight to the roadway, no sidewalks, the elderly on chairs are sitting right there ... Everyone got lost. They don’t know English here, they are not guided by cards. We rely on navigation and move, simply withstanding the right direction. Finally, we find a missed turn. We make adjustments in a legend for extra 20 km. To the hotel 30 km on the highway, now I’m just a passenger and in this capacity I can’t help but note that the salon received a new design, the materials are pleasant to the touch, there is an electric lover, the glove compartment is small, but there is a box between the seats. The rear seats have longitudinal adjustment, head restraint and armrest. Comfortable.
The hotel is located on the shores of the Maczaro Bay. From the balcony we admire the sunset sun, plunging into the Ionian Sea ... But it was time for a side rise at 6 in the morning, we were warned that the track would be more complicated. Press releases already in the numbers of reading for a dream coming. By the way, the text reports that Patrol is a direct heir to Willis, or rather, a license copy; True, the Japanese installed a 6-cylinder engine instead of the 4-cylinder American. It turned out the difference of 25 forces at that time is rather big. So in 1951 the story of Patrol began.
Long -drawn versions already had the first Patrol. The second generation saw the light in 1960, the third in the 80th, the fourth in the 89th. In the fifth generation subjected to restyling, a classic rear-wheel drive circuit with a longitudinal engine connected by the front bridge and a fully dependent suspension is still used. The latter circumstance explains both the stiffness of the course and the Nevazhnetan handling on the asphalt. The diesel, by the way, is also not new, it was made of a 2.8-liter, known for the previous generation. There are four cylinders for three liters of volume, the engine turned out to be long -term ... Morning the magical, quietly, warm, full calm came, and we, of course, did not miss the opportunity to swim. Easy breakfast, and on the road. Today we are lucky with a mechanical diesel. And this by the way, after all, our goal of the Etna volcano, the largest and most active in Europe. Height 3 km. But first the highway. Yes, with mechanics on it is more fun. And the set of speed is more energetic, and overtaking is easier to give. Manageability, however, was not added. Incidentally, diesel engines in a flow of 90 percent, even alpha and those diesel.
We imperceptibly get to the special stages. We go to all -wheel drive. We move along the forest road with our Patrol width, strewn with fragments of frozen lava. It’s good that the breakfast was easy to shake creepy. In the chair, belts and handrails located in the present-resistant on the front racks help to stay (even for the driver there are such). But the driver has something to do to actively twirl the steering wheel and often switch, the lower gears are short. The first has already got out, and the second is still not enough for the movement of innight. We switch to a reduced row and move in the second or third gear. So, perhaps, more convenient. Here Patrol is in its element. It’s not scary here.
A small section of asphalt of the just built road around the sea of \u200b\u200bfrozen lava. Outside the window is another planet, slightly add shades of red, and you can make a movie about Mars. The second special strap leads directly to the crater. Arrived. The height is more than two thousand meters. Further on foot, although Patrol would have coped. There were three craters, but it is still not clear how the whole valley flooded the lava from these funnels? Two years ago, Etna diverged in earnest. Магму выбрасывало на высоту до 100 метров, извергаемый пепел долетал до Ливии, все это сопровождалось четырехбалльным землетрясением. Volcanologists say that Etna is becoming more dangerous every year. We return to where we started, to the airport of Katania. The test drive is completed. Finally, in the evening, a small tour of Taormin. Городок находится на высоте 204 метра над уровнем моря, на склоне горы Тауро (отсюда и название). Этой территорией владели греки, римляне, затем арабы, немцы, что, конечно, нашло отражение в архитектуре. Таормина считается одним из самых красивых европейских курортов недаром многие писатели и поэты еще в позапрошлом веке приезжали сюда в поисках вдохновения. А для наших соотечественников этот город может быть интересен еще и тем, что сюда в 60-е годы приезжала Ахматова здесь ей вручали итальянскую литературную премию Этна-Таормина...
The program turned out to be interesting, however, it was not possible to reveal the potential of Patrol completely. The off -road, although it was, but dry. Dirt, snow, this is where the car should show itself in all its off -road beauty. And for the highway there are X-Trail, Murano, Terrano at worst. Patrol is an SUV without quotes. Few are still able to overcome the 37.5-degree rise and drag a 3.5-ton trailer. In addition, the model has a reputation unknown. We will wait for the new Patrol to appear in our market until the end of November this year. Prices have not yet been determined. But it is known that Russia will be the only country in Europe where Patrol will supply with a 4.7-liter eight! This is a serious unit. We hope that we will receive this version for a test in Moscow and talk about it more than more and more serious, when there will be nothing to look at the window ...
Photo by the author and Nissan.
Source: Magazine Motor
