Y62 Patrol Off road and Outback Touring

[tonyci]

Ok new to the forum. I used to have a Nissan patrol, one of the early GU,s.
Moved away from Patrols, looking to come back.
I can convince myself to buy one just on the smooth drive and V8 power.
However I cannot find out much about their off road ability and suitability for outback touring.
I have heard of the departure angle and rear bumper issue, sagging if you add a bull bar and the lack of heavy duty springs.
I wonder about Premium unleaded availability in the back of beyond.
All of these concerns have been pointed out by non owners I might add, so what are the facts ? help get me across the line.
I like touring the Vic high country, and outback tracks, no kids to worry about just me and the boss.
Any advice gladly accepted.
Cheers
Tony

[GQtdauto]

Welcome to the forum , the unleaded availability in the outback is actually pretty good these days and I've only seen one or two mainly stations that only sell diesel .
Most give their machine a two inch lift at minimum but even stock they aren't that bad , if you add gear that's heavy you upgrade your suspension .

[the evil twin]

PULP availability in rural/remote WA is patchy, very patchy, but you can carry a couple of bottles of octane additive to fix that.
My daughter has a Works Special Mini (goes like stink I must say) and that is what she does to get to and from the East when crossing the Nullabor.

The rest of the issues with the Y62 are pretty much as posted on blogs/forums but you are correct, listen only to the owners not the 'don'twannabees' who drive Prados, Great Walls or Ssangyongs

[tonyci]

Thanks for the replies, was not aware of the octane additive.
Will look into lift.
Cheers

[GQtdauto]

Yes I missed the Premium bit sorry and ET would be right about its availability .

[the evil twin]

This is what we use in her 'MinMin',

https://www.nulon.com.au/products/fuel-treatments/pro-strength-octane-booster

[Hodge]

This is second hand info, so take it with a grain of Himalayan salt.
Our very close family friends bought a Y62 about 2 years ago. Before the Y62, they had a 2003 Y61. They replaced it when the pump let go.
Like me, they LOVE the high country and are up there every second they get. So they've taken the 62 up there a fair bit.
The only only only complaint they have, is lack of clearance underneath... IN contrast to the 61, he reckons he keeps scraping, hitting bumping, the belly of it much more compared to when he had the Y61. Both of the patrols he had, had NO lift and the suspension is in factory state . So I don't know how a lift kit on a 62 would perform...
Other than that, they love the car to bits. I do too, as I've driven theirs many times with a massive smirk on my face when the right foot gets heavy!

[MudRunnerTD]

This is second hand info, so take it with a grain of Himalayan salt.
Our very close family friends bought a Y62 about 2 years ago. Before the Y62, they had a 2003 Y61. They replaced it when the pump let go.
Like me, they LOVE the high country and are up there every second they get. So they've taken the 62 up there a fair bit.
The only only only complaint they have, is lack of clearance underneath... IN contrast to the 61, he reckons he keeps scraping, hitting bumping, the belly of it much more compared to when he had the Y61. Both of the patrols he had, had NO lift and the suspension is in factory state . So I don't know how a lift kit on a 62 would perform...
Other than that, they love the car to bits. I do too, as I've driven theirs many times with a massive smirk on my face when the right foot gets heavy!

That is interesting feedback Eric, being an IFS and a IRS car there should be Mountains More ground clearance. If your rubbing its belly more than a GU then Im surprised as normally its the pumpkins that hit before the belly. When was the last time you rubbed the belly of your GU? I have not read a single negative on these things. they took some negative feedback when they first hit the market but that was because they were soo far away from a beam axle Diesel GU but damn they have now made their mark. Id have no hesitation buying one and going bush.

[nissannewby]

That is interesting feedback Eric, being an IFS and a IRS car there should be Mountains More ground clearance. If your rubbing its belly more than a GU then Im surprised as normally its the pumpkins that hit before the belly. When was the last time you rubbed the belly of your GU? I have not read a single negative on these things. they took some negative feedback when they first hit the market but that was because they were soo far away from a beam axle Diesel GU but damn they have now made their mark. Id have no hesitation buying one and going bush.

Its not so much the ground clearance but the ramp over. It is further between the axles than a gu. A lift would help this a little. The 62 has a great approach angle in standard form but has a bit of a fat arse and departure angle isnt as good as approach. Like the gu everything is well is side the chassis underneath and they even have some decent guarding under neath for a standard vehicle.

[GQtdauto]

Info on fuel only thing I wonder about is the canning stock route you can buy drums of PULP but be prepared to mortgage the house for it .

http://www.travel-australia-online.com/LPG.html

[tonyci]

Info on fuel only thing I wonder about is the canning stock route you can buy drums of PULP but be prepared to mortgage the house for it .

http://www.travel-australia-online.com/LPG.html

Thanks, already did the canning many moons ago I must admit in no real hurry to do it again.
Interesting feedback on ramp over clearance

[the evil twin]

Yeah, fuel choice is always an interesting topic over here in WA.

Having owned, Petrol, Dual Fuel and Diesel Patrols my views for remote (I stress remote) and wet season touring are;

1st - 10/10 for Diesel and a non CRD engine, 9/10 for mod'd filtration and 8/10 for stock Diesel CRD due to the issues with bad fuel guaranteed somewhere every year.
2nd - 7/10 for Petty's (Octane Boosters mean you can use ULP in 95 RON and PULP engines)
3rd - 3/10 for dual fuel as LPG is almost non-existent off the main highway and supply can even be unreliable on highway 1

[fits5]

I've found mine to be excellent as an outback tourer. Approach, departure and ramp over are all fine. Yes I have a 45mm lift but I'd think that even without it that clearance would be ok. When I tow my camper trailer, a Tambo Cooper, fuel use is around the 16 -18l/100km. And that's sitting on what ever the legal limit is. Not the 200 series grey nomad spec magic speed of 87k/hr for fuel economy. I usually run 95 octane but it runs fine on 91 without any octane booster.

[Winnie]

I've found mine to be excellent as an outback tourer. Approach, departure and ramp over are all fine. Yes I have a 45mm lift but I'd think that even without it that clearance would be ok. When I tow my camper trailer, a Tambo Cooper, fuel use is around the 16 -18l/100km. And that's sitting on what ever the legal limit is. Not the 200 series grey nomad spec magic speed of 87k/hr for fuel economy. I usually run 95 octane but it runs fine on 91 without any octane booster.That fuel economy is the same as what I get in my TD42, pretty impressive.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[himble]

This is second hand info, so take it with a grain of Himalayan salt.
Our very close family friends bought a Y62 about 2 years ago. Before the Y62, they had a 2003 Y61. They replaced it when the pump let go.
Like me, they LOVE the high country and are up there every second they get. So they've taken the 62 up there a fair bit.
The only only only complaint they have, is lack of clearance underneath... IN contrast to the 61, he reckons he keeps scraping, hitting bumping, the belly of it much more compared to when he had the Y61. Both of the patrols he had, had NO lift and the suspension is in factory state . So I don't know how a lift kit on a 62 would perform...
Other than that, they love the car to bits. I do too, as I've driven theirs many times with a massive smirk on my face when the right foot gets heavy!

Resurrecting an old post.
If your close family friends are still using the stock tyres, then suggest to them to upgrade to a 295/70R18. Will fit on the stock 18" rims, and won't need a lift...the tyres will do it!!

[Cuppa]

Depending upon where you go when outback touring you may only have Opal fuel available which I believe has the same octane rating as standard unleaded, 91. If you need higher octane you would need to carry a good supply of octane booster (assuming you can use it the same with Opal as you can with unleaded).

[the evil twin]

Agree ^^^^ with Cuppa

Couple of points;
1. As mentioned by others, you can run Y62's their entire life on ULP (Premium fuels are recommended but Manuf Handbook says ULP is quite OK if you want and only proviso is "may affect driveability" IE full welly or max load out if you indeed notice anything at all)
2. Octane Booster works fine in Opal if you can only access Opal and want to up the rating
3. There are Octane Boosters and there are Octane Boosters, many are rubbish so use Google and pick a good one
4. There are still some remote communities that don't stock Opal and only have Diesel
5. My remote touring days ( CSR etc) are pretty much over now and I don't consider the Great Central, Gibb, West Macs etc remote so IMHO my Y62 is easily the best Patrol EVER!!!