Our vehicle is fitted with the last of the line of ‘old school diesels’, a 6 cylinder 4.2 litre motor which was fitted to Patrols & various other Nissan vehicles for 20 odd years. The choice was deliberate, we could have bought a newer model for less money, a fact which reflects the TD42’s reputation & desirability among those who know. (This is as good a time as any to give a plug to the forum at nissanpatrol.com.au , an online community I have been part of for a number of years now & one I would recommend to any Patrol owner). Newer Patrols have a 3 litre diesel, a motor, like all modern diesels, dependent upon multiple sensors & computerised electronics which require equipment often not found in outback locations making them, in my opinion, unsuitable for remote travel. In addition some of the later models have a poor reliability reputation, & are known in some circles as ‘grenades’. We wanted to have confidence in the vehicle’s reliability & to know that it was fixable in outback locations should it need it. The TD42 motor often manages in excess of 500,000kms without needing any major work & ours at 154,000kms when we bought it was considered barely run in. Fingers crossed it will last us many more years. As the last of it’s line the TD42Ti’s performance is less sluggish than it’s predecessors thanks to a turbo & intercooler. I have since fitted a larger exhaust (3″) & had it dynotuned – which has resulted in far nicer car to drive. The tuning is modest by the standard of many, with the turbo boost set to a max of just 13.2psi. Many go much higher than this, but they then require increasingly costly modifications to maintain reliability. Essentially ours has been tuned to increase torque to improve towing ability, it’s almost like having an extra gear. It’s no traffic light dragster, but it is enjoyable to drive, pulls the Tvan almost effortlessly & cruises at the speed limit showing 2300rpm, which makes it pretty relaxing. It’s often easy to forget we are towing anything.
