Emma Sleep advert
Share on

NOTE: We've updated this review as officially the Y62 Patrol only has three top tether anchorages for installing child seats (two in the second row and one in the third row).

BabyDrive Verdict

Advert: CarHistory

The Nissan Patrol is an enormous seven-seater 4WD SUV and my daughter was super excited when we were offered it to test for the week because it has DVD player screens for the second-row passenger in the back of the front headrests! So after a trip to the library for special DVDs for the occasion, we were set to find out how good it was as a BabyDrive…

I found the interior of the Nissan really spacious and it was surprisingly very nice inside compared to most big off-road vehicles. It has a lot of fantastic family-friendly features too, like the chilled esky in the central console with a lid that opens in both directions so that both front and rear passengers can open it.. genius!

Storage throughout the Patrol is great. There are cup holders in all three rows and ample space in the door bins and map pockets for headphones and iPads o be stored.

The DVD screens for second-row passengers are also a luxury to have in here.

There are air vents in all three rows of seating in the ceiling above the windows, which is so necessary in seven-seaters.

There are three top tether anchorages in the Nissan Patrol; one on the back of each of the second-row seat backs and one in the third-row seat back on the driver's side, meaning I was able to install three child seats. There was ample legroom with rear-facing child seats installed in the second row for a 182cm or taller driver.

BUT it was not straightforward as the top tether anchorages in the second-row are SO DIFFICULT to access. You need to climb through the boot to access them, which means putting the third-row seats down but when the third-row seats are folded, the top tether anchorages are then hidden below them and you can't access them. It was a very frustrating process.

I also found when installing the third-row child seat you have to be careful with the type of child seat you choose because with most I tried there was very little legroom.

Only with the Kid Guard Pro booster seat was there enough legroom for a child to sit there.

Boot space in the Nissan Patrol is excellent and with all seven seats in use I could still get all types of pram and stroller in the boot and a twin stroller fitted with three shopping bags.

When you are only using five seats, the boot is enormous and fits 22 shopping bags! That's the same as the Infiniti QX80, two more than the Lexus LX450D and four more than the Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series.

The media system does let the Nissan Patrol down slightly as it is quite basic and doesn't have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and there are a lot of buttons on the dash below the screen that are integrated into the touch screen on most modern cars.

I forgive it this however because I found I was able to listen to my own music in the front of the car while my daughter watched her DVD in the second row… heaven!

The reversing camera visuals are quite small for such a big car but you do get different camera angles, which is good, and you can mute the parking sensors easily with a button on the screen.

The Nissan Patrol is a guilty luxury to drive! It doesn't have that tractor like feeling that most cars of this size and capability do. It is smooth and pretty quiet and very comfortable.

The Nissan Y62 Patrol has not been ANCAP safety rated. It has six airbags as standard including side curtain airbags that extend to the third-row. There are pre-tensioner seatbelts in the front seats only.

BabyDrive Indepth

Share on
Advert: CarHistory

4 Comments

  1. Hi I’m just curious if Nissan advised the three anchor points in the second row are legal? I am seeing a lot of comments on social media pages saying the middle seat isn’t legal in Australia due to it being off centre and that people are having to pay to have another anchor point installed/certified
    Nissan haven’t been any help, even the dealership we purchased our 2013 Patrol from couldn’t tell us if it was legal.
    Thankyou!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.