There's a refreshing honesty about the 2025 Nissan Patrol Warrior that's increasingly rare. Everywhere you look, large SUVs are quietly going electric, going hybrid, or apologising for themselves with downsized turbo sixes. The Patrol Warrior is having none of that rubbish. It thunders into the school drop-off with a naturally aspirated 5.6-litre V8, a side-pipe exhaust, a 50mm lift, and the kind of presence that makes a Range Rover cower.
Tuned in Australia by Premcar - the same engineering crew that gave us the legendary FPV GT-F - the Warrior takes the already-capable Y62 Patrol and turns it into something that's part luxury barge, part Cape York weapon. After a week behind the wheel, including a long run down the Hume to Burradoo and back, I'm convinced it's one of the most genuinely usable, and interesting big SUVs you can buy right now. Even if your weekly fuel bill will look like a small mortgage payment.
Design & Exterior
The standard Patrol is a big car. The Warrior is bigger - taller, wider, and meaner. Premcar has lifted it 50mm, fitted unique 18-inch alloys wrapped in Yokohama G015 295/70 all-terrain tyres, and added a 2.5mm thick steel bash plate underneath. None of this is cosmetic. The Warrior will go places most of its rivals don't even know exist.
This particular test car came in Moonstone White, which suits the car perfectly - it shows off the chunky proportions and the matte-black accents without trying to hide what the Warrior actually is.
A few things stand out from a couple of paces back:
- Genuinely longer, wider, taller and heavier than a Range Rover - on paper and in person.
- Unique Warrior front bar with integrated recovery points and tow hooks that look like they mean business.
- All-terrain tyres that fill the wheel arches properly. No tiny low-profile rubber pretending to be off-road capable here.
- Side-pipe exhaust that exits behind the front wheel on the driver's side - more on that in the Performance section, because it sounds glorious.
- Warrior badging that's tastefully done, not stickered all over the car like some halo specials.
It's a vehicle that gets noticed without trying. Park it next to a LandCruiser 300 and the Patrol looks bigger, more upright, and frankly more confident in its own skin.
Interior & Technology
This is where the 2025 update genuinely changes the game for the Patrol. For years, the cabin was the weakest part of an otherwise excellent car - dated switchgear, ancient infotainment, and a vibe that hadn't moved on much since the Y62 launched back in 2010.
Late 2024 brought a significant interior overhaul, and the Warrior benefits from all of it. The dash is now dominated by a 12.3-inch infotainment screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, paired with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a head-up display. It's a proper modern flagship cabin now, not an apologetic afterthought.
What you actually live with day to day:
- Eight seats, with proper room in all three rows. Adults can genuinely use the third row without bargaining for legroom.
- Heated and ventilated front seats, heated second-row outboard seats, and quilted leather throughout.
- Tri-zone climate control with vents that reach all the way to the third row - critical in an Australian summer.
- Massive cargo capacity with the third row folded, and a flat-ish load floor.
- Plenty of USB-C, a wireless phone charger, and a 360-degree camera that's borderline essential given the Warrior's size.
The driving position is high, commanding (without being imperious), and well-judged. You sit on the Patrol rather than in it, which is exactly right for a car of this type. Visibility forward is excellent. Visibility rearward is what the cameras are for.
The interior tech still trails the best in class. The infotainment is a big step up from the old Patrol, but it's not quite as polished as what you'll find in a Lexus LX or a current-generation LandCruiser. The graphics are fine rather than spectacular, and a couple of menus take more taps than they should. It's a forgivable shortcoming given everything else, but worth noting.
Material quality is genuinely good. The quilted leather, the soft-touch dash, the metal accents around the gear selector - it all feels like a $120,000 car now, which it didn't really before.
Performance & Driving Experience
This is where the Warrior earns its money, and where you'll either fall in love with it or politely walk away.
Under the bonnet is Nissan's 5.6-litre naturally aspirated V8, producing 298kW of power and 560Nm of torque. There's no turbo, no hybrid, no electrification of any kind. It's the last accessible large SUV in Australia with a proper V8, and Premcar has tuned it - and crucially, the exhaust - to make the most of it.
That single side-pipe exhaust is the headline act. At idle, it's a deep, bassy burble. At part throttle, it settles into a smooth V8 hum. Bury the right pedal and it produces a noise that genuinely makes you laugh out loud. It's not a synthesised soundtrack piped through the speakers - this is the real thing, and it's wonderful.
On the road, the Warrior delivers exactly what you'd expect from 2.8 tonnes of V8-powered SUV:
- Effortless overtaking at any speed. There's so much torque so low in the rev range that you rarely need to push it.
- Smooth seven-speed automatic that suits the V8's character - no constant hunting for gears.
- Surprisingly composed ride for something this tall and heavy. The 50mm lift and all-terrain tyres soak up coarse-chip country roads brilliantly.
- Long-distance comfort that's borderline addictive. Burradoo to the city and back in a day felt like nothing.
For towing, there is no better car in Australia with a tow-bar fitted. The Warrior will tow 3,500kg without breaking a sweat, and the V8's torque means you barely notice a heavy caravan or boat trailer behind you. If you tow regularly, this is genuinely the benchmark.
Off-road, the Warrior is the real deal. Low-range, locking rear diff, proper underbody protection, the all-terrain tyres, and that extra 50mm of clearance mean it'll tackle terrain that would have most luxury SUVs phoning home for help.
Where the Warrior Falls Short
It would be dishonest not to address the obvious: fuel consumption is brutal. Nissan's official figure is around 14.4L/100km. In the real world, with a mix of city and highway, I averaged 17.5L/100km over nearly 600km, and on an enthusiastic country drive saw that climb past 23. If fuel costs matter to you, this is not your car.
Size is the other reality check. The Warrior is wider and taller than most underground car parks were designed for. Suburban side streets feel narrow. Tight shopping-centre car parks become a strategic exercise. The cameras help enormously, but you can't hide the fact that this is a very large vehicle.
And while the tech has caught up significantly, it still lags slightly behind the absolute best in the class. That'll matter to some buyers and be entirely irrelevant to others.
Safety
Safety has improved meaningfully with the recent update. The Warrior comes with the expected modern suite:
- Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
- Adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go - genuinely useful on long Hume runs.
- Lane departure warning and lane keep assist.
- Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
- 360-degree camera with multiple viewing angles.
- Driver attention monitoring and a comprehensive airbag count.
- Trailer sway control - particularly relevant given the towing focus.
Build quality and sheer mass also count for something here. In a crash with almost anything else on the road, you'd rather be in the Warrior. The Y62 architecture is robust, and the additional underbody protection adds another layer of confidence on rough roads.
Value & Verdict
Priced between $118,000 and $122,000 depending on options and on-road costs, the Warrior isn't cheap. But context matters. A comparably specced LandCruiser 300 Sahara ZX sits well north of $140,000. A Range Rover with this level of capability and equipment is comfortably over $200,000. Suddenly the Patrol Warrior looks like genuine value.
What you're getting for the money:
- The last accessible V8 large SUV in Australia. That alone has emotional and practical value that won't be replaced once it's gone.
- Genuine off-road capability straight off the showroom floor, not as a $20,000 accessories pack.
- The best towing platform in the country, full stop.
- Eight-seat practicality with real long-distance comfort.
- Australian-engineered Warrior modifications by Premcar that turn a good car into a great one.
- A significantly modernised interior that finally matches the price tag.
Final Take
The 2025 Nissan Patrol Warrior is a deeply uncool answer to a very modern problem - what do you buy if you want a large SUV that can genuinely do everything, without compromising on character?
It's thirsty. It's huge. It's the kind of car that will make environmentally conscious neighbours pull a face. And yet, for the right buyer - someone who tows, who heads bush, who carries a real family with real gear, who wants long-distance comfort and a proper V8 soundtrack - it might be the most honest big SUV on sale today.
If you're in the market for a LandCruiser, give the Warrior a serious look. If you're shopping for a Range Rover purely on capability rather than badge, give it an even harder look. It's the last of its kind, and it deserves to be celebrated before it's gone.