It’s far too easy to live in a bubble, to criticise those who enjoy something you don’t like, even if you’ve never experienced it.
For me, I’ve always loved driving cars fast, which more often than not means on snaking mountain roads in something low-slung with grippy rubber underneath.
Of course, this means the 4×4 set has been the bane of my existence, with their lifted LandCruisers and Patrols the opposite of what I love.
Brisbane especially has a large off-road scene, something made even more popular by not only the access to so many good tracks and beaches, but also requirements for P-platers to stay out of performance vehicles.
This – as is also the case in other states – leads young drivers to gravitate towards cars that can go anywhere, rather than go some places fast.
I never grew up around this scene, thanks in part to growing up in Canberra where –at least when I had my P’s – it was legal to drive any car, which inevitably led to a string of WRXs and turbocharged Falcons.
Add in a lack of any family interest in off-roading or indeed camping and it’s not hard to see why I had no interest in driving 4x4s.
That changed though when I was invited to the launch of the updated Y62 Nissan Patrol, held at an automotive proving ground in Victoria.
I felt like a fish out of water, a journalist with no off-road experience among peers who have done it multiple times, or even base their entire lives about driving off the beaten path.
However, with the proven Patrol at my disposal – plus experienced instructors – I needn’t worry, as my eyes were about to be opened to a world I’d never thought I’d enjoy.
To start, we were in the luxury-focused Patrol Ti-L, and I rode shotgun in the car immediately following our instructors.
The course was a mix of steep gradients, muddy bogholes and even a 600mm water bath, all of which I’d never contended with before as a driver or a passenger.
After getting gently guided around the course, it was my turn, and I soon realised what I’d been missing out on through my life.
While in a sports car you have to be going at 80 per cent of the car’s capability or higher to get a true feel of what it’s capable of, off-roading around the course was undertaken at relatively low speeds, allowing us to feel minute changes occurring under the tyres.
I never thought I’d have as much fun as I did when going down a 25-degree hill, crawling on the brakes to keep the big SUV at a safe speed, but it was a unique bit of car control I’d never tried to understand before.
Driving through a very slippery mud pit was also a highlight, with the position of the front tyres having little bearing on the overall direction of the Patrol.
After getting a crash course in off-road driving, we moved to the more capable Patrol Warrior, Premcar’s flagship which makes it one of the best out-of-the-box vehicles for this kind of driving currently on sale.
On a more advanced course – albeit one which was never going to expose the Patrol’s weaknesses – it was eye-opening to take on even larger gradients, with a focus on momentum rather than precision.
The experience was certainly helped by the throaty bark of the 5.6-litre V8 under the bonnet, especially with its trick side-pipe exhaust system.
Though most of my time was spent looking at the path ahead, the Patrol’s new off-road monitor screen came in handy to show I was in no danger of taking out the front or rear bumpers when mounting or dismounting a hill.
Likewise, at the top of a mound when all you can see is the sky ahead, a front-facing camera is a handy feature to have, even if most hardcore off-roaders will scoff at its existence.
One thing I won’t be able to get my head around is how the Patrol – and many other vehicles like it – can drive through such deep water without getting a drop inside the cabin.
Certainly, the sound of water gushing out of the doors where it had been trapped by the seals when we got back to driving on dry land wasn’t something I was used to.
Though it was a relatively short experience and by no means one which pushed me or the Patrol to its limits, I now have an appreciation for driving off-road I wasn’t expecting to take away.
It’s also opened my eyes to the ability of those who modify their vehicles to take on even tougher tracks, and do so not knowing whether it’ll make it out the other side.
If you get the chance to try an off-road experience, do it because you may realise that there’s more to driving than being on the tyre-squealing edge.
Discussion about this post