Nissan Patrol versus Nissan Armada: what’s the difference?

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Nissan’s Patrol has been on sale in Y62 guise here in Australia since 2013, although production began back in 2010. In the USA, however, Nissan introduced its own name for the Patrol – the Armada – which has been on sale in North America since 2016. 

But what’s the difference between these two mechanically-identical cars? And does Australia’s Patrol miss out on any features that the Armada gets instead?

Let’s take a look at the two flagship products from each side of the world: the Nissan Patrol Ti-L and the Nissan Armada Platinum. 

The Patrol Ti-L currently starts at $95,115 before on-road costs, while the Armada Platinum is priced from USD$70,020, or the equivalent of AUD$102,174 as of June 2023. 

Although they do differ on the spec sheet, both the Patrol and the Armada are built in the exact same Nissan factory in Kanda, Japan. 

Note that while the new Nissan Patrol Warrior is inbound, it’s technically not on sale just yet here in Australia. 

Standard specification compared 

Looking at the spec sheet, it becomes apparent quite quickly that Nissan Australia’s Patrol SUV is simply not as modern in terms of features and interior trim as its US-market sibling. 

The Armada not only has the upper hand with a larger 12.3-inch touchscreen and 7.0-inch driver cluster, but is also much more modern inside with an interior that was updated in a more recent 2021 facelift. 

The Patrol, meanwhile, only has an 8.0-inch touchscreen and does not even come standard with phone mirroring systems such as Apple CarPlay. 

Although we haven’t physically sat in the flagship Armada, from the spec sheet and pictures alone, it seems that it would ultimately be the more premium car of the two in terms of standard trim level. 

However, many things are the same, such as the 13-speaker Bose sound system and the electrically-assisted front seats. 

Numerous online reports indicate that Nissan Australia is not likely to update the Patrol’s right-hand drive interior any time soon, stating that it will focus on the models off-road credentials instead with the incoming Patrol Warrior. We may have to wait until the Y63 Patrol to see something all-new. 

Let’s now take a look at the specifications of each model:

Starting with the Nissan Patrol Ti-L, the big seven-seater features the following specification highlights:

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Leather upholstery 
• LED and automatic headlights 
• Side steps 
• Roof rails
• Remote, keyless entry 
• Eight-way power adjustable driver seat
• Eight-way power adjustable front passenger seat
• 8.0-inch touchscreen
• Two second-row 8.0-inch entertainment screens
• Tri-zone climate control
• Heated and cooled front seats 
• 13-speaker Bose sound system
• Four cupholders 
• Eight bottle holders
• Analogue driver instrument cluster

Meanwhile, the flagship Armada Platinum includes:

• 22-inch 14-spoke alloy wheels
• Quilted leather upholstery 
• 7.0-inch driver display 
• 12.3-inch touchscreen
• Wireless phone charging 
• 13-speaker Bose sound system
• Tri-zone climate control
• Auto-levelling rear suspension 
• Remote engine start
• 10-way power adjustable driver’s seat
• Eight-way powered front passenger seat

Powertrains, transmission and performance 

Both the Patrol and the Armada are powered by the same 5.6-litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine that produces 298kW of power and 560Nm of torque. 

This engine is paired to a seven-speed torque-converter automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels through a full-time four-wheel drive system. A low-range transfer case is also standard. 

For the Patrol in Australia, this engine requires premium-unleaded fuel (min. 95 RON). The Patrol, much like its Armada sibling, is a very thirsty beast, with a claimed combined fuel figure of 14.4L/100km. 

The Patrol justifiably has a 140 litre fuel tank to keep up with its rapid fuel consumption. 

In terms of towing credentials, the Nissan Patrol is rated to tow up to 3500kg braked in Australia, while the US-spec Armada can tow up to 8500 pounds, or 3855kg converted. 

Although it’s not part of this comparison, it’s worth noting that in countries such as the Middle East, Nissan offers a more powerful Nismo performance version of the Patrol and produces a higher power output of 319kW, but torque remains the same at 560Nm. 

The engine has been tuned by Nissan’s Takumi mastercraftmen – the same team that build the Nissan GT-R performance car.  

How safe are both of these large SUVs?

The current Nissan Patrol Ti-L has the following active safety features as standard:

• Intelligent emergency braking 
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Intelligent ‘around-view’ monitor 
• Intelligent cruise control
• Forward collision warning 
• Lane departure warning 
• Intelligent lane intervention 
• Blind spot warning 
• Intelligent blind spot intervention 
• Tyre pressure monitoring 

Over in the Armada camp, the Platinum comes with the following features:

• Intelligent cruise control
• Driver attention monitoring 
• Lane departure warning 
• Forward collision warning 
• AEB with pedestrian detection
• Blind spot intervention 
• Rear cross traffic alert 
• Rear view camera 
• 360-degree camera 
• Front and rear sonar system
• Rear automatic braking 
• Traffic sign recognition 
• Trailer sway control

All in all, both vehicles are very similar with what they offer on the safety spec sheet, with the Armada having a very slight advantage. 

Final verdict: which 4×4 of the two has the better spec?

After looking at both of these large SUVs side by side, the Nissan Armada seems to be much better equipped and is decently more modern than the obviously ageing Australian-spec Patrol. 

The Armada Platinum is a plush car, that’s for certain, and benefits from a quilted leather interior and much more updated technologies in the cabin.

By looking at both spec-for-spec, the US-market clearly gets the better car despite it only being marginally more expensive on paper. 

We wish that the current Aussie-spec Patrol gained the same extensive interior update found on the Armada. 

Is it time we see an all-new Y63 Patrol for Australia? Surely a new generation is not that far away. 

A previous Chasing Cars article stated that it is likely the naturally-aspirated V8 will make way for a twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine for the next Y63 generation. 

But Nissan has also stated that a future Patrol could use solid-state battery technologies, along with the Navara ute. This could come at a much later point in time, however.