Modified off-road vehicles are a booming market in Australia with millions of dollars spent annually by Aussie punters to make their vehicles more capable in the rough.

One of the challenges of such modifications is the amount of ‘shopping around’ buyers must do to fit out their vehicles, plus the fact the accessories aren’t always warranted and may jeopardise the manufacturer’s warranty.

Now, Nissan Australia has neatly side-stepped these issues for buyers of its Patrol 4x4 by producing an off-the-shelf-option modification package for the burly wagon that comes with a full five-year unlimited-kilometre factory warranty.

Dubbed the Patrol Warrior, this new model follows in the wheel tracks of the successful Navara Warrior 4x4 ute, with the modifications handled by the same outfit that handled the established ute project, Melbourne’s Premcar Engineering.

Based on a Patrol Ti, the more affordable of the two available Patrol variants, the Warrior benefits from a range of mechanical changes including 50mm more ground clearance, larger 18-inch off-road wheels which give an 84mm wider stance and chunky Yokohama Geolandar 34.4-inch all-terrain tyres.

The standard hydraulic body motion control suspension system eliminates the need for anti-sway bars, allowing for more wheel articulation, and is teamed with progressive rate rear coil springs and redeveloped front springs, which have been tuned to provide a balance between off-road capability and on-road performance.

As a bonus, the revised suspension gives a GVM upgrade, increasing the payload by nearly 60kg over standard, while the 3500kg braked towing capacity and GCM remain unchanged.

Other changes to create the Patrol Warrior include fitment of a bi-modal exhaust system that exits in front of the driver’s side rear wheel, below the sidestep, and provides a richly orchestral V8 roar when the throttle pedal is mashed.

The system is designed to close off and send exhaust gases rearwards through the standard muffler at lower throttle percentages, eliminating the exhaust drone that sometimes accompanies such systems at cruising speeds.

Premcar said that opening the exhaust in this way allowed the engine to breathe more freely under load, providing a minor power increase, although the Patrol Warrior’s claimed power and torque figures remain unchanged over the standard 5.6-litre petrol V8 at 298kW/560Nm.

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A new towbar with integrated 3,500kg-rated recovery points has been designed to accommodate the larger spare tyre, with other cosmetic changes including unique wheel arch flares and mudflaps, blacked-out grille and mirrors, new design front and rear bumpers and a red underbody bash plate.

Inside, the cheesy woodgrain trim on the dash and doors has been replaced with more sporty-looking gloss black trims, surrounded by handsome Alcantara leather in places.

We had a short drive of the Patrol Warrior prototype, which Nissan described as being 95% representative of the final product, on road circuits and off-road tracks at the RACQ Mobility Centre, Mount Cotton.

Our impressions were that the changes had made an appreciable difference to the Patrol’s visual attitude and enhanced its already strong off-road abilities.

At the time of writing, pre-orders had started but pricing hadn’t been confirmed.

However, given the percentage price increase of the Navara Pro-4X Warrior over the model it’s based on, we’d expect a price tag of around $100,000 plus on-road costs.