Jeep Patriot in the Western desert.

Here is a Jeep Patriot riding rough in the Western Desert courtesy of our good customer Julia!





Peter Warren freighted my diesel Jeep Patriot to Alice Springs by train and truck and next day I drove out to Mt Leibig in the Western Desert of NT, 320kms up the Tanami Road and turn left. A few days later I drove to Tjitjikala (Maryvale NT) about 140kms from Alice on the edge of the Simpson Desert.

Having only test drove a petrol Patriot VERY briefly, I was aprehensive about how it would handle the conditions and how many kms I'd get to the tank...not many fuel stops out here. I drove and my 3 passengers were aged 72, 3 years, and a 5 month old baby. On these two trips I covered most of the non-bitchumen surfaces I'm likely to take my Patriot on, and it handled all conditions very very well. These included extremely corrugated dirt roads with loose dirt surfaces, thick red desert sand (also on hair pin bends with high sandy edges), rocky conditions, steep wash-outs that dip through dry river beds, and hard dirt surfaces. I couldn't get over how comfy the vehicle was (all passengers agreed, but there it would have been very squashy for another adult to sit between the kids in the back) and how well it handled these surfaces. Absolutely no bone jarring on the corrugations and it glided through the sand. The CD player also didn't skip on the corrugations.

My tyres are the factory supplied ons, and I'd reduced the air to about 34. I am extremely pleased with the fuel economy. Less than half a tank to Mt Leibig, and I reckon you could push it close to 400kms per half tank. This was using 5th and 6th gear a lot, as well reducing speed and gears regularly to handle the changing desert road surfaces. I'm interested to see how the fuel economy goes around town. The brakes are squeaking intermittently now so I'll have to check that out. Disappointed with the jack and wheel brace but I've replaced that with another. I bought the jeep luggage wrack and was a bit horrified at how small it was. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it held my second spare tyre, a double swag, a single swag and a kiddy swag quite comfortably.