So each model of DTRONIC is extremely easy to install and remove – just plug in and tighten with a 10mm socket – making it a 30 minute job from the time the box is opened to turning the ignition key. No adjustments, no soldering iron, no graphs and if you ever want to return the vehicle to normal, just undo the nut, and remove the unit. Simple as that. Even I could do it – and did so for the two days I tested the unit on two Patrols (one auto, one manual).

Each particular model of DTRONIC is unique to a vehicle and engine model with each engine having undergone numerous mapping evaluations to find the optimum setting for all 204rpm and load sites. Those settings are then been programmed into the DTRONIC for that particular engine and then, with the right wiring loom attached, it's simply a matter of disconnecting the plug into the engine's Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and inserting the DTRONIC into the loom and finding a place for the unit to sit – normally right beside the engine ECU.

Full engine dyno testing has also been carried out with the ZTD30 engine and there's considerable improvement over the whole rev range. Power has gone from a rather peaky 116kw at just over 3500 revs to a broader 133kw centred around the same revs. Torque has also jumped from 354Nm at 2000rpm to 420Nm, with 380Nm being available from just off idle at 1500rpm right through to 3000rpm.

We even put the 3.0-litre Patrol on a wheel dyno to compare it against my 4.2-litre Patrol, which as long term readers know, has had a little work on it and is, on the figures we got out of it, about 10 percent up on standard.

But the DTRONIC enhanced 3.0-litre was way in front with a minimum of 15 percent higher torque figure right across the rev range. Now I know, you people out there who know a little about wheel dynos and the final drive ratios of Patrols, and know that I've got slightly bigger tyres will say all things weren't the same and therefore the torque figures will obviously be different. True-this wasn't a scientific test but it's what you feel on the road – it's the push back into the seat when you floor the accelerator and I've got to tell you the DTRONIC Patrol was better. Much better! Simple as that.

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