Similarly when we went for a drive through the Dandenong Rangers, with and without the DTRONIC connected into the Patrol's ECU system. With the DTRONIC chip doing its magic, acceleration off the line was improved, the power coming on as soon as you pushed on the throttle. Tip-on throttle response was smooth, sweet and immediate right across the rev range, making the vehicle better to drive in such hilly conditions and with a lot less gear changes.

As well, with the manual vehicle there was far less requirement to slip the clutch on steep hill starts and there’s no doubt that the DTRONIC would make a huge improvement in off-road situations where you can never have enough torque down low. With the auto box, the vehicle became a real pleasure to drive around town in stop-start motoring – something I’d always been disappointed in was the lack of off-the-line surge, which was quite evident in the standard vehicle.

Against the clock the DTRONIC-equipped manual Patrol proved to be 1.5 to 2.0 seconds quicker from a standing start to 100km/h with much of that gained off the line. However, passing times were also improved right across the range with 80-100km/h in forth being about half a second quicker, as was 100-120km/h in fifth.

With those figures in the bag I filled the Patrol to the brim and pointed it down the South Gippsland Highway for a few leisurely 100km/h drives. The 150km round trip returned 9.76L/100km and an improvement of about 5 percent more than what I achieved in the standard Patrol. Considering the improvement in performance the DTRONIC provides, that’s pretty exceptional.

The DTRONIC will cost $1495 (GST incl), plus fitting. The unit has a two year warranty. For more information call Safari Automotive Technologies on 03 9720 4211 or check out www.dtronic.com.

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