Here’s one for the real 4WD enthusiasts. Our Down-under correspondent and resident submariner, John Weinthal, spent an underwater weekend with a Nissan Patrol. Here are the Words from Weinthal:

“A couple of big and basic errors marred this week’s testing times with the subtly improved, and pleasingly powerful, Nissan Patrol 4.8 litre petrol wagon. Four of us went to my favourite off-roading heaven - LandCruiser Mountain Park, some two hours north east of Brisbane.

“My three mates were new to off-roading. Mistake One was that although we were a lone vehicle on a quiet weekend, we ventured far into the depths of the Perrett family’s superb holding with its more than 200km of 4-wheel-driving tracks without a back-up vehicle.

“The 185kW six cylinder Patrol had impressed immensely on the run from Brisbane. The ride on new wider tyres and upgraded suspension was a revelation after previous Patrols which always left one in little doubt as to their real purpose in life.

“The engine is ultra-smooth and quieter than any other seriously big 4-wheel-drive. With 420 Newton metres (Nm) of torque, there’s never any lack of urge. The manual transmission is clearly heavy-duty, but no more than that. Around town, gear changing was no worry. On the open road it is rarely called for because of the power available for easy cruising and safe overtaking.

“Otherwise, this is a Patrol as loved for so long by so many who need something large, tough and seemingly indestructible. Of course it is thirsty, especially with a petrol engine. It can be a mite unwieldy in car parks and the like, but it was never intended as a town car even if in reality many rarely leave a sealed road.

“The seven-seat, 4.8 litre six cylinder, petrol Patrol ST costs just under AUD 53,000 with manual gears. For AUD 55,540 you can have Nissan’s all new five-speed auto which has a manual shift mode for increased control and enhanced driving pleasure.

“Standard gear includes air, power windows, mirrors and locks, cruise control, a multitude of useful storage spaces, single in-dash CD, engine immobiliser and a driver’s airbag. Options include front passenger airbag, ABS brakes and a variety of bull bars. There’s a range-topping auto-only petrol Ti Patrol with lashings of leather and even more flash gear for an extra AUD 15,000.

“So, there we were at LandCruiser Park. I encouraged a friend whom I know to be a good driver to take the wheel for some of the easier tracks. Perhaps part of the trouble was that this almost 2.5 tonne wagon is now so refined, even off-road. It is easy to be fooled into believing that anything is possible in a Patrol - even swimming.

“Martin rushed a waterhole, breaking every rule in the off-roading book. We didn’t walk it first to check depth. We were going too fast. He then eased off the throttle allowing the wave ahead to surge back, halting us mid-stream.

“Of course it was my fault. I was in charge, but I was enjoying the ride and chatting to the others. By the time I saw where we were headed it was too late. We were committed. Only knowledge and skills which are irrelevant on-road could have got us to the other side.

“After a six kay trek, the much chastened driver and his blameless younger brother, returned with two guys who really knew what off-roading is about. They had all the recovery kit from snatchem’ strap to winch, and they had the mechanical knowledge for minor fixes.

“They dragged us out. They pulled us up a slope to let water drain from the exhaust. They then drained the water which had invaded the clutch, rendering it inoperative.

Within 30 minutes we were underway. Muddy carpets and trim were the nasty but only reminders of the dousing the Patrol had survived. The water had rapidly settled half way up the doors, inside and out.

“It was neither pretty nor amusing, and more than embarrassing on return to Nissan. However, we were vastly impressed and relieved that everything worked - even the front door radio speakers which had been submerged. The only evident change was the airbag warning light which flashed continuously. Nissan said the sensor needed replacing.

“Nissan asserts that the vehicle has steam-cleaned back to its original sparkling look. And, hopefully, I am somewhat wiser. The Patrol had been submerged with water above the pedals inside for more than 90 minutes. The fact that it still got on with things as if nothing had ever happened is a tribute to Nissan’s determination to deliver a serious semi-luxury 4-wheel-drive vehicle - a vehicle on which lives may well depend when working in sometimes outrageous conditions in desolate parts of our world.

“And all this still comes at prices which make Patrol the bargain of the field by an impressive margin.” (There are a few Patrols around, having been brought in as ‘grey’ imports - Dr. Iain.)

Again, Automotive News from Detroit reported that General Motors has put USD 2 million, or about a 10 percent stake, into Cunningham Motor Car Co., a project of Robert Lutz, GM’s vice chairman of product development.

Cunningham C7

GM’s money will help Cunningham, in Livonia, Michigan, pay for a feasibility study and business plan to see if a viable market exists for their proposed C7, a two-seat, V-12, luxury touring car with a USD 250,000 price tag, according to two sources familiar with the deal. GM also has the option to purchase up to 50 percent of the company.

Cunningham plans to build and sell about 600 C7 cars per year. Lutz and partner Briggs Cunningham III, son of Briggs Cunningham II, who built the cars that raced at Le Mans in the 1950s, launched their effort last year before Lutz was hired by GM.

The duo unveiled a concept of the C7 in January at the Detroit auto show. At that time, Lutz said he was seeking up to $4 million from private investors to move the project forward. Lutz himself has invested $750,000 in the company.

Lutz and GM are minority partners without an active role in the company’s management, but their names are comforting to the big investors needed to supply the tens of millions of dollars necessary to reach production.

GM’s backing also could make it easier for Cunningham to attract the large automotive suppliers needed to design, develop and produce the car. However, it has taken months of negotiations to get GM involved. “GM does not want the (investors) to think they are investing in GM or that GM will bail them out. That would be misrepresentation,’’ one industry source said.

Lutz will not participate in transactions between the two companies, GM said, but will continue to be a Cunningham board member. GM will appoint a second executive to that board.

In the current climate, I wonder how many people out there are looking for quarter of a million US dollar motor cars?

Automotive News this week reported that Fiat S.p.A., the parent of Fiat Auto, said that it has hired Jack Welch, General Electric Co.’s former CEO, as a consultant as the automaker prepares to cut production by more than it had planned.

Welch, a highly regarded manager who has been a Fiat board member for more than a year, retired from General Electric in September 2001.

Fiat has said it will lose about $720 million this year as it cuts jobs and closes factories at its car unit, which has lost money for three straight years. A Fiat spokesman said the automaker will cut production by 8,300 units in the next two months, rather than by 1,800 as it had said.

Where this leaves the scheduled production of Alfa Romeo 156 that was to be produced this year at the GM Plant at Rayong I do not know. GM has had enough of a problem globally, which did spill over into Thailand as a domino effect at the end of last year. With all vehicle sales down in Europe, the demand for Zafiras also fell, which then meant that production here slowed to the point that the night shift was no longer needed and several hundred workers were retrenched. Where this will leave TRW, for example, that ran a night shift manufacturing Zafira brake and suspension modules to parallel the Zafira production line, is anyone’s guess, but there will be retrenchments, if there has not been some already.

In the US there are thirteen GM plants that have extended the New Year’s break by another week in an attempt to slow production, with getting the real estate to stick unsold vehicles on becoming a problem.