Rent Nissan Patrol 2021 in Dubai

Red is not a colour you see often on a full-size 4x4 in this city. Walk a Dubai rental yard and the Patrols line up in white, black and the odd grey, so a red Nissan Patrol 2021 stands out before you have even opened the door. We deliver it to your address within one to two hours of booking. Colour aside, this is the Y62-generation Patrol, the 5.6-litre V8 wagon that has carried this nameplate across the GCC since the 2020 facelift, not the redesigned model that followed it. What this page settles is whether that much car, in a shade that will not blend into the car park, actually suits your week, or whether the size is more than you need.

The engine, and how it drives

Under the bonnet sits a 5.6-litre petrol V8 making 400 hp at 5,800 rpm and 560 Nm at 4,000 rpm, sent through a seven-speed automatic to all four wheels. This is genuine all-mode 4WD with a low-range transfer case built into a body-on-frame chassis, not a tall crossover system wearing rugged badges. On Sheikh Zayed Road it settles into 120 km/h and holds it without any strain, and there is enough torque on tap that overtaking a slow truck needs nothing more than a light push of the pedal. For something over five metres long, 0-100 km/h in around 6.6 seconds still surprises people at the lights.

Take it off tarmac and the hardware backs up the claim. Low range and a proper transfer case make the tracks past Hatta genuinely reachable, not a line copied from a brochure. Dune driving still takes some skill though. Drop your tyre pressures, carry recovery gear and go out with someone who knows the route rather than treating the low-range lever as a shortcut. One thing worth confirming before you book: a share of 2021 Patrols in the GCC carry a smaller 4.0-litre V6 instead of this V8. It gets you around fine, just with noticeably less shove, so if the V8 is why you picked this car, ask us to check which engine your specific unit has.

Seven seats, and where the luggage actually goes

The Patrol seats seven, and the middle row is wide enough for three across or two adults who do not have to negotiate elbow room. It slides and tips forward on its own, so getting into the third row is not a climbing exercise, and once someone is back there the seat suits an adult on a real trip rather than a child folded in for ten minutes.

The boot is where you plan rather than assume. With all seven seats up, the space behind the last row takes a couple of soft bags and a stroller, not a wall of hard suitcases for a full car. Fold one side of the third row down and a proper load bay opens for cases while five or six people still travel. Take the whole row out and it swallows a large family's luggage for a week with room spare. The trip that catches people out is the one that needs every seat filled and every case packed at the same time, and for most bookings, city errands, school runs, an airport pickup, that situation never actually comes up.

A red cabin, fuel and running cost

Red sits between white and black for heat. It absorbs more sun than a pale body but reflects more than black paint would, so a red Patrol left in an open lot through a July afternoon runs a bit warmer to the touch than a white one, though nowhere near as hot as a black one. The glass decides most of it regardless of the paint, so give it a couple of minutes with the front vents on full once you climb back in. Rear vents feed the second and third rows properly, so nobody sitting further back is stuck waiting on whatever cold air drifts from the front.

Fuel tells a similarly honest story. Nissan's combined figure sits around 14 L/100km, but a two-and-a-half-tonne V8 working through Dubai traffic with the AC on full tends to land closer to 16 or 17 in practice. The 140-litre tank absorbs most of that gap, so you are not hunting for a station every other day even with a heavy right foot. Mileage is the number worth watching. The daily allowance on this Patrol is 250 km, then AED 0.5 for every kilometre past that, which covers city errands and airport runs with room to spare, though a full day out to Hatta and back is worth totting up before you leave. You will need to be 21 to take the keys. Salik tolls and any RTA fines pass to you as the renter, the same as on every car we hand over.

Parking asks for a bit of patience of its own. At just over 5.1 metres long and close to two metres wide, the Patrol wants a full bay rather than the gap by the trolley return, and a red one will not hide in a crowded multi-storey the way a grey one might. The 275 mm of ground clearance pays that back everywhere else, turning speed bumps and steep mall ramps into things you stop noticing.

The right renter for this red Patrol, and who should look elsewhere

Rent this Patrol if you are a large family or a group travelling with real luggage, or if your week genuinely mixes highway distance, seven passengers and a day heading toward the sand. The V8 makes long drives feel shorter than they are, and few rentals in this class do the people-and-cargo job with fewer compromises. The red paint does not change any of that, it just means the car will not be the one you struggle to spot in a packed car park.

Look elsewhere if it is one or two of you handling errands with the odd airport run. You would be parking a five-metre SUV built for seven and feeding a thirsty V8 for a job a mid-size crossover handles on less fuel and with far less fuss at the wheel. If the colour matters less to you than blending in, ask about a white or grey Patrol on the same platform. If you like standing out, this is the one to book.