Anyone own/run a Nissan Pathfinder?
 

Caveat:

May be moving somewhere a 4X4 is the rule, not the exception ;)

Hi

Anyone got experience of these? Hopefully test driving at the weekend but a heads up on living with them/reliability/other issues etc would be helpful

Cheers

Had one of the first ones years ago when we lived in Australia. Great vehicle. Altogether we did about 30k kms off-road and nothing ever went wrong with it. We even took it (by ourselves; they won't let you do this now) across the notorious Gunbarrel Highway, including the even more infamous "Abandoned Section". 1100 kms in 4 days: "hell on wheels" was how one local put it, so they are certainly strong. However, if I was going to Oz now, I think a Pathfinder would be a bit small and insufficiently known to bush mechanics; I'd be looking at getting a Toyota Landcruiser -- took a diesel across the Simpson Desert a couple of years back and got 19 mpg out of it, including a lot of 4WD in some fairly heavy sand!

Don't know if this is any use to you, but it's nice to reminisce!

Pathfinders are longer than Landcruisers!

I know because my grandparents in law have an Amazon and got the pick up version of the Pathfinder - More or less the same thing.

Went well, nice (in fact fantastic) interior, very comfortable but they sold it after four months because it was simply too big and the massive overhangs made moving it around very tricky.

Well done, you got the job in West London :thumb:

Generally in Australia the undisputed king of 4x4's is the Toyota Landcruiser. After that it would be the Nissan Patrol.

The Pathfinder was the next level down along with the Pajero and the Toyota Prado.

NISSAN PATHFINDER - Drive.com.au

Excellent machines, the diesel that is, in laws have one, and we will be getting one later this year to replace the Shogun.

I've got the Navara and can't really fault it. Great engine and great off-road

Did'nt Jack Bauer have one in 24 a couple of series back . . . .

in which case well hard !

Out of interest what MPG on dual carriageways / motorway ?

There are loads of lease deals on the Pathfinder £270ish PCM pretty cheap if you can punt it through the accounts ;-)

R

We drove the diesel pathfinder from York to Peterborough via the A1, towing the horse box at an average speed of 65mph on the main road, and it only just used half a tank. Its positively frugal compared to our Shogun. It's also quite quick to 60mph (for a 4x4)

Cheers guys :thumb:

looking good so far :)

Went to Le Mans in one couple of years ago, loaded it up to the hilt, v comfy there n back! Brilliant car! Reversing camera is a must item as its a fairly lengthy motor.

wow - fancy that - been looking at these recently and now there is a thread all about them. Sounds like good experiences too :thumb:

My dad has a Navara, same platform as the Pathfinder, great to drive especially for the size of car, no problems with it so far. would recommend

Update

Test drove one, liked it a lot.

Pros:

Nice interior, but no Discovery, good engine, decent ride, drove well. It may be long, but its not that wide. Decent Kit levels in the one I drove. Clever 4wd system.

Cons:

Surprisingly poor visibility for a big SUV - thick pillars and comparatively narrow glasshouse. front three quarters not great and rearwards especially was terrrible.

Lack of body protection - no plastic cladding on wheel arches or sides.

Boot height - very high floor even allowing for ladder frame chassis. Not great for access for the dogs.

Price - base spec isn't great, so need to go Sport or Aventura grades. Not many second hand, and new is £25k for a sport.

Dealers - for me that means Arnold Clark Nissan.

Got offered a pretty good deal on the demo (no other second hand or pre registered cars available at the time from the dealer network that were not the thick end of over specced £30k cars, but it was a crap colour and seriously over specced for what I wanted.

So, off to Mitsubishi dealer along the road and was offered a cracking deal on a pre registered Shogun due to the new model being released. Excellent trade in too.

3.2 DiD SWB Equippe. Delivery miles only.

Its slightly more agricultural than the pathfinder to drive, insofar as the engine is not as refined and it understeers more, but absolutely fine on road and, to be honest, its dead easy and and absloute hoot to drive. With its "integral" chassis you don't get that shimmying you get with some of the others (pathfinder included) and its been fine on long trips.

35 ish MPG to date, and its extremely torquey as you would expect. Lower numbers than the Pathfinder, but subjectively feels better. Probably lighter in SWB guise.

Great visibility and, importantly a lower boot floor with much greater interior height and a side opening rear door which for us works better than the Pathfinders split top hinged tailgate. We dont need the back seats so plenty of space with them folded up.

The only down side is the bloody road tax

Laughably it came with a cassette player, but dealer fitted CD FOC. Sound quality is, surprisingly, excellent.

no pics as yet, but it looks exactly like this, except for the front tints and the rear spoiler which was a £700 option :eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/Diablo/shog2.jpg

Oh, and ours is somewhat muddier :D

Great vehicles, couple of people i know had them in Dubai - massive and capable, not as much so in the sand/desert as a Landcrusier but the are the kings of the desert. on the road a good drive, usual 4x4 issues, handling not really car like (not bad mind) and tyre noise. Easy to live with and a BIG fuel tank (two from memory).

bleeding huge inside and out and well built.

I would have one - in the right enviroment

I like them
Ah HA Just seen the last post of yours.

Have drivewn a few Shoguns and Landcruisers, the Shogun is a better drive on the road and in some ways (in the sand) off.

Like the Shoguns, god looking and well built, beter handling on ther road that a Landcruiser!

With the pathfinder, be sure to remember that the vehicle is actually wider than the town road width restrictors that you sometimes get.

Never seen those, and not likely to be a problem for me :)

Are you sure though? the Pathfinder isn't that wide, its only 1850 mm excluding mirrors.

The shogun is wider at 1885mm

For comparison, a Range Rover is 2030mm wide.

I read it in TG magazine....... so could be wrong matey

****..... it is the Nissan Patrol!! Sorry mate

No probs mate :thumb:

I bought a Shogun anyway, but would highly recommend the pathfinder :)