2005 Nissan Xterra Off-Road Edition Road Test

Inside, the Xterra is pretty cool and very comfy. The cloth seating surfaces are upholstered with a durable, yet plush,

Inside, the Xterra is pretty cool and very comfy. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press)

material optimizing comfort in the front and rear seats. Speaking of the rear seats, the tough Nissan has a 'stadium' seating set-up similar to the Honda Element, Land Rover LR3, Jeep Liberty and others in this category. Rear passengers are elevated to provide an unobstructed view of the road ahead. There are also four 12-volt DC power outlets for various electronic devices one might use on a road trip or while roughing it in the bush.

But it's hardly roughing it if you've got a couple of kids in the back seat playing Game Boys, or perhaps even an automotive journalist working on a review with her laptop plugged in, just for a change of scenery. And it can't be seen as the simple back-country life if there's an amazing Rockford-Fosgate stereo system pumping out tunes for all the flora and fauna to enjoy.

For an SUV, this audio system is serious business, one of the best and one of my favourites in the compact sport utility class. The 380-watt, AM/FM/6-disc CD changer with nine high-performance speakers, an eight-inch subwoofer, steering-wheel-mounted controls, MP3

The cloth seating surfaces are upholstered with a durable, yet plush, material optimizing comfort in the front and rear. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press)

capability, and speed-sensitive audio controls is all that, and then some. Sound quality is great and it is, for the lack of a more professional and sophisticated word, a "pimp" system. Sometimes a little colloquialism describes it best.

In all honesty, 'roughing it' in the Xterra was, for me, traveling down an old, long and dirty gravel logging road to an area where mountain bikers take to the trails at the local demonstration forest. I really wanted to take my all-terrain sport ute off-road to test out the four-wheel drive system with switch-operated two-speed transfer case. After all, this is the Off-Road edition, and it comes with more than just a transfer case.