To me, the Pathfinder Chinook's strongest attribute is its suspension. It drives very comfortably for an SUV. In fact, it was hard to believe I was driving an SUV. It's not particularly car-like, as the suspension is fairly stiff, but still it's soft enough to compensate for the daily bumps and grinds that make up our inner city roads, some that make backwoods 4x4ing seem like a walk in the park.
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| Thanks to the Pathfinder's great suspension, it was hard to believe I was driving an SUV. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
Unfortunately, time constraints in my oh-so-hectic schedule did not permit me to venture up the infamous Sea-To-Sky Highway to my regular haunt, Whistler, but I did manage to find a prime road with an incline, some curves, and a little bit of snow. The Pathfinder tracks through the elements with the confidence of a seasoned mountain climber, not as sports car-like as some of its less off-road capable competitors, but you can't switch the transfer case from 2WD to 4-Low in one of those, can you? The Pathfinder Chinook offers a great compromise between both worlds.
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| The 3.5-Litre, 24-valve, DOHC V6 engine features Nissan's Continuously Variable Valve Timing and produces 240-hp and 265 lb-ft of torque. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
On the topic of "great" things, I also found the Pathfinder's powertrain to be notable. My test vehicle came equipped with a 3.5-Litre, 24-valve, DOHC V6 featuring Continuously Variable Valve Timing (CVVT) for an energetic 240 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 265 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. It also came with the optional 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive. Now as you might know, automatic transmissions are not my personal preference, but I have to admit the Chinook convinced me otherwise. Shifting through the gears is a smooth and efficient process, and when I wanted that extra punch of power the foot went down and the engine responded promptly. The standard 5-speed manual transmission, which would be my weapon of choice, delivers an increase of 10 horsepower to 250 at 6,000 rpm, but drops in torque by 25 lb-ft to 240 at 3,200 rpm.