What I didn't get was how the Pathfinder drove. Equipped with a 4.0L V6 and a 5-speed automatic, the Pathfinder felt surprisingly sluggish throughout the week. The 266 horses seem nowhere to be found, but perhaps that's thanks to the 4,427-lb weight of it. However, despite trying to drive it hard in order to feel some personality, some brute strength, I managed to maintain an average fuel consumption rating (highway and city) of 13.8 L/100 km which is 0.2 L better than Nissan rated the Pathfinder. Take that, gas prices.
I've driven plenty of larger SUVs, pickups and minivans over the years, so piloting larger vehicles is no shock to me. But when I got behind the wheel of the Pathfinder I couldn't help but feel uber disconnected with the road. The steering felt flimsy, light and almost non-existent. I felt as if I could turn the wheel at least 15 degrees in either direction, and the wheels wouldn't move. It felt floaty on the highway at higher speeds and was unsettlingly squirrely through heavy water as well, pulling the vehicle heavily into the puddle—something I'd expect from a Versa but not from a large Pathfinder.
Maybe it was my general preference to smaller, more compact vehicles that lead to my ho-hum reaction to the Pathfinder, but I felt slightly let down by the whole package. When I looked at the sticker price and then considered what I was driving, I felt like I should have been getting so much more bang for my buck. It's not that the Pathfinder is a bad SUV, far from it, it's just not... enough.
Nothing really shines through as being exemplary or “wow” about the Pathfinder. It just kind of is. The third-row seats are a bonus, but they're small and really only good for small children or adults who don't mind being squished. The sound system is alright, but it's nothing to get your juices going. And the drive is just average, not a great deal of power, not a great deal of handling. Everything just feels middle of the line.
That might be alright for some, but I like my cars to come with a little attitude and I feel like the Nissan Pathfinder's exterior masculine look isn't quite translated to its performance on the road. Now, granted I didn't take it off into the mud and ruts to really test the 4x4 system (we'll save that for a future test), and maybe my opinion will completely change once I do. For now, though, the Pathfinder was mighty good at finding a path of least gas-consumption for my time behind the wheel, but that's about it.
I've driven plenty of larger SUVs, pickups and minivans over the years, so piloting larger vehicles is no shock to me. But when I got behind the wheel of the Pathfinder I couldn't help but feel uber disconnected with the road. The steering felt flimsy, light and almost non-existent. I felt as if I could turn the wheel at least 15 degrees in either direction, and the wheels wouldn't move. It felt floaty on the highway at higher speeds and was unsettlingly squirrely through heavy water as well, pulling the vehicle heavily into the puddle—something I'd expect from a Versa but not from a large Pathfinder.
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| I managed to maintain an average fuel consumption rating (highway and city) of 13.8 L/100 km which is 0.2 L better than Nissan rated the Pathfinder. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |
Maybe it was my general preference to smaller, more compact vehicles that lead to my ho-hum reaction to the Pathfinder, but I felt slightly let down by the whole package. When I looked at the sticker price and then considered what I was driving, I felt like I should have been getting so much more bang for my buck. It's not that the Pathfinder is a bad SUV, far from it, it's just not... enough.
Nothing really shines through as being exemplary or “wow” about the Pathfinder. It just kind of is. The third-row seats are a bonus, but they're small and really only good for small children or adults who don't mind being squished. The sound system is alright, but it's nothing to get your juices going. And the drive is just average, not a great deal of power, not a great deal of handling. Everything just feels middle of the line.
That might be alright for some, but I like my cars to come with a little attitude and I feel like the Nissan Pathfinder's exterior masculine look isn't quite translated to its performance on the road. Now, granted I didn't take it off into the mud and ruts to really test the 4x4 system (we'll save that for a future test), and maybe my opinion will completely change once I do. For now, though, the Pathfinder was mighty good at finding a path of least gas-consumption for my time behind the wheel, but that's about it.
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