- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 7 seats
- Engine
2.5DT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
140kW, 450Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 9L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Nissan Pathfinder
Forget car-like driving dynamics. Forget best-in-class comfort. And forget sporty manners that typify the latest breed of city-slicker off-roaders. The third-generation Nissan Pathfinder, scheduled to arrive in Australia midyear, treads a traditional four-wheel-drive path rather than trying to blend the best of a car and a people mover into an all-in-one all-road package.
It's a rare thing in the 21st century - a 4WD that really can go off-road. Indeed, the latest Pathfinder is a very different beast to the vehicle it replaces, which was a mid-sizer that in some ways forged the way for less rugged off-roaders.
It's an odd move from Nissan but one the company boasts about rather than apologises for. Whether it works remains to be seen.
While everything from the Toyota RAV4 and Ford Territory to the Mitsubishi Pajero and Nissan's own X-Trail rely on a car-like monocoque construction, the Pathfinder has reverted to the ladder-frame layout that was once the only way for off-roaders. It is still the norm for trucks and utes, so it's no surprise the Pathfinder's platform is shared with a ute.
As well as providing the ruggedness Nissan wanted for its latest off-roader, the ladder-frame chassis is shared with other Nissan vehicles, providing economies of scale in production.
While most car makers are striving to make their off-roaders more city friendly, Nissan has looked to the past for inspiration and produced a car unequivocally tailored to the bush.
Chief product specialist for the Pathfinder, Hiroyuki Fushiki, says the aim was to make the new Pathfinder drive similar to the old one - a strange goal given the old one went on sale almost a decade ago.
The bush, it seems, was more important than the city when it came to the Pathfinder, despite evidence most buyers never leave the bitumen. And it shows in the way the Pathfinder goes about its business. On the road, the Pathfinder's old-fashioned underpinnings quickly become apparent. Corrugated surfaces or pockmarked back roads have the body juddering unnervingly, at the same time keeping occupants well aware if there is an uneven surface.
There is some lean through corners, although the relatively low-slung frame ensures roll is minimised and generally well contained. The independent suspension ensures the wheels stay adequately pinned to the bitumen but with the amount of shuddering and bumping going on beneath, it sometimes feels like an olde worlde live-axle machine.
In some ways the Pathfinder is a blast from the past. There's nothing wrong with the way it steers, and its big off-road tyres grip well enough on a dry road, but on the whole it's more reminiscent of an old-school off-roader than the new breed.
Beneath the bonnet is something refreshingly more modern, though, in the form of a 4.0-litre V6. Tuned to run on premium unleaded, it throws out a grunty 198 kW of power, enough to launch it to 100 km/h in just nine seconds. Even lugging around the 2.2-tonne body, it makes the Pathfinder a spritely machine, and, combined with a well-matched five-speed automatic transmission, one that has no issues accelerating at speed up a hill. The 2.5-litre turbo-diesel is just as grunty when it comes to mid-range pull, with a stout 403 Nm of torque to play with. Squeeze the throttle and the car surges enthusiastically, although it's ultimately nowhere near as brisk as the V6 and the notable groan and clatter from what is a gruff engine is unlikely to win any refinement awards.
While we didn't put it through the ultimate outback test, the specially designed course Nissan supplied was enough to show that any of the soft-roader brigade would be left scraping their tails and stuck in the mud if they tried to follow the Pathy into the rough stuff.
Its traction control system - expected to be an option on entry-level models - works well to divert drive to the wheels with traction. There's loads of ground clearance (238 mm) and the clean underbody is well protected. All up, few complaints, but it begs the question of how often the average owner will really appreciate the Pathfinder's mud-plugging credentials. After all, while the rival Toyota Prado - the vehicle Nissan lined up in the crosshairs when developing the Pathfinder - is a competent outback device, most owners are content to utilise its eight-seater capacity where it's needed most, in the city.
The Pathfinder isn't quite as accommodating. While it's a seven-seater for the first time, five of those seats are really best left to children. The third row - while neatly folding into the floor and still providing decent luggage space when in use - is cramped and shallow. Even the second row is unsuited to adults, with no room for feet under the front seats and flat, unsupportive pews.
At least the individually folding seats provide a range of seating and load-lugging options.
Even up front, the seats aren't anything special, lacking under-thigh and lateral support.
Still, the basic dash layout is uncluttered and functional, with a pair of glove boxes and deep storage bin to swallow phones, purses and anything else a family can throw at them. There's a nifty storage box beneath the middle seat.
Don't be surprised if the Pathfinder ends up being driven by the male of the family, and not just because of its quasi-utilitarian looks and bold shapes. Mr Fushiki says women were not taken into account with the design of the Pathfinder because this is, apparently, one for the blokes.
Pricing will be crucial to the Pathfinder's success. The closer Nissan can keep the entry price to $40,000 the better. Even then, it would want to come with a generous array of equipment, especially given the choices in the family 4WD wagon market in 2005.
Bush, by gum
Nissan never tested the Pathfinder in Australia, instead preferring parts of Japan and the US but the car had its first taste of our land with the thousands of gum trees that are spread over Portugal, the home of the car's international media drive.
Made in Spain
Unlike the outgoing Japanese-built Pathfinder, the new model will be produced in the US and Spain. Australian-delivered vehicles will be sourced from the Spanish plant, which used to build the conceptually similar Terrano 4WD, a model that went unloved in Australia.