Hi there-

I'm a newbie here, and this is my first post. I am currently shopping for a used vehicle that will double as both a daily driver for my wife and a tow vehicle for my race car 8-10 times a year. I have been doing some research and from what I've read, the 2005+ Pathfinder seems to have enough power and stability to tow a car on an open trailer. I have several questions:

1-Is the idea of pulling a +-2800 lb car on a +-1800 lb steel trailer (with brakes) with an '05+ Pathfinder a _safe_ one? I am brand new to towing and will be driving up to 6 hours from my home to attend these events. Can this vehicle handle the stresses of this safely?

2-Since '05 was the first year of this bodystyle, are there inherent bugs and gremlins that come with it? Should I limit my search to '06 or newer? My budget is somewhere in the mid teens.

3-Is the stock tow package that comes on these vehicles adequate for what I want to do, or do I have to purchase additional equipment?

Thanks in advance,

Adam in Nashville

RenaissanceMan wrote:Hi there-

I'm a newbie here, and this is my first post. I am currently shopping for a used vehicle that will double as both a daily driver for my wife and a tow vehicle for my race car 8-10 times a year. I have been doing some research and from what I've read, the 2005+ Pathfinder seems to have enough power and stability to tow a car on an open trailer. I have several questions:

1-Is the idea of pulling a +-2800 lb car on a +-1800 lb steel trailer (with brakes) with an '05+ Pathfinder a _safe_ one? I am brand new to towing and will be driving up to 6 hours from my home to attend these events. Can this vehicle handle the stresses of this safely?

2-Since '05 was the first year of this bodystyle, are there inherent bugs and gremlins that come with it? Should I limit my search to '06 or newer? My budget is somewhere in the mid teens.

3-Is the stock tow package that comes on these vehicles adequate for what I want to do, or do I have to purchase additional equipment?

Thanks in advance,

Adam in Nashville

I think you are well within the capabilities of a pathfinder v6 or v8. I personally tow a 28' travel trailer, 4500lbs dry weight, 5500lbs loaded. It has a very large front face as well, meaning high winds definitelty make a difference.

Using a Weight Distributing hitch makes all the difference in the towing, as it keeps the trailer from exerting downward pressure on the hitch, allowing for the most weight on the front tires, meaning you can actually steer the vehicle.

Many, however, will disagree with me and say that you can't do it. I would definitely ask for a trial tow from where you are buying the vehicle from, to see if you are comfortable. The only thing that can make this complicated is if it doesn't have a trailer brake installed already.

As far as vehicle year, the newer the better as there are usually fewer miles on the newer ones. I own a 2005, and have not had any major issues. However, I do find that I am generally the first one on this forum to report issues (MIL lights and belt squeals, minor stuff). That could be because mine is the oldest, or it could mean I am just too picky. Some of the other stuff that comes us is the campaign for the timing chain bearings, newer than 06 means your truck would be updated already. My truck has not had the updated parts put in, and its fine so far.

The tow package will be fine, except you will need to add the trailer brake (the truck is prewired, very easy install) and you need a 7 prong plug for the trailer vs the 4 post one that comes with. The included hitch is a class IV which is rated for 10000lbs, the limiting factor is that the truck is rated 6000lb for the v6 and 7500 for the v8.

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I've towed several cars on open trailers since I bought my Pathfinder. The longest was about 400 miles with only 900 miles on my odometer. The pathfinder handles fine with a big trailer. The trailer I usually use is a friends and is a ~2200 lb double axle w/brakes, however I have not put the brake controller in my Pathfinder yet so I am always careful! As far as reliablility, I have an 07 SE 4X4 with 35,000 miles on it with no problems so far, it's worked good for me!

I tow a 4200 # boat with my '06 Pathfinder. So far no problems with towing. We run I90 east from Seattle to Moses Lake over a 1200' pass & the rig keeps up with traffic easily & gets about 14 mpg average.
On I5 south to Portland its all flat & I can tow easily at 70 mph.

Here's a link to the thread by the administrator of this site towing almost exactly what you are talking about. There's a lot of other good info in that thread too.

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... ght=towing

I tow my 2800lb race car on my steel 1500ish lb trailer with out Trailer brakes ... It tows nicely ..... Plenty of power and have never had any braking issues ... would I want to tow a 6 hour trip like that ... probably not ... But for a 1 hour trip to the track or work and back it works great ...I am also smart about it ... huge distances and well within a safe speed ...

You should have NO issues towing your car on your trailer with trailer brakes ...

And yea, '06 with 35K and no issues as of yet onthe than a couple squeeks .....Love it

Thanks for all the great feedback so far... I really appreciate it. I think I'm sold on this whole Pathfinder solution idea.