The Nissan Path

Hi All Pathy Folk!

New to Pathfinders, but not to Nissan (last 3 cars and my wife's were/are Nissans). Moved up from my 03 Xterra to an 08 Pathy just before Christmas...we needed more seating space (kid #3 on the way) and the X (which I loved, even though it was a 2wd grocery-getter) had hit 160k miles and was due for some major repairs. SO I found a great deal on a new 08 Pathy that was sitting on the lot collecting dust and ended up financing LESS than when I bought my X in 03! Gotta like that bang for the buck.

So far the new rig (08, V6 S (I'd rather do DIY aftermarket upgrades than anything I can get from the factory), 4WD in Majestic Blue Metalic) has been a nice step up in ride comfort and highway performance than the Xterra. Even with just the 4.0 V6 it sure has some 'gittyup'. That poor 5-speed Xterra was geared and suspension tuned for climbing over rocks at 5mph (2wd or not), and at highway speeds the 3.3 V6 was screaming like it was on fire and you could feel every crack in the road...the Pathy barely feels like it's working at 85mph and is SO smooth. We did the Maryland-Central Florida-Maryland round trip within a few weeks of pulling it off the lot and it was far more of a pleasant ride there and back.

That's the good news. Unfortunately I've already had some minor issues...rear door struts were shot from the factory, so on cold days the door will slam down on your head and never opens all the way on its own...the hitch is already rusting...and the paint job (as cool as the metalic looks all waxed up sitting in the sun) seems to scratch if you look at it wrong. This on top of my dealer's service department (where I bought the truck, NOT my regular one from the last 6 years) continually reminding me of a BAD 3 Stooges episode has left me with some mixed emotions. Oh, and almost forgot someone already gave me a big old parking lot door wrinkle - dented the passenger side door from rocker panel to window base and took the paint all the way to the bare metal -ugh...not looking so "new" these days.

Anyhow, I enjoyed all the discussions with folks that were passionate about their Xterras (though at times they were a rough crowd), so I was glad to find this forum with folks passionate about their Pathys. I'm looking forward to learning a lot and maybe adding my $.02 every now and again as well.

Thanks to the site owner and I hope to see this site continue to grow!!

welcome

Heya Welcome..

Welcome fellow Marylander. Where in Md to you reside?

Many thanks for the welcomes!

dmo4205- I'm in the middle of the state in the Ft. Meade area...just south of B-more.

Welcome. By the way, nice color choice. Dark paint always shows whatever flaws are on it. Learned that from owning too many black vehicles. Looks good when clean though.

Joel

Have the same year and model (08 S 4wd in majestic blue). I added OE fog lights and running boards. Fog lights were a bit of a pain to install ( have to remove the wheels and inner fender to get to them) but the switch was easy to change out. Running boards were a simple install too.

Yeah, my plan was to add the fog lamps, but I may just go with the Hella driving lamp mod instead. This thing's night lighting (aka high beams) leave a lot to be desired...had the same problem with my Xterra - why I added (3) 100W KC's to the front - THAT fixed the problem. After the Hella driving-in-the-fog-mount addition I'll see what I can come up with for mounting some offroad/driving lights to the nose of the Pathy. No running boards, but a pair of rock sliders is on the docket for this truck.

Yeah, the DARK blue is bad for dirt/scratches. My X was Nissan "Just Blue" which did a good job of hiding a lot of imperfections...this dark, 'majestic' color - not so much. It was between this color and black for the price I was paying, so I picked the lesser of 2 evils on that one. STILL...all washed up and in the sun, the metalic flake is pretty cool!