The Nissan Path

We picked up this 2008 Pathfinder S about two weeks ago. It replaced a 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer which we loved but was a bit beat at this point after many, many camping and ghost town exploring trips. We originially were looking at the new SE V8, but liked the simplicity of the S model(the better gas mileage doesn't hurt, either).

We took it on our first road trip up to Monterey, San Jose, and Pinnicles National Monument. The picture below is with about 800 miles on the clock.



I've already put on a set of factory skidplates, which I see others have done on this site. On the trip we found the rear suspension to be way too soft and it would bottom on undulating roads. The next upgrade will be the air bag system many of you seem to have done.

welcome aboard... i'm a fairly new pathfinder owner as well. Got her in mid november... have 2000 miles on it right now. Same color as yours (nice choice btw). Got an SE-V8 with airbags / premium / etc. Love every aspect of it. Taking it on a road trip to montreal next month. can't wait!

enjoy the truck!

Welcome! I had to chime in as well because I also have the same color on my ride. Let's see, how many different Pathfinder models do we have with that color?

1 person with the SE, V8, premium
1 person with the S
1 person with the SE-OR, premium

I'm sure there are more...how anyone could pass on that color beats me.

The color was an absolute bonus. My wife and I both liked it on an SE-OR that we test drove last year. When we actually went to buy one, this one was the only 4WD in Ventura or Santa Barbara counties. When we found it was an S and Dover Grey, we scooped it right up.

Danguy - We found the Pathfinder to be an excellent road trip vehicle. It just eats up the miles but still has that typical Nissan fun factor.

Dover Grey? I thought maybe your photo was a bit over exposed & assumed it was Silverton Blue. Scratch what I said earlier, my bad. Still looks nice though.

Just looked at their website and they don't offer the Silverton Blue anymore.

I had to break out the brochure and take a look. My color is actually called Storm Gray(whoops). It is a dark grey, but has a tealness if you look at it right in the sunlight. I think that's what you saw. Silverton Blue is still offered it appears, but only on the LE. I've never seen it in person, but looks good in the brochure.

I would get the OME setup, which will help your ride better handle the rough roads. Plus it will add a little lift. I like the color, we were debating between the storm gray and silver, but figured the silver wouldn't show the road salt as bad. The wife drives it, so she doesn't like it to look dirty.

ahh yes... storm grey.... the silverton blue was very nice... but im a sucker for this shade of grey on an automobile.

Yea... 3 weeks away from the roadtrip.... i haven't really taken it on a long trip. im curious to see the effect on the mileage... im only getting roughly 13.5-14.0 in the city.

The one thing I didn't understand is why the airbag package wasn't standard.... cost me 600 as an add on...can't really put a price on safety.

welcome to the forum (i'm new here myself). lucky you scored a storm gray. that's the color i wanted but the dealership couldn't get, unless of course i wanted to wait longer.

Danguy426 wrote:ahh yes... storm grey.... the silverton blue was very nice... but im a sucker for this shade of grey on an automobile.

I was torn between the two colors. My dealership only had a few cars in storm grey-no Pathfinders, and it looked too dark on the cars. Of course they had no vehicle in Silverton Blue, so I took a gamble with that.

The one thing I didn't understand is why the airbag package wasn't standard.... cost me 600 as an add on...can't really put a price on safety.

Are you talking about the side airbags? I'm betting you are since front airbags are standard across the board, as far as I know. I have a 2007 SE-OR. The only way I could have added the side air bags would have been to add the leather package, or drop my premium package. They simply would not allow me to get only the premium package with side airbags. I raised all kinds of hell with that one, to no avail. The 2006 model year allowed one to configure the SE-OR any way they wanted it, which really ticked me off when I mentioned that to my dealer. Looks like the 2008 SE-OR is the same way-you have to get the leather package in order to get side airbags. Just plain stupid. I'll gladly fork over for the safety, but not for a package I can't use & can't stand.

The air bag package is one of the weird things with ours. Ours is only an S but it has the side air bags. I only saw the side air bags on one SE-OR we drove(aside from the LE). I never did see the package on any SE V6 or V8, or any other S. That didn't affect our decision either way, but it seemed odd. The package was $700 on ours, btw.

I've heard about the OME for the Pathfinder, but haven't looked into it yet. I'm glad there's some aftermarket support for these vehicles. I've been spending some time reading about problems some people have had with the R180a front diff the V6 Pathfinders have.

08Datsun wrote:The air bag package is one of the weird things with ours. Ours is only an S but it has the side air bags. I only saw the side air bags on one SE-OR we drove(aside from the LE). I never did see the package on any SE V6 or V8, or any other S. That didn't affect our decision either way, but it seemed odd. The package was $700 on ours, btw.

All of the dealers in my area said the same thing: "we don't order vehicles with side airbags because people don't want to pay for them." I don't know where they are getting the statistics for that. I think it should be mandatory. I've read many posts from other forums where people were upset they had the side/curtain airbags, and wanted to have them deactivated.

good catch... thats exactly what i was speaking about. the optional side airbags. When i was shopping for the car they kept talking about how hard it was to locate a vehicle that had

a) premium package
b) leather package
c) side air bag package

d) wanted the DVD package as well.. but that would make the car impossible to find....so i nixed that idea...

You would think I was trying to purchase a ferrari enzo... lol. how exotic!

I would not purchase the car w/o side airbags. The side crash ratings on the pathy sans the side air bags was marginable. With the side airbags it was almost top rated. I wont argue over 600 bucks if it saves my ribcage and then some. It just still baffles me that its only an option. It is what it is tho...

In the end... at least we all know we have an excellent automobile. i love how people underestimate the power of the v-8 thats under the hood.