The Nissan Path

Hi - I'm the original owner of a Majestic Blue 2006 Nissan Pathfinder SE that's averaging about 10k miles a year. Up until March of this year, it's been our road trip and weekend driver since the day we bought it. At the time it was the perfect car for a young married couple that had just bought their first house. Big enough to easily handle 30 bags of mulch or take the lawn mower to the shop, but not a ginormous, street legal troop transport! It's also been shelter from the storm (and a place to sleep) for many competitive BBQ contests for the last 5 years. It was the first SUV and also the first Japanese car I'd ever purchased. So the first year or two were somewhat of a learning experience!

But as the years went on, it became more and more apparent that this model run was NOT Nissan's finest offering. In hindsight, it's been paid off for years so the occasional trip to the shop really shouldn't be a big deal. So fried window motors and bad fuel tank sensors are just the cost of ownership, i guess. But the notorious transmission issue really has me steamed. I've been fortunate enough to not experience it (knock on wood), but Nissan's dismissive attitude towards the whole thing is quite frustrating. If it's bad/common enough to send out a half assed warranty/deductible plan, then I think more proactive steps are appropriate. My last conversation w/ Nissan Corporate on the issue ended with them offering me employee pricing on a NEW Nissan and me (not so subtly) telling them I'd never buy another Nissan again (hence the wife's new Acura...). But I digress...

I'm rambling! It's great to see so many people sharing the good and the bad, what you love about your PFer and what you've done to correct the stuff you don't love! Looking forward to getting a lot of good info off of this forum!

- jason

Jason,

Welcome to the forum. As many will tell you, those who have problems tend to find their way to vehicle forums to search for themselves to find possible answers to their problems. I do agree with you that Nissan should do something else besides a limited extended warranty on the transmission/radiator failures, however I don't see this happening. I look forward to hearing your input in the R51 forum on possible solutions to problems people might have.

welcome. i too have the same year and color pathfinder. nissans' quality is not what it was before. aside from one fuel sender, timimg chain whine, condenser fan died, and doing a trans bypass. my pathfinder has not really given me to much trouble. ill hold off until i get tempted by something bigger with better mpg and rear wheel drive. i know that manufactures are not standing behind anything they make these days. quantity over quality is the slogan.