The Nissan Path

http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/144 ... tml?al=104

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I just had a bit of vomit work it's way up to the back of my mouth. I really hope they don't follow through and make this a crossover. That would leave the outdated Xterra and hideous Armada, with a huge price gap inbetween.

If they want something smaller, bring the Xtrail to the states. Then small families that want the rugged look but better economy can have that. I like they Pathfinder the way it is. If they want better economy put the 3.5VQ in there with a supercharger to balance the power. I mean who doesn't like to hear the whirl of a charger.

If they make it a crossover, they should just change the name to the "Groceryfinder", "Starbucksfinder", or "Soccerfieldfinder".

boogyman wrote:If they want something smaller, bring the Xtrail to the states. Then small families that want the rugged look but better economy can have that. I like they Pathfinder the way it is. If they want better economy put the 3.5VQ in there with a supercharger to balance the power. I mean who doesn't like to hear the whirl of a charger.

Why is it that when mfrs. have a great all-around product that is selling extremely well, do they feel compelled to muck things up with redesigns? I've never understood that. The auto industry does not like to stick with something that is proven without making horrible changes.

Hey Steve why do you call the X outdated?

Fofiddy wrote:Hey Steve why do you call the X outdated?

It's the 2nd generation. Actually, I passed on the 1st generation because the engine was horribly underpowered. But, the styling & design hasn't changed since they were first brought to market. As someone else wrote, it seems like every other SUV is an X. It's obviously very distinctive on the roads, but they should be able to change it enough in such a way as to keep it unique. I think it's a great SUV, but I just think they need to redesign it again to keep the interest. It's far from perfect & there is plenty of room to make some tweaks. It's aimed at the same crowd who are gobbling up all the FJs out there. Now that the H3 actually has a real engine, it will be competition to those who love to buy American, not to mention the 4 door Wrangler. The ironic part is that I don't know what they could do to change it, not having owned one myself, nor caring enough to spend time to think about it. All of my X knowledge comes from friends and forums like this one, with many people chanting "do something new with the X."

boogyman wrote:If they want something smaller, bring the Xtrail to the states. Then small families that want the rugged look but better economy can have that. I like they Pathfinder the way it is. If they want better economy put the 3.5VQ in there with a supercharger to balance the power. I mean who doesn't like to hear the whirl of a charger.

They sold the X-trail in Canada for two years (2005 and 2006). I'm not entirely sure why they dropped it. You actually see a fair number of them on the road. I probably see more X-trails than 2005+ Pathfinders around here.

Well, you guys must know that purely from a market standpoint, in spite of the fun we have with these trucks the vast majority of buyers use them as the family station wagon. If Nissan feels that family station wagon buyers don't care about towing or off-roading, and the 'cool' factor of being all tough like a Titan is kaput, then they are going to go unibody. That may leave us feeling abandoned and needing to shift product lines or maybe even manufacturers down the road when we're ready for a new truck, but at least to me that's a long long ways away.

Carl,

I fully agree. I don't plan on getting rid of my PF for a good long time either. The only thing that would persuade me to do otherwise would be if someone actually came out with a really good hybrid-type SUV, and I'm not talking Prius owners who will be slammed with huge bills to replace their batteries. Or the Ford & Toyota hybrids that are useless off pavement. No matter. I figure that there should be some pretty cool options in place by the time I need to retire the PF.

Unfortunately most of the buying public are younger or they recently had children. Crossovers are becoming more attractive to them because they can get the 4WD "feel" yet not get hit with sticker shock and a lesser pinch due to rising fuel costs. Pathys right now have a loyal following, most of us have had quite a few of them, present company included. So we will always put aside the confines of fuels costs and prices etc. because we know that this vehicle will always perform the way we want it to. Nissan like any other company will always try to revamp their lines and the bottom line. Hey look at Ford getting rid of the Taurus/Sable line and renaming them 500/Montego only to bring it back to the original a year later due to lack luster sales.

if they make that truck a cross over that will just fit the description of a car company like toyota boring slow and main market if the make it front wheel drive i will never buy another nissan

Just out of curiosity, are we talking completly canceling the Pathfinder, or converting it to a crossover? The only reason I ask is because Nissan already has the Murano as a midsize crossover. It seems like it would be easier to enginer that a little bigger to get the small third row in there (think Acadia, Enclave) than it would be to have two seperate product lines; i.e. Pathfinder and Murano.

That said, I hope they keep the Pathfinder the way it is as a mid-size SUV with real truck abilities as well as its utilitarian strengths. Otherwise faithful Nissan buyers will have no middle ground between the Xterra and Armada.

Me for example, the Xterra was too small a vehicle for my needs (would have worked, but no room for family growth), and the Armada is much too large for a current vehicle (although I may need something that big 6 years from now with more kids in the future plus the ones I have being bigger than they are now).

Wow, that was longer than I normally post.... Oh well

No worries man, we don't charge by the word here

I really doubt they would cancel it outright, the "Pathfinder" name is worth too much. OTOH sales are slumping so bad it's not even funny