The Nissan Path

Hello,

I'm new to the forum so I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I am considering the purchase of a 2012 Silver. It has 34000 miles and looks like it hasn't been driven. Clean Carfax and thorough maintenance records.

I need a third row but I like the ruggedness of this vehicle over some of the car based SUVs'. That being said, how does this thing do on longer trips. Is it comfortable?

Also, when I drove the car i felt a vibration coming from the floorboard at idle. The dealer found nothing after two inspections.

And, I noticed on bigger bumps, the steering wheel jerks a bit. Are these normal for the vehicle? If they are I can live with them.

This seems like a great car. For me the biggest shortcoming is the lack of nav and bluetooth for music.

I'd love any input or things to watch for.

Thanks.

2012 is a good year it's the last year of R51 production and most problems were worked out by then. The R51 Pathfinder is built on a real solid frame it is not a Uni-body like most of today's SUV's this has some advantages and some disadvantage like ride. A body on frame truck has a tendency to have much more of a bouncy ride or jittery ride and that is most likely what you feel. The vibration at idle is prob normal many people including myself have reported the same thing it seems to be common although mine shows up in the steering wheel most of the time. By the way I have a 2012 V6 model I bought used with only around 7,500 original miles and I'm at 58,000 and the truck is real solid with no issues as of yet. I just today completely under coated the underneath of mine (Don't get me started on the rust our cars get here in Western Massachusetts!) If you can live with some of the R51 Pathy odd traits it is a great ride with real good room solid towing capacity and good road manners. It's a mini Army Duce and a Half!

I enjoy mine and put 30,000 miles on it last year due to my heavy commute. As stated above, due to the suspension it does ride a bit "trucky" and yes my steering can sometimes jeer or jerk over a bump or pothole.. nothing that can't be controlled though. Vibrations are very odd in this vehicle.. sitting at stop lights or drive-thru's especially. When it idles it will vibrate and "pulse" occasionally. This is very common with this engine, you can even check out the Frontier forums it's just a characteristic of this engine.. nothing to worry about. I'm at just over 80,000 on my 2012.

I tow a 3000+ lb boat occasionally with no issues at all, and as stated above a 12 is a good model year because 1) they have perfected it compared to other generations 2) it's the last model year before they went to the less offroad style exterior with the CVT transmission which has a lot of iffy reviews.