| + Used Car Home + Used Cars for Sale + Car Reviews + Auto Repair |
| 2006 Nissan Pathfinder Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
|
Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
|
|||
| Inside & Out | |||
The average 2.5-kid family has been demanding seats for seven in their mid-size SUVs lately. Nissan has complied, stretching the Pathfinder to 187.6 inches long (up 4.9 from the last and 15.7 from the first), 112.2 in wheelbase (up 5.9), and an inch or two wider and taller. This and the space saved by the independent rear suspension made that new bench possible. What's not possible is for two adults to sit there with any degree of comfort. With no more than 28.1 inches of legroom, all but the shortest adults will sit with knees jammed into the backs of the second-row passengers, which is the only source of leg support since the seat's down on the slightly elevated floor. Then there's the issue of the undignified climb over the second row to get there in the first place. Kids should find it perfectly fine, as long as they can jump up to reach those five-foot-high door handles.With all that room, you'd think more could have been done with the second row, but the main back seat is still just OK. You can park feet under the front seats (barely), but a protruding section of your own eats up footroom from behind. Some of that generous headroom should be traded in for a higher, longer seat cushion, and why must Nissan truck armrests slope uphill? Things are fine otherwise: a nearly flat floor, great headroom, and good padding. Adjustable head restraints and good-fitting three-point seat belts adorn all seven positions. Up in the front row, I find myself empty on complaints. With perfect room, contouring, and adjustments, these are true thrones. The leather covering every seat (in the first two rows) and dashboard item is as attractive as it is luxurious. Nissans born between 2002-2004 seem to be victims of interior penny-pinching. Luckily, the Pathfinder is from the class of 2005 and shows no such symptoms. Knobs and compartments move satisfyingly, and I couldn't find one item that felt like it was prone to snap. Even the aluminum-wannabe plastic didn't look too out of whack. Control design adds to the picture perfection aside from climate controls that look like rotary knobs but are just fussy toggle switches in disguise. I especially like the quick-acting MP3 stereo head unit, and fans of powerful audio will go ga-ga for the optional nine-speaker Bose upgrade, whose subwoofer sounds fierce enough to alert the neighborhood watch, even if notes don't come through especially warmly. Finally, electricity access is plentiful thanks to two power outlets on the dash, a third in the big console, and a fourth in the cargo hold. Cargo would be a Pathfinder specialty. A 16.5 cubic foot capacity matches most mid-size sedans, 49.2 in five-seater mode nearly matches a small wagon, and 79.2 with all seats down is about even with a Ford Taurus wagon. But that last number falls short of the last Pathfinder's (suggesting that third seat wasn't free in every regard), and is a disgrace compared to the 148.7 cubes of Nissan's own Quest, whose superiority extends to both seating and ease of conversion between cargo-mover and people-mover mode. At least the Pathfinder's user-friendly back door (containing a handy first-aid kit) and independently-opening window ease access, and all seats are reasonably easy to fold and unfold. |
|||
| UsedCar.us.com - Copywrite - All Rights Reserved |