Nissan's classic sport-utility has led a long, colorful life. It was around to witness the birth of the Ford Explorer, made a name for itself before the segment took off, and somehow always found moderate success as a slightly left-field alternative. First it was the two-door freak with the sports car handling, then it was the marshmallow with unibody construction, then it was that muscle truck in that commercial with all those guys playing croquet to the rhythm of The Who's "Teenage Wasteland."
But on the SUV timeline, those years stand worlds apart from 2005, the first year of this new Pathfinder. First, Nissan knowingly hatched it into a life of being boxed in by a crowded family, with the XTerra on the bottom, the Armada on top, and the Murano right in its face. Externally, the Pathfinder also faces new conflicting pressures like upping the power ante while drinking less of that $3 gas, becoming a legit off-roader while keeping its street-friendly demeanor, and throwing in extra seats into the same-size package, all amidst the possibility that the end may be near for this decreasingly fashionable mode of transportation.
Nissan's best solutions to these myriad problems join together in interesting ways to form the third-generation Pathfinder.
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