Nissan’s latest Pathfinder sports a more powerful and fuel-efficient diesel .
HERE’S a new term in motoring: adventure-friendly.
It’s been applied to the latest Nissan Pathfinder, which, being a fully-fledged 4WD, we’d expect it to be.
In its latest form, the vehicle has been given a boost in power, torque and economy, and its interior and exterior have been improved, except in the top-ranging Ti model, where the woodgrain interior has given way to a less lovely metallic finish. We rather like woodgrain, even if it is the plastic species.
The Pathfinder has grown somewhat and is now 80mm longer, so that it fills every square centimetre of most city parking garage bays.
It’s a big boy, all right, but it’s still classified as a medium SUV, where it’s up against about 20 rival brands.
Pathfinders come in three levels: ST, ST-L and Ti, priced from $48,490 to $65,990.
Ours was a mid-spec ST-L diesel auto, at $59,490.
Exterior updates include a new bonnet and grille, restyled headlights and rounder front and squared rear bumpers.
The squared lines seem to reflect Nissan’s romance with Renault, mais oui.
In the cabin, there’s a new central dash cluster, leather seat trims, an MP3 input jack, 6-CD in-dash auto-changer and dual zone climate control.
The ST-L also scores the electrically adjustable and heated front seats and seat and door mirror memory settings previously restricted to the Ti models.
Also, the door mirrors, which include indicator lenses, can be folded flat, a handy feature given the vehicle’s girth.
All models now have a Bluetooth hands-free phone system controlled via a button on the steering wheel.
The car also gets an “intelligent” proximity key and a set of rather nervous rear parking sensors.
The Pathfinder is a seven seater, two up front, three in the back, with another two seats in the back, where they form part of the level cargo floor when not in use.
The big news is the 2.5litre turbo-diesel, which has been tuned to provide an 11 per cent increase in power and 12 per cent in torque.
It now churns out 140kW and 450Nm, which, apart from making it more pleasant off-road, allows it to tow loads of up to 3000kg.
The diesel is more clattery than most at idle, but smoothes out once on the go, and the noise level is quite acceptable.
Far from paying a penalty in fuel, consumption and emission levels have actually declined.
The ST-L auto attained an official rating of 9.0litres/100km, a mammoth 16 per cent improvement.
It’s a pleasant beast to drive, with good get-up-and-go from its perkier drivetrain.
It gets to 100km/h in 11 seconds, which we thought pretty good for its size, and its seating is pretty impressive as well.
The front ones are quite well bolstered and give good body support, the second row bench type seat less so and the two in the back offer decent accommodation.
It’s a very spacious car, with cargo room to match.
The five-speed automatic is well-matched to the motor – smooth – and it has a sequential manual mode.
Two or four wheel drive, high and low ratios are selected by a rotary knob. All very civilised.
It’s rugged, too, capable of handling most off-road demands, but wheel travel is limited, so best not to get into the really rough stuff.
And who’d want to, looking at the fine finish, the big outside mirrors, lovely alloys and the running boards?
In all, a good car in its class.
We liked it, except when we had to slot it into one of those tight city car parks.
Adventure-friendly? No doubt.
It’s been applied to the latest Nissan Pathfinder, which, being a fully-fledged 4WD, we’d expect it to be.
In its latest form, the vehicle has been given a boost in power, torque and economy, and its interior and exterior have been improved, except in the top-ranging Ti model, where the woodgrain interior has given way to a less lovely metallic finish. We rather like woodgrain, even if it is the plastic species.
The Pathfinder has grown somewhat and is now 80mm longer, so that it fills every square centimetre of most city parking garage bays.
It’s a big boy, all right, but it’s still classified as a medium SUV, where it’s up against about 20 rival brands.
Pathfinders come in three levels: ST, ST-L and Ti, priced from $48,490 to $65,990.
Ours was a mid-spec ST-L diesel auto, at $59,490.
Exterior updates include a new bonnet and grille, restyled headlights and rounder front and squared rear bumpers.
The squared lines seem to reflect Nissan’s romance with Renault, mais oui.
In the cabin, there’s a new central dash cluster, leather seat trims, an MP3 input jack, 6-CD in-dash auto-changer and dual zone climate control.
The ST-L also scores the electrically adjustable and heated front seats and seat and door mirror memory settings previously restricted to the Ti models.
Also, the door mirrors, which include indicator lenses, can be folded flat, a handy feature given the vehicle’s girth.
All models now have a Bluetooth hands-free phone system controlled via a button on the steering wheel.
The car also gets an “intelligent” proximity key and a set of rather nervous rear parking sensors.
The Pathfinder is a seven seater, two up front, three in the back, with another two seats in the back, where they form part of the level cargo floor when not in use.
The big news is the 2.5litre turbo-diesel, which has been tuned to provide an 11 per cent increase in power and 12 per cent in torque.
It now churns out 140kW and 450Nm, which, apart from making it more pleasant off-road, allows it to tow loads of up to 3000kg.
The diesel is more clattery than most at idle, but smoothes out once on the go, and the noise level is quite acceptable.
Far from paying a penalty in fuel, consumption and emission levels have actually declined.
The ST-L auto attained an official rating of 9.0litres/100km, a mammoth 16 per cent improvement.
It’s a pleasant beast to drive, with good get-up-and-go from its perkier drivetrain.
It gets to 100km/h in 11 seconds, which we thought pretty good for its size, and its seating is pretty impressive as well.
The front ones are quite well bolstered and give good body support, the second row bench type seat less so and the two in the back offer decent accommodation.
It’s a very spacious car, with cargo room to match.
The five-speed automatic is well-matched to the motor – smooth – and it has a sequential manual mode.
Two or four wheel drive, high and low ratios are selected by a rotary knob. All very civilised.
It’s rugged, too, capable of handling most off-road demands, but wheel travel is limited, so best not to get into the really rough stuff.
And who’d want to, looking at the fine finish, the big outside mirrors, lovely alloys and the running boards?
In all, a good car in its class.
We liked it, except when we had to slot it into one of those tight city car parks.
Adventure-friendly? No doubt.
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