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It is really tough to compare vehicles with features and prices....
The Lexus 300 has the traction control, the PF the limited slip differential, Acura MDX variable tourque management 4W drive, the Mercedes M320 calls theirs full-range ASR traction control, etc.
I liked the Acura MDX but it will be $8+ more than the PF Le with the same features that I want. The $30K (more or less) PF LE with the leather 4x4 LSD is already a stretch for me so the MDX is just not within my budget.
Just review each vehicle, and decide which will be important to your buying decision. Maybe a list of what you want on the left and what you can forego on the right on a sheet of paper will help..
Oh I wish all of these SUVs will have the same feature and not confuse us.....
I am enjoying every mile of driving the PF LE... I am one of those who is fascinated with horsepower and that is provided by the New Pathfinder... 240 hp same as what I wanted initially the MDX.. you can really feel the power (don't complain of mileage if you want to drive hard)... Some may go for the looks... others love the front grille of the QX4 but my wife preferred the PF because she hates the QX4 grille...I wanted the Sierra silver and she wanted the Sahara beige (just guess what we ended buying...u are right the beige!)
Once you decided and liked the vehicle, just enjoy it. Good luck in whatever you decide.
Don't you just love "dealers"?
Good analysis. But I was trying to do the comparison for someone else who asked (who was that now??). I am a thoroughly satisfied 2001 Path SE owner. After spending 4+ hours at the auto show the other night I still didn't see a vehicle in it's class I would trade it for.
Now if you through an Audi S4 Avant in there I might be swayed.
-Jon
The US Paths don't come with power antenna; the ones in Canada do. So you can either go to Canada to get your Path (and save a few thousand bucks too) or call up to Canada and buy a power antenna and replace the fixed mast.
-Jon
Finally got a resolution from the oil change business. After waiting a week on the bolts, tools and time I was able to get the striped holes tapped and the new bolts installed. I bought a Metric tap & die set and bolts extractor from Sears. It was very simple to remove the broken bolt as was tapping the holes.
Take a tip from me, make sure the oil change business you use DOESN'T use an air tool to reinstall the bolts. They are very small and will cross thread very easily.
They refunded all money I spent repairing the Pathy. Although all is OK, I doubt I will take it back and just do the oil changes myself.
Good luck,
Dano
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
87 AKI. We all know the service manual cannot be wrong?
Octane rating tips in the owners manual says that fuel as low
as 85 AKI can be used in high altitudes (over 4000 ft). It does strongly
stress that you should not hear any persistant spark knock.
Steve
i believe the ones here came with dunlop
but not sure....it could have came with the Duellers. not sure though.
i know for fact that some 01QX4s came with the Dunlops and some came with the Michilen LTX. i insisted of picking out the one with the michilens. but i guess it depends on the date the production run...and i was shopping in the period of change over.
through my experience from my 98 pathfinder which i had, the dueller suck. replaced them with the LTX michilens...they are great and they last much longer. more sure footed and handles better as well. from my experience that is.
Thanks for the info on the use tax.
Brad
Anyone else hear of this or can confirm this?
sorry for the misunderstanding...good to know that you are happy with your PF like me..
I read this article that maybe worth sharing.. for me if the engine was designed for premium gas to run its best, that is what I will follow. The sensor will adjust the engine if regular gas is used to run less efficiently and I don't want that to happen to my engine.
"Vehicles with high-performance, high-compression engines do need premium fuel to run their best. Fortunately, most cars on the road today that were built to consume higher octane gasoline come equipped with electronic knock sensors. Pump in regular and the knock sensors tell the engine management system to run a little less efficiently, protecting it from the ill effects of knocking, but with a consequent minor loss of power"
I think I messed up and the message was posted twice.. hope I was successful deleting, if not I am sorry it was not intentional.
The CRUISE light is illuminated right after I start the engine (The SET light stays off). Cruise should stay off until selected, right? I can extinguish the CRUISE light by pressing the CRUISE ON/OFF switch. This problem is intermittent so the dealer is not offering much help so far. Any ideas or similar experiences?
Thanks.
Super Black can look "super" all cleaned up...but how long does that last?
Good luck
Have owned a Sahara Beige/Gold, always looked good, and it gave a "rich" look to the PF.
When we were shopping the PF this year, Black and Bronzed Gray were on the short list, since we alreay had a Sahara Beige (which I still like).
you the page if you like. I talked about this to a long time friend that works at the dealer and also if you look in the owners manual it also say to monitor for any spark knock. Here in Oregon the fuel is not monitored by the state and the Premium fuel is not worth putting
in your lawn mower. The fuel also during the winter has at least 10%
alcohol in it witch raises the octane. I realy feel that if you detect no spark knock 87 AKI should be ok. Steve
looks amazing when clean but when dirty the car looked older than the 95 beige max that i still have.
as someone else said, looks the best when clean but when dirty 95% of the time in canada's winter it look rough.
bottom of the line i replaced the 96LE black with a Beige/Gold 2001 model QX4. i wanted the silver but it only came with the dark interior.
good luck. i vote for silver and beige.
My personal opinion is that both colors look sharp on the PF and you should heavily factor in the interior color that you prefer.
I will take you up on your offer for the emailing of those pages in the service manual. Since my owners' manual calls for Premium fuel, I will gladly fill it with it unless Nissan tells me different. email: nismofreak@yahoo.com
Knocking:
Does everyone who is putting regular fuel in (vehicle operation under 4000 ft above sea level) know how a knock sensor works? Once a knock is sensed (based on a particular frequency), the ECU will back off on the timing (you won't hear this). This is why is it less efficient because the engine is not igniting the mixture completely so you will yield worst mileage. However, the amount the ECU can delay the timing is finite. Given a nice hot and humid day running near or at full load, the propensity for knocking is greatly increase and if the ECU has maxed the delay, the engine will just knock along as your rings and pistons take some massive abuse. (Remember you are igniting the mixture which is exploding where the piston travel is colliding with the expanding force as it tries to compress. This is the pinging that one hears. And you see how powerful your truck is? So imagine that in opposite effect!)
An engine is pretty noisy to begin with. If you (the driver/owner) actually hear the engine knocking, that simply means that damage is occurring to your engine. If I were leasing my Pathy, I probably wouldn't care but I keep vehicles for a long time so...
Octane:
The higher the octane number (AKI), the harder is it to ignite. However, there is more latent energy stored in the molecule chains. Ever wonder why race cars use 104 or 110 octane fuel? It is dyno proven the amount of HP is gained. Also, the added protection of a lowered risk of knocking. This means they can advance the spark timing to yield a more complete and efficient burn. The lower the octane rating, the easier it is to burn, the greater the chance of knocking.
Good luck in your choice of gas rating. If Nissan lied to us in the owners' manual, then the above explanation goes out the window for the VQ35DE.
nismofreak
10,000+ miles in 6 months of ownership
The new V6 is a high compression engine, it likes high octane fuel (>89 AKI). YMMV and folks are free to do whatever they like.
As I weighed pros and cons prior to purchase I considered the PF's requirement for premium a negative but when I did the calculation I realized it was not that significant. In any case, now I shop around and keep track of the cost when I'm logging mileage & gallons. BTW, after averaging 12-13 for the first 600 miles or so, I've been averaging about 17 with about 1/3 of that highway.
I have a question: since the PF requires 91 octane but I can only find 93, I was wondering...if you mixed 93 with 89, would that be equivalent to 91? I'm not saying I'd do it (seems like too much trouble for a few pennies) but I'm curious.
I sat down and figured it out, and the mid-grade w/the decreased mpg was actually costing me a couple of pennies per gallon when compared to the Premium with better milage.
I would rather have the better gas, even if it did cost me a few buck more.
just my $.02---literally
brian
(1) there are two rubber strips about a foot long each (one each side) which fasten into the roof rack track at the windshield end. These strips would appear to limit the forward placement of the bars. I have no sunroof on my model, so am wondering what their purpose is?
(2) my owners manual illustrates the US rack, where knurled knobs are used to move the crossbars fore and aft. I have no such a setup on my Canadian model and am curious as to how the bars move along the track.
My intent is to install Yakima locking railriders in the tracks, so that my Yakima bike mount, ski rack etc., can be used.
Thanks in advance
Woody
If you have no sunroof the inserts serve no real purpose. Just pull them out. For those of us who have sunroofs, you can do the same as long as you remember to not open it when you have stuff on top (or check the clearance).
Otherwise you have found the small advantages of the Canadian rack. Better security - use the torx screwdriver in the glove box to remove the plugs in the end of the towers and then loosen the towers themselves with it to move them. The Yakima railriders (or Thule towers) will mount in the gutters just like the US models.
If you later decide to attach lightweight items like skiis directly to the crossbars, note that the Canadian crossbars are slightly wider (better stability, less wind noise, better looking). For Yakima use 17V and 18H instead of 10V and 23H. For Thule use C35 instead of C27.
I have all of these systems for ultimate flexibility. All work great.
-Jon
On the fuel issues, I have always believed that the higher the octane the better for your car. Even though many people are starting to believe otherwise I will not EVER change that belief. Why? Well if you have ever been around racing or know a little about combustion you know. With higher compression engines, even with new knock sensor technology, lower grade octane will reduce engine performance. Whether or not it is cleaner is another debate itself.
Just my 2 cents....
Dano
I will take it in for an estimate once the snow stops falling here (MN) and would appreciate any advice on getting it repaired (I have a $500 deductable). Is the bumper metal or plastic? Also, wondering if its worth getting a front guard/grill?
Thanks, Peter
Considering that these things were originally designed to protect a vehicle during a collision with cattle/kangaroos/etc., I would think that there would be some benefit to having one in a head on collision, provided it is mounted properly.
Be very, very careful with this statement. Read any instructions that come with these things and there will be a disclaimer saying otherwise.
The reason is this: The PF uses a unitized body/frame construction, meaning that the body and frame is essentially one piece. They do this to provide better handling, ride, and most importantly, for safety reasons. Because there is no underlying ladder frame (like in a true truck design), they can design the unitized body frame to have crumple zones and control (to a certain extent) how it will react during a crash. The bumpers are an integral part of this equation and are attached to the unitized body at key points to distribute force.
Front Grille guards attach to holes already drilled into the body for cosmetic add-ons (usually light bars). The designers did not take into account that these mount points would be used to distribute force. In the case of a significant head-on collision, the grille guards on a PF are like chicken soup: They won't hurt the situation, but at the same time they won't help.
True kangaroo bars on a LC do help because I believe the LC uses a ladder frame design and the bars are there to specifically take a small amount of impact.
Drew, am I pretty much on target? It's been awhile since I looked into this?
Originally, I wanted the sherwood green but since my dealer couldn't locate one, they got me my second choice, the sierra silver. I like this color alot but I have seen a couple of white PFs and I think this color is really sharp on the PF (not too big on white on most other cars though). My previous PF was super black and it was a pain to keep cleaning and shiny. The interior was tan cloth and I found it to show up fingerprints and dirt very easily. I opted for the black leather this time around since it's a nice complement to the silver. Also, a black interior is much easier to maintain than a black exterior.
I am in the same boat as you, lot of going between 2&4, and varied driving conditions. I seem to average about 1.5 mpg better or so. even if not, I have to admit I like the engine sounding a little more throaty.
Denver oxygenates their fuel during the winter for pollution, so economy goes down regardless. They should begin to go back to "real" gasoline soon and I"ll kepp a closer eye on it.
Brian