Nice Vehicle....Very Plush

The below review is from my 3 test drives over the course of a week.

the attractive styling makes you look twice at the Pathfinder, and so does the sticker price. Listed as luxury SUV, price tag reflects that.

The Pathfinder has very plush seats, and feels pretty comfortable for cloth seats. The LE model does have available leather seats as well as many luxury features like heated mirrors, heated from seats, and optional DVD player and TV. The front seat offers plenty of leg and head room makes you feel very comfortable. The rear seat has excellent head room, but not quite enough leg room. It is a little uncomfortable for taller adults. Me being 5'-10", my knees where almost touching the front seat. Passenger capacity is listed as 5, however 3 adults in the bad seat may be a little too close for comfort.

Once I started the vehicle up, I noticed how quiet the engine was. A/C and radio controls are all within comfortable reach. The particular model I was driving did not have the climate control option. There is overhead storage for sunglasses, but not much else. Under the CD player there is a small storage space about the size of an ash tray, but it is not useful at all. Once you pull out everything falls out of it. Center console has lots of space for Cd's, tapes, maps, or whatever you choose to use it for. The extra space in the center console is nice because there is not much room in the glove box.

The Pathfinder comes standard with a zippy 240 HP engine. Very nice for pulling out quickly. The overall ride of the Pathfinder is softer than most SUV's I've driven, but you do still feel the bumps in the road. Nice ride though. The acceleration is very nice, the vehicle is able to pull out in traffic fast. I was shocked how powerful the Pathfinder really is. The engine is pretty quiet considering it is a V6. The Pathfinder takes turn pretty well, but you feel as if you really have to slow to take turns comfortably. The Pathfinder has quite a bit of ground clearance which is very nice for higher snowfalls. Fuel consumption is not very good on the Pathfinder though just 15 city, and 18 highway for average fuel consumption. Running boards are nice when getting into a vehicle that is higher off the ground like this.

The Pathfinder does have a decent amount of cargo space for hauling material or whatever it may be. With the seats down flat it really allows for alot of cargo. An 8 foot sheet of drywall will not allow the gate to close. Folding the rear seats down flat can be a chore, the head rests must be removed to allow the seats to be completely flat. The rear gate window does not open separately as it does on some makes on models. The SE comes with a roof rack, but on higher end model (LE) the roof rack is adjustable. The vehicle does not have as much cargo room as the Ford Explorer.

Overall we were pretty happy with the Pathfinder, enough that we sat down and talked numbers. The price tag is a little hefty for this SUV, a couple of thousand more and you can be looking into some serious luxury SUV's (Acura, Lexus). If you have the extra money you may want to look at higher end models.