The Xterra puts the Sport-Utility back in SUV

My wife and I have owned this car for a year now and love it. If you're an outdoor, camping, biking, hiking, climbing, nature person, then you will too. The Xterra does everything an SUV should for someone who uses it for things apart from soccer pickups and grocery runs.

My favorite part about the Xterra is how everything seems to have been designed with the outdoors in mind: Easy gear and equipment storage on the roof, D/C power jacks (cigarette lighters) throughout the cabin and in the back, and additional accessories all geared toward making it easy to load the car, get to that remote location safely, and enjoy doing what you love.

Engine:
There are three options for the engine: 4 Cylinder, V6, and Supercharged V6. Bang for the buck, I'd definitely choose the V6. At 180 hp it's enough to do what you'd like. If you've got the extra cash, then the 210 hp Supercharged engine is really nice, since anything less tends to really slow you down on hills. The 4 Cylinder 143 hp is just not enough, and doesn't come with 4 wheel drive.

Transmission:
I prefer a manual transmission and am really impressed with the smoothness of the shifting. Gears shift very easily and having the manual is nice when you're shin deep in mud trying to get to the next trail. However, the automatic transmission is also very good, but drops to 4 gears from 5 and adds a bit to the price.

Braking:
Front disc and rear drum brakes are adequate. Never felt like there wasn't enough stopping power.

Handling:
I've never been a fan of the handling of SUVs. I've always preferred the cornering feel of a sedan. With the height of the Xterra, the car feels very top heavy. There's a lot of roll in the turns, but you really don't buy an SUV like this because you expect it to drive like a sedan. Other than the body roll, the steering is firm and responsive and the power steering is adequate.

Gas Guzzling:
We've averaged about 17 mpg between the city and freeway. If you're offroading for a while in 4 wheel drive in lower gears, be prepared to drop below 15 mpg.

Packages:
XE, XE-V6, SE-V6, and SE-S/C
The bang for your buck is the XE-V6. It's around $1400 more than the XE, but well worth the additional 40 hp from the V6 engine. If money's really not an issue though, go for the SE-S/C supercharged engine with a nice trim package of allow wheels and a premium stereo system. However, the XE-V6 that we own has a very nice stereo, with in dash CD.

Accessories:
This is where the real beauty of the Xterra shines through. Nissan has an amazing array of accessories to get you fit for any type of activity, all specifically designed to work with the Xterra. A refrigerated cooler to plug into one of the many extra D/C jacks, any kind of rack to carry your sports equipment (I recommend a trailer hitch rack from Yakima for bikes. A roof rack is just too high to reach easily.), gear nets for the roof storage compartment, etc. One additional piece of advice for the trailer hitch. The towing option is $350, which basically includes the trailer mount. The Xterra has been out long enough now that many junkyards have them and you can just go and remove the mount off a wrecked vehicle and install it on your own. It's very easy to do and doesn't even require that you lift the car. (Ground clearance, another great feature of the Xterra.) You'll just need a socket set to remove and replace the bolts. Most junkyards will remove it for you, you just have to replace it. Two people needed, and keep the bolts, nuts, and washers from the junkyard to either reuse, or take to a hardware store to get exact matches.

Overall:
A great SUV for outdoor activities, plenty of room for gear, but don't expect it to drive like a car. It's one of the few true SUVs out there.

One last tidbit:
Check the paint on the underside door panels. Ours was poorly painted and had very slightly bubbled on the bottom portion of the door.