Sunday Drive: Nissan Pathfinder Gets An All-New Image – Daily Herald

As seven-passenger SUVs have become some of the top-selling vehicles in the market for families, it was only fitting that Nissan should take the opportunity to reinvent its tried-and-true Pathfinder SUV. After a week with the new design, we were convinced that the Pathfinder is back and will be a huge contender for families and others alike this year.

Weather-wise, it turned out to be a perfect week in early February as temperatures were actually making it into the low 50s. We had our grandson Jensen sleep over and took the chance to head up to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. As we have known since our children were young, rocks and dinosaurs are part of a 7-year-old’s world, and this seemed like the perfect place to hang out for an afternoon.

Being equipped with the Pathfinder gave us the option of hauling others with us on our trek, so we included Craig’s mom, Pat, in our afternoon of learning about ancient history. Jensen was over the top excited for the trip — not only to see dinos and rocks, but mostly because he would have his own back seat to enjoy!

At 7 years old, he found the third row of the Pathfinder a perfect place for him. It accommodated his booster seat with ease. In our Pathfinder, the second row was a bench seat that allowed the placement of three car seats, and the third row would accommodate two more. Now that our kids are having kids, this is a feature we pay much more attention to, and Nissan has as well with its new family-oriented design.

Grandma Deanne took up residency in the second row, allowing her to control all of the heating for the rear of the Pathfinder. This meant Grandma Pat could enjoy the front seat and its creature comforts, including a heated NASA-inspired seat for the ride up to the big city. The SUV even came with heated second-row seating, which kept Deanne even happier.

We found the new Pathfinder very comfortable and loaded with all kinds of technology. There is now a 9-inch, high-definition touch screen located high in the center dashboard that controls all the vital functions of the new SUV.

We loved the fact that our phones connected wirelessly, and Apple CarPlay worked without a tethering cord. The included wireless charger also made traveling much easier. These two features may not seem like much, but eliminating the cord in the vehicle gets rid of clutter and makes connecting so much easier.

For instance, if one of us were listening to a podcast while getting ready for work, that same audio would start playing as soon as we headed out for the day in the Pathfinder. When hooked up this way, the infotainment screen also looks just like the home screen of one’s phone, making navigating those features much easier.

Jensen loved the fact that he could plug in his iPad in the third row of seats, which came complete with two USB charging ports. The second row also came with two USB ports and easily popped forward to allow easy access to the rearmost seats. Jensen, however, enjoyed climbing over the seats much more than moving them forward!

With its extra space and comfort, the Pathfinder made the entire day more enjoyable as we traveled to and from Salt Lake City.

Under the hood, the new Nissan 3.5-liter V-6 engine comes complete with 284 horsepower and 259 foot-pounds of torque. All this power is delivered to the wheels via an all-new nine-speed transmission that slipped effortlessly through all nine gears, always getting to where we needed it quickly.

Of all the additions to the Pathfinder this year, we were most pleased with this single change. Going back to a transmission with actual gears is a great thing for an SUV of this size. We give Nissan all the credit it deserves with its CVT transmissions as the company has moved that technology further along than most, but it was still awesome to have real gears for the new Ute.

With this new setup, the Pathfinder will tow up to 6,000 pounds, plenty for most family excursions, and trailer sway control comes as a standard feature. For the week, we averaged 23.5 miles per gallon, including our trip to Salt Lake and everyday driving around Provo.

Over the course of the past few years, Nissan has added what they call Pro-Pilot Assist, which is now being included with most of their models. We love having this addition as it always includes lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control. There is nothing that compares to letting the vehicle do all the heavy lifting in congested traffic when it comes to speed, stopping and going, etc.

Craig drove to Ogden on our last day with the Pathfinder, including making his way through the early morning rush in downtown Salt Lake City. The SUV went on without a hitch, using all the features of this safety shield.

It may seem like this is putting too much confidence in the systems, but the technology has come a long way and works very well. About the only time we have been let down is during very heavy snowstorms when the sensors get covered in snow. At this point, the vehicle will usually let the driver know that everything has been shut down.

Other safety features included blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning and avoidance with pedestrian detection, auto high beams, rear cross path detection and braking, and all-around view monitor when backing.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week with the new Pathfinder and believe it will be a great competitor in the family market for years to come.

Base price: $48,090

Destination charge: $1,175

Price as driven: $51,395

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