Love my Pathfinder - what a great car!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Smooth, car-like ride; extremely reliable; versatile; perfect amount of room

Cons: Some mechanical problems as noted above, but nothing major; low mileage; large turning radius.

Handling And Control:

The Bottom Line: 
I highly recommend this as a used car purchase - just don't ask me to sell you mine because I am keeping it!

Author's Review
I bought my 2001 Pathfinder LE when it was 3 years old with 48K on it - at a price tag of half the original retail value when new. What a great deal! I've put 40,000 miles on it in the past 3 years, and enjoyed every minute of it. The car has taken me through the backroads of West Virginia, through snow and ice storms, through the busy streets of Manhattan and Los Angeles, and all the way across country through winding, steep rural roads. An extremely versatile SUV with just the right amount of room - not too big, not too small. I love how it drives, it has a truck-like quality but is very car-like in the smoothness and cornering. I plan to keep this car until it's at least 10 years old.

There have been a few problems I should note:

*Original manufacturer's windshield cracked from a rock hitting it on the highway, although I drove almost all the way across country before this happened. The windshield has survived many very LOUD sounding rocks hitting it on the highway, so I consider it a good thing that it took so long for the windshield to crack. On my previous car, the windshield cracked 3 times before I hit 70K.

*The speaker system has some issues; volume control on the control panel doesn't work well, not all 6 speakers seem to be functional.

*The top plastic part for both of my original 2 keys broke, making them impossible to attach via keychain. Key replacement is costly since it uses an electronic ignition system, and many car insurance companies don't give you a security discount for this (only a car retrieval system is good enough these days). Extra keys required me to get the whole system re-programmed, and in the end it was $400 for two extra keys.

*Hydraulics for the rear gate are weak, it does not smoothly open and close.

*Heat shield fell off, what was left on there cannot be removed and it rattled quite a bit until I got it secured at the shop recently. This did, however, happen shortly after I was rear ended by some idiot. The rear ending did not result in any visible body damage to my car, although the guy who hit me had a big dent in his front fender, courtesy of my tow hitch.

*A few of the windows are slow to open and close, suggesting to me the power mechanism is not going to be reliable forever.

Other issues - not mechanical problems though - are that the gas mileage is not very good, 12-14 city, 18-19 highway, and the turning radius is really large. No rear temperature control is a bit of a nuisance too. I often have to use a 3-point turn where other cars can swing a quick U-turn, which is not a great position to be in.

It may sound like I've listed more cons than pros, but hey it wouldn't be a very useful review unless I gave you the real scoop, right? If Nissan were still making this car in the midsize, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. Since they now have the larger 3rd row of seating, however, the newer Pathfinder models are more space than I need.