More on "what the hell is wrong with Nissan???"

I know this isn't "new" news per se, but happened to see a photo of the new "Pathfinder." I put the name in quotes because it seems heresy to use the name of a once-excellent truck-based SUV that (along with the 4Runner and Explorer), basically brought this kind of vehicle to popularity).

Toyota made the new 4Runner yet another real "truck/SUV"

Ford, though, watering down the Explorer somewhat, still left it with a clear "truck/SUV" identity

Jeep made the new Grand Cherokee pretty awesome and probaby more capable than any Jeep SUV ever made.

but Nissan, which already has about a dozen "crossovers" in its stable between Nissan and Infiniti, somehow saw fit to turn the Pathfinder into some kind of Buick Rendezvous-had-sex-with-a-Mazda-CX7 weirdness. The only paths it will be finding are the rows of the shopping mall parking lot, it appears.

And is killing off the XTerra, to boot......

This is a "Pathfinder"

This is a real Pathfinder.

they know that most people that buy one will probably be using it to do some "pathfinding" in and around the parking lots of suburban strip malls and not climbing over rocks, so they design it accordingly. they just use the name to give the people that buy their tall station wagon a feeling that they are driving something that isn't just a tall station wagon.

"Nissan Mallfinder."

novaderrik wrote: they know that most people that buy one will probably be using it to do some "pathfinding" in and around the parking lots of suburban strip malls and not climbing over rocks, so they design it accordingly. they just use the name to give the people that buy their tall station wagon a feeling that they are driving something that isn't just a tall station wagon.

Don't they already have the Murano, Juke, Rogue, Quest, and a half dozen Infiniti crossovers for that?

I'm guessing it's about CAFE as much as anything, but it sure seems a tragedy in my view.

ugh, and only available with CVT........

It's a stretch Murano.

Transfer case failure in 3....2....1....

Its a joke yes, but it was inevitable.

This is for the North American market only too isn't it?

irish44j wrote:

novaderrik wrote: they know that most people that buy one will probably be using it to do some "pathfinding" in and around the parking lots of suburban strip malls and not climbing over rocks, so they design it accordingly. they just use the name to give the people that buy their tall station wagon a feeling that they are driving something that isn't just a tall station wagon.

Don't they already have the Murano, Juke, Rogue, Quest, and a half dozen Infiniti crossovers for that? I'm guessing it's about CAFE as much as anything, but it sure seems a tragedy in my view.

Not to mention they overlap and are basically identical. I thought the Rogue was a small crossover, but I had to shoot one a while back and it took 20 minutes of crawling around the thing before I looked at the badge and noticed that it wasn't a Murano.

Appleseed wrote: "Nissan Mallfinder."

"The people of Surrey believe that they need four wheel drive because their lane sometimes has leaves on it."

Won't matter. They'll be buying them all back for catastrophic rust failures in a few years anyway.

It sure seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of proposition.

For about 20 years, SUV's were one of the most popular kinds of vehicles out there, with one major problem- fuel economy. I know a lot of other issues are put out there, but you can trace it to that with a few connections.

So car companies do something about it, to placate buyers who want better fuel economy, at the risk of alienating real drivers.

Seems to me, this is another case of that. Make some people happy- it probably drive better for 70% of the customers, and gets better fuel economy, but you make off roaders really mad. No car is going to be perfect.

BWAHAHAHA I've been complaining about this for a while, and what's worse, is that all the buyers for these things can call them SUVs or Crossovers, or whatever they want to call them, but they're still either really tall station wagons, or diminutive mini-vans...

alfadriver wrote: It sure seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of proposition. For about 20 years, SUV's were one of the most popular kinds of vehicles out there, with one major problem- fuel economy. I know a lot of other issues are put out there, but you can trace it to that with a few connections. So car companies do something about it, to placate buyers who want better fuel economy, at the risk of alienating real drivers. Seems to me, this is another case of that. Make some people happy- it probably drive better for 70% of the customers, and gets better fuel economy, but you make off roaders really mad. No car is going to be perfect.

Its true, you cant please all the people all the time ...with the same vehicle that is. Nissan has PLENTY to offer the soccer moms of the world. At least leave ONE vehicle an enthusiast can approve of in your lineup. Just like Beemdubya went and took a crap on their customers by deciding not to offer a single car with sporting pretensions, Nissan has removed any real offroad capability from their ranks as well.

Buying one of these - I pick it up on Friday. I know it's a "soft roader", but it has AWD and a manual trans. It fits my needs and happens to be a Nissan. I didn't want a Subaru Forester. Yech!

The new Mallfinder (love that BTW! ) is a dumb idea when they already have the Murano, the Murano convertible atrocity, the Rogue, the Quest, the Juke, the Xterra, the Armada, the FX35, the FX with the V8, the JX, the big stupid Infiniti one with the V8, and the EX.

That is 13 SUV's in their combined Nissan/Infiniti lineup. 13!!!! And I bet that I'm forgetting some. They are creating inter-company competition. They are all slightly different, but there is no reason to have 13 SUV's in your lineup.

How does this company remain profitable?

4cylndrfury wrote: Its true, you cant please all the people all the time ...with the same vehicle that is. Nissan has PLENTY to offer the soccer moms of the world. At least leave ONE vehicle an enthusiast can approve of in your lineup. Just like Beemdubya went and took a crap on their customers by deciding not to offer a single car with sporting pretensions, Nissan has removed any real offroad capability from their ranks as well.

I thought that when they broke the XTerra off the Pathfinder platform that it was the offroad version of the Pathfinder, and still is.

In reply to Chris_V:

According to the OP, Nissan is killing off the Xterra - I have no proof, or desire to rev up teh googels, so Im gonna go on his word. Seeign what the other MFRs have been up to over the past few years, I wouldnt doubt the validity of his claim.

alfadriver wrote: It sure seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of proposition. For about 20 years, SUV's were one of the most popular kinds of vehicles out there, with one major problem- fuel economy. I know a lot of other issues are put out there, but you can trace it to that with a few connections. So car companies do something about it, to placate buyers who want better fuel economy, at the risk of alienating real drivers. Seems to me, this is another case of that. Make some people happy- it probably drive better for 70% of the customers, and gets better fuel economy, but you make off roaders really mad. No car is going to be perfect.

I have to agree here.
It's the same thing as when Jeep released the Libby, Compass, and the Patriot. Jeeps got 14 mpg. Period. CAFE standards demand just a bit better. The difference here is, I accepted those watered-down vehicles because it allowed the Rubicon to go on sale, then the 4-door Wrangler (something I wanted to see for many years). The thing here I guess is, Nissan is making a watered-down SUV but not using that to facilitate better, more capable 4X4's.

The Pathy and the Xtera cover pretty much the same demographic. I would think the recent Pathy has become a pretty slow seller. One redesigned off-roader could easily replace the two.

I have owned 3 Nissans in the past and in the most recent shopping of trying to find a Cute-Ute for my M-I-L, I left Nissan off the choices. It is the CVT's that kills it for me.

As for the X-trail as shown above, it was never sold in the US.

akamcfly wrote: Buying one of these - I pick it up on Friday. I know it's a "soft roader", but it has AWD and a manual trans. It fits my needs and happens to be a Nissan. I didn't want a Subaru Forester. Yech!

that is COOL

belteshazzar wrote: that is COOL

Thanks!

It's a 2005 X Trail. They were never sold in the US and only sold in Canada for 2 years. It's interesting.

It's RAV4/CRV/Vitara sized, but a little more "tonka" than it's contemporaries.

akamcfly wrote: Buying one of these - I pick it up on Friday. I know it's a "soft roader", but it has AWD and a manual trans. It fits my needs and happens to be a Nissan. I didn't want a Subaru Forester. Yech!

That's an X-Trail, right? I saw those all over the place in Europe and the Caribbean (especially the latter). You must live overseas :)

SilverFleet wrote: The new Mallfinder (love that BTW! ) is a dumb idea when they already have the Murano, the Murano convertible atrocity, the Rogue, the Quest, the Juke, the Xterra, the Armada, the FX35, the FX with the V8, the JX, the big stupid Infiniti one with the V8, and the EX. That is 13 SUV's in their combined Nissan/Infiniti lineup. 13!!!! And I bet that I'm forgetting some. They are creating inter-company competition. They are all slightly different, but there is no reason to have 13 SUV's in your lineup. How does this company remain profitable?

By my count that's only two SUVs....Xterra and Armada. And like I said, I've read that the XTerra is done....

I guess my real question is that if Nissan sees fit to make an ultra-niche vehicle like the Murano Vert, why would they not continue with one truck-based medium SUV - particuarly since they can just base it on a medium pickup chassis (as the Armada uses the Titan).

It's a smaller market than the "crossover" segment for sure, but I'm sure they sell way more XTerras than they will Murano Verts...

X-trail. I see them pretty frequently down here due to proximity to the mexican border. I think they are pretty cool. There's quite a few things i see down here that werent sold here that appeal to me to some varying degree.

I'm surprised at the number of wild guesses on Nissan's SUV models when it takes what, three seconds to type in NissanUSA.com and see what they actually make.

For the record (2012):

• Juke
• Rogue
• Murano
• Murano Cross Cabriolet
• XTerra
• Pathfinder
• Armada

Infiniti (2012):

• EX
• FX
• JX
• QX