SUV is not just a mall-crawler
Steep rutted hill a challenge; snowy highway was almost too easy
As soon as the Pathfinder descended the hill to the lake, I knew I was in trouble. I could feel the SUV sinking into the deep snow, which was now roughly 30 centimetres deep. I was looking to take some scenic photos, and my neighbour’s boat launch at the cottage, surrounded by white pines, seemed the ideal spot.
But heading down the hill, with a steep drop to the lake on one side and a rock face on the other of this narrow path, I knew getting out would be tough. Oh, what the heck: this was why I borrowed a 2013 Pathfinder SL from Nissan Canada for eight weeks — to see if the all-new Pathfinder still had the “right stuff.”
After taking pictures, I aimed the $41,000 Pathfinder toward the hill, roughly 300 metres long, angled with a grade of about 30 degrees. Just then a local teenager squirmed his way down the hill on his Yamaha ATV.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” said the young man named Taylor, “but my first thought when I saw the tire tracks was, ‘Who’s the idiot who went down there?’ ” With the genuine earnestness of people who live in the country, he kindly said he’d stick around in case I couldn’t get out. Now I was faced with two tasks: getting the Pathfinder up the hill without crashing it into the lake or rocks, and trying to avoid the embarrassment of a city slicker needing a tow. The temperature was -8C and falling and it was getting dark.
The Pathfinder’s locking 4x4 system is, however, a valuable feature in these kinds of situations. Many limited-slip AWD systems would not have made it down this hill, let alone back up. So I locked the system, shut off the traction control, put the truck’s CVT transmission in low and stepped on the gas. I made it halfway up the hill before the four wheels began to spin wildly without moving the Pathfinder ahead. I tried this again and again, each time gaining only a precious few metres. On the sixth try, I was ready to concede defeat and accept Taylor’s help. I even looked for a front tow hook in which to place his winch hook, but was surprised not to see any latching points. There is a hook that can be screwed into the front bumper, but I decided it was too much of hassle and that I should instead storm the hill one last time.
On the seventh push, the Pathfinder — spinning all four tires wildly, throwing snow into the air like confetti — moved further ahead than before. Suddenly I had crested the steepest part and was now ambling slowly forward. Seconds later, I was free of the hill and safely on my plowed laneway. “That’s amazing,” said Taylor. “My 4x4 would not have done that.”
To be honest, I was surprised the Pathfinder did that, too. The Pathfinder’s 6.5 inches of ground clearance is not what it used to be. It’s no longer a truck-based SUV like a Toyota 4Runner or Jeep, the kind of SUV that would easily knock off this challenge. But the Pathfinder did it anyway, proving a pivotal point that it’s not just a mall crawler after all.
In Week 2 of this long-term test, the Pathfinder continues to impress me not just in what it can do in the woods, but how well it does so much else. Unlike other long-term tests, I have yet to find anything that annoys me about this truck. No, not true: the Bluetooth phone system will not display my entire phone book so I can scroll through the listings looking for the right person. While it does have a voice command that might be the first I’ve ever used to accurately select the right function most of the time, I also prefer a more robust manual system.
Other than that, I’m so far hardpressed to find genuine fault with the new Pathfinder. The heated leather seats are comfortable, the heated leather steering wheel an absolute delight. The instrumentation and controls are easy, navigable and clear. Rear seat room is ample, the build quality seems very good, the ride comfortable without being too soft. The 260 horsepower V6 feels strong enough. Even the CVT transmission — something I thought I would hate — is eminently easy to live with, shifting not with the slow, elastic, high-pitched drone that we’ve come to expect of continuously variable transmissions, but almost like a regular automatic. My wife couldn’t detect the difference.
Fuel consumption so far has ranged from an average combined city and highway high of 15.3 L/100 km, to a low combined average of 12.2, with the best highway rating so far at 10.2, though the weather has been extremely cold and I’m guilty of too much idling. The official rating is 10.8 L/100 km city and 7.9 highway.
And there’s more. Our Pathfinder adventure — week three — finds new challenges for this vehicle.
WEEK 3: ‘TREACHEROUS’ ROADS NO MATCH FOR PATHFINDER
Weather forecasters are the only people in the country who collect $80,000 a year to be wrong 80 per cent of the time, or so the saying goes. So when just a few centimetres of snow was predicted for Ottawa recently, the 15-plus we got, accompanied by strong winds, shouldn’t have been a big surprise. They might as well have called for increasing daylight in the morning.
We were, however, travelling back from my youngest son’s out-of town hockey tournament and the highways had become an absolute mess. Highway 7 was now more like a muskox trail than an 80-kilometreper-hour corridor. Other hockey parents smacked around the word “treacherous” as frequently as pucks on the ice.
I had, foolishly or not, no concern. In previous weeks of this long-term winter test, I had already pushed the 2013 Pathfinder SL and its 4x4-i mode through deep snow and found it to be surprisingly capable. The problem on this night, I thought, wouldn’t be the Pathfinder that I have on loan from Nissan Canada for two months, but other drivers who might not be equipped with winter tires and who could easily slide out of their lanes.
With the temperature at -5, we left the rink. The Pathfinder’s headlights, while only reflector halogens, lit up the dark road with average visibility. Like most drivers, I would prefer an HID projector headlamp, or even better, an LED headlamp system like those used on new Honda Accords, Toyota Avalons and many Audis.
The Pathfinder’s upscale sibling, the $44,900 Infiniti JX35 (soon to be rebadged the QX60), uses HID xenon lighting and LED tail lamps, both features that would be nice to order as options on the Pathfinder, but are not available. Nevertheless, I could see adequately and the fog lights helped. The snow was still falling. The wipers kept the glass clear.
Traffic was ambling along at 50 km/h in many spots. I had the Pathfinder set in automatic 4x4. This mode maintains traction primarily to the front wheels until they slip, then sends torque to the rear wheels. I find myself using the auto system all the time because I can leave it in this mode and never have to worry about having four-wheel traction. It will probably use marginally more fuel. I don’t have to remember to turn it on or shut it off like Toyota’s part-time version in the SR5 4Runner. (Limited 4Runners have a fulltime system.) If my wife drives the Pathfinder, she doesn’t have to concern herself with what mode it’s in. For maximum traction, the 4x4 Lock mode splits torque 50-50 between the front and rear.
On the snowy highway, I found myself overtaking other vehicles with remarkable ease, keeping close to the 80 km/h limit. I would have preferred not to pass the slower drivers, to not be “that guy” in the SUV passing everyone. But the Pathfinder’s Michelin Latitude X-Ice winter tires were right at home in this situation and the torque monitor on the dash showed the front tires doing most of the work, leaving little chance for the rear wheels to cause any sudden oversteer. The Pathfinder, even pushing through deeper snow on the edges of the main path, never felt squirmy or at risk of skidding. It simply plowed straight ahead with no drama whatsoever.
It was almost too easy. The winter conditions remained the same for more than an hour until we made it home — secure with our tournament trophy and precious family cargo intact, pleased to see the Pathfinder score another point.