jjfcpa

I stopped by the local dealer yesterday (yes, it was Thanksgiving), and looked over an 05 Pathfinder. They had inadvertently left one unlocked. It was an LE and I was attracted by the clean sheet metal, comfortable interior, and much less beastly appearance compared to the Armada. Haven't seen any reviews or heard much about it, so I came here to find out the real story on this vehicle.

Anyone heard anything?

SayAltitude

I bought one the day before Thanksgiving and just picked it up tonight. It's my third Pathfinder, so it didn't take too much convincing. So far, I've been very pleased with the twelve miles I've put on it. It hasn't broken down even one time and has never had any maintenance or warranty issues. [VBG]

Seriously, I think they've done a good thing with the 05. It's a little larger, noticeably taller, and with seven seats, it can be taken seriously as a family SUV for families with more than two kids. (Those back seats are really cramped, though.) 270 horses feel to me the same as the old 240 horses. The extra power simply drives the extra weight.

A couple of thoughts: I got the LE with navigation. XM is not available as an option yet, and won't be until January, my dealer is saying. There's not even an XM button anywhere on the radio/nav console. If you want truly factory integrated XM, wait till they put it in there. I'll add it as soon as I can get an adapter from Logjam to put XM info on my nav display, but that's a few extra steps you might wish to avoid, plus I'll only be able to select XM from my steering wheel, not from the console. Also, the back-seat DVD entertainment package is a $1600 option, for which you only get a 7-inch display. You can easily put an aftermarket unit in that same spot for about $1000 with a 9- or 10-inch display. The non-DVD headliner is shaped just like the DVD headliners, so adding an aftermarket nav will still look very much like a factory install, but you get a better DVD system. That's what I plan.

$4100 below MSRP is what my local dealer would do, with only one (already sold) unit on the lot. Not too bad, I thought.

And finally, I'm always a little leery about buying the first production year of something new. Nissan's making these in a US plant now, and it's a new body style, and the 4.0L is a new engine. (OK, sure...it's still the VQ, but it's higher displacement, so I suspect there are a lot of internal changes to it.) Put those facts together and what do you get? I'll tell you what I get...an extended warranty! I plan to purchase one from Nissan before I get to 36,000.

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2005 Pathfinder LE 4WD
Storm Grey/Desert w/Navi

kaedyn

I've had mine for a few days now. It's an 05 SE with the premium package. As far as the previous poster stated about satellite radio, I talked the dealer into throwing Sirus into the deal. The module for the 05 year is the same as the previous year, so when they tell you it isn't available, that's not exactly true. They paid a local audio installer by purchase order to do the installation. It works great. I highly recommend the bose audio system, which might even be a requirement for the satellite radio.

Ever since taking ownership, I keep making excuses to go out and drive. Unfortunately, it has rained every day since then, with the exception of today!

jjfcpa

Hey Guys:

Thanks for the reply. I was afraid that no one was buying the 05 Pathfinder and I was the only one that thought they were attractive. I had one about 4-5 years ago and had great luck with it. After I got through driving it for a couple of years, my daughter drove it from one end of the country to the other and never seemed to have any problems.

I know this is a new model, but I personally think Nissan is the only automaker who is out there making impressive changes to their lineup.

I may stop by and take it for a ride to see how it feels. I will definitely be shopping for the LE with the Bose stereo system. A quality audio system is one of my first priorities. I haven't given any consideration to an XM radio system because I really don't do a lot of traveling. Any other reasons I should consider XM?

SayAltitude

XM is a whole other topic. I've had it for a year and don't know what I'd do without it. I'm sure Sirius is just as good. The thing is, I live in a very rural area with few choices on the radio. If I listen to FM radio, I can choose between rap, Jesus, and sports. that's about it. With XM, I can choose virtually anything, from CNN or Fox News, to comedy, to any one of about 20 rock stations. There's also oldies from every genre, jazz, new age, altrernative, and on and on. It's all about choices.

If you live in a metro area, have short drives, and can find plenty of choices on your FM dial, then XM (or Sirius) may not be worth the $10 a month.

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2005 Pathfinder LE 4WD
Storm Grey/Desert w/Navi