Nissan Pathfinder info

[SummerTrance]

Firstly apologies for another thread on a different vehicle, but im having trouble finding the right vehicle to replace my V8 Adventra while still saving some money. The info im getting about vehicles through ausfish is great.

Im now looking at Nissan Pathfinder's between 2002 - 2004 models. I test drove one today and was reasonbly happy with the way it drove. It felt better then the Jeep cherokee I test drove last week.

If anyone has any info on these vehicles i'd love to hear it. Reliability? known problems? cost of repairs? fuel economy? towing ability? comfort? anything else? I'll be towing a 4.95m aluminum boat.

Thanks ST.

[chisel]

I owned one (a 2001 ST) and it was a good car. Really easy to drive around town - just like a car - and was excellent on the beach. I went to fraser/moreton/straddie dozens of times and was only half-stuck a couple of times - never needed a snatch. Could not fault it in that regard. I put a lift on mine (tough dog) which really just returned it to stock height plus an inch, and put cooper atrs on it which worked well in the sand. Never did serious off-road work but I've heard they are ok.

Reliability - no problem whatsoever.
Fuel economy - can be a touch thirsty but it is a V6 petrol so that's to be expected. I saw 16-17L/100km around town, 12L/100km on the highway. Maybe 14-15 overall (I live in the city). Lots of guys seem to run lpg nowadays.
Towing - I've heard they are good but I've never towed much myself.
Known issues - The auto's have been known to die but I suspect poor servicing or a hard life towing would explain most of those issues. One of the spark plugs is a complete bastard to change (not that I ever tried). Aftermarket stuff is fairly limited. eg. no decent snorkel. Side-steps are a bit prone to rust (inadequate drain holes). It isn't huge inside - smaller than prado/pajero/grand cherokee but probably bigger than cherokee/xtrail/rav4 (although they are all getting bigger with new models).
Cost of repairs - Dunno, never had to do much. Servicing wasn't cheap but which car is cheap to service these days?

Main regret I had was putting the lift in and getting springs which were way too firm around town (fantastic when loaded, too firm when not). I think I got HD springs instead of "comfort" ones. In hindsight polyairs would have been better.

Google pcoa and check out the forum on there. Lots of helpful R50 pathy owners.

I sold mine for $15k recently although it was low kms and had a few extras. You could probably get a 2003 ST for $18-19k privately.
If the car has done around 100,000kms make sure the timing belt has been done - it is expensive.