How many times has an automaker gone from body-on-frame to unibody, then back to body-on-frame, then back to unibody? At least one, which is shocking on its own. However, not only did the Nissan Pathfinder revert from unibody to body-on-frame construction at one point in its life, that body-on-frame model could be had with a thumping-great V8 normally found under the hood of Nissan’s full-size pickup truck. Perhaps best of all, this rare bird is still reasonably priced on the second-hand market, making it an intriguing base for an overlanding rig.
Welcome back to Beige Cars You’re Sleeping On, a weekly series in which we raise the profile of some quiet greats. We’re talking vehicles that are secretly awesome, but go unsung because of either a boring image or the lack of an image altogether.
While the unibody second-generation Nissan Pathfinder sold well enough on its own, Nissan wanted to get ambitious with the next model. For 2005, the Pathfinder returned to a body-on-frame platform in search of SUV dominance. The new F-Alpha platform shared with the Titan, second-generation Frontier, second-generation Xterra, and Infiniti QX56 enabled substantial component sharing and made the Pathfinder feel properly rugged once again, yet it still featured refinements like four-wheel independent suspension and a punchy four-liter VQ40DE V6.
On first glance, the third-generation Pathfinder was a radical change from the second-generation model’s evolutionary styling. It adopted an even more upright silhouette with monolithic surfacing punctuated by gargantuan wheel arches. There’s a strong link to the Frontier pickup truck, just with a touch more refinement thanks to plastic bumper covers, and it was hard to mistake this machine for anything other than a truck-based SUV.
Moving inside, the third-generation Pathfinder firmly made the jump to the 21st century with all the hallmarks of the noughties — silver trim, a proper screen setup on top models, flush-fit interior panels, and touches of rugged practicality. From dual gloveboxes to clever seat-side pockets for rear passengers to storage in the tailgate, Nissan really went to town revising its midsize SUV’s image. It clearly worked for Motor Trend, with the mag declaring the Pathfinder a serious contender.
While driving the new Pathfinder, we were impressed with the upgraded interior materials that are normally a Nissan weak point, as well as the overall tight fitment of interior panels and trim pieces. Road vibrations are down and the new 4.0L is a definite class-leader. Released mpg estimates seem a little high with city around 16 and highway at 23. Complete pricing is not currently available, but look for a well-equipped SE 4×4 to sell for $30-$32,000. Look out 4Runner, TrailBlazer, and Explorer, Nissan has done its homework and is ready to compete against the big guns.
These days, it’s unthinkable that a Nissan Pathfinder would usurp the Toyota 4Runner, but Motor Trend’s prediction was a sign of things to come. In a 2005 Car And Driver comparison test, the Pathfinder vanquished the Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner, Mitsubishi Montero, and Volkswagen Touareg, coming in second only to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Needless to say, it garnered positive impressions, with Car And Driver writing:
This Nissan, complete with leather, sunroof, three rows of seats, and a darn good music player, checked in with the lowest as-tested price of the group, $34,160. The Pathfinder is a brash looker, all slab-sided and blunt in front. There’s a bluntness in the way it behaves, too. It’s straightforwardly trucky. It’s honest.
So, here was a deceptively good SUV with strong value and rugged good looks. Sounds like a slam-dunk, right? At the time, it was, but one basket doesn’t always win a game. See, Nissan wasn’t quite done cooking just yet.
Things got really good in 2008 when Nissan started bowling with the bumpers down and shoved a V8 engine into its midsize sport-ute. Called the VK56DE, this 5.6-liter V8 cranked out 310 horsepower and 388 lb.-ft. of torque, competitive numbers by the standards of the Great Recession era. Hitched to a five-speed automatic transmission and harnessed by an available full-time four-wheel-drive system with low range, it could tow 7,000 pounds, haul five adults and two children, and do it all in relative luxury.
Yes, the Pathfinder V8 was available in LE trim, so it got a heated steering wheel, heated leather seats, a ten-speaker Bose stereo, automatic climate control, and even a backup camera. Not bad by the standards of the day. The crazy part? Aside from some subtle V8 badges, the V8 Pathfinder was outwardly indistinguishable from the V6 model. This sort of capability was made to whisper rather than shout.
Thanks to being launched during an economic downturn and a period of high gas prices, along with a relatively short production run from 2008 through 2012, the Pathfinder V8 is somewhat elusive on the second-hand market. Despite this, pricing is downright reasonable compared to what a good V8 Toyota 4Runner will run you. Here’s a 2008 Pathfinder V8 LE up for sale in Houston for $7,295, and while it may have 165,109 miles on the clock, these are fairly tough rigs so it should have plenty of life left in it.
Perhaps blue isn’t your color. No worries, here’s a 2008 Pathfinder V8 SE up for sale in Wichita for $9,999. That might be significantly more money than the blue LE in Houston, but this red example has 143,621 miles on the clock, more than 22,000 fewer than the blue one.
By now, you might be wondering what the catch is to this secretly awesome V8 SUV. Well, there is one, commonly known in the Nissan community as the Strawberry Milkshake of Death. Basically, defective radiators on Frontiers, Xterras, and Pathfinders would mix coolant with automatic transmission fluid, resulting in seriously expensive repair bills. The same combined heat exchanger was used on V6 and V8 models, but there are two ways to avoid this potential headache — periodically replace the radiator as a maintenance item, or run a separate automatic transmission cooler and never worry about it again.
Beyond that, the VK56DE is a tank of a V8, the five-speed automatic transmission holds up well so long as regular maintenance is performed, and the only real enemy of the V8 Pathfinder is rust. If you want a badass V8 overlanding rig and don’t want to pay the Toyota tax, it might be worth putting this interesting Nissan on your shortlist.
(Photo credits: Nissan, Autotrader sellers)
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the craziest part to me is the 2005 Grand Cherokee winning anything from Car and Driver