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I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong place, but it's the best fit IMO...
My wife has been itching for a new(er) car lately, and we both like the newer Pathfinders. I would rather not have a larger car payment, but have come to realize the value in having such a vehicle for tow purposes, going snowboarding, hauling car parts and engines, etc.
IIRC, Mike K. has an older one to tow his car, and I wondered about his experiences with it. I am eyeing an '04 since it has higher ouput than previous years, and the wifey wants a brand new (screw me) car anyways. Does anyone else have experience with this as a tow vehicle? If not, what do you guys use to tow? I don't really want a truck for a few reasons that I can discuss if need be.
The new '05 Xterra and Pathfinder come with the new 6-cylinder VQ40 engine!! This thing will be a monster, with an estimated 100 MORE horsepower, and ~ 270 ft lbs forque!
It is rated to tow 6500 lbs. I think this motor and chassis are going to kick ass!
I guess for the occasional car hauling, it'll do. I bought a Dakota with the 4.7L V-8 just because of the towing I expected to do with it, and I think it needs a 50-shot of nitrous. It does okay once up to speed. For a serious car hauler, talk the wife into a 3/4-ton turbodiesel. Anything with less than 400 lb-ft is a not worth looking at.
__________________
Bruce in Houston
1990 Acura Legend LS, stock (so far)
1994 Nissan Sentra SE-R (original owner) w/ $tuff, converting to ITA (even more $tuff)
1998 Suzuki Bandit1200S w/ $tuff, W.W.B.O.C. #101
2002 Dodge Dakota tow beast, stock! RIP swwwinger
Also, good luck finding wifey a car to drive around when you steal her vehicle on weekends
She'll have the M-Tre to drive...I don't think she'll be complainign too much...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slartibartfast
For a serious car hauler, talk the wife into a 3/4-ton turbodiesel. Anything with less than 400 lb-ft is a not worth looking at.
Eh, not really an option. My parents have a F-250 Powerstroke turbodiesel that I can use for serious towing. But the Pathfinder would do, right, it just wouldn't be as good as something with more torque? It would be a compromise between something the wifey would tolerate and get decent gas mileage, and something I could use as a tow vehicle.
She's a keeper if she'll daily drive that! (But I guess you do live in Texas)
My mom drives the fully loaded Dodge RAM 3500 extend cab Dually w/ a Cummins Turbo Diesel! My mom is a HAWS! Just ask my Dad.
Anyhoos, I use my 2000 Frontier Ext. Cab Desert Runner V6 to tow with. When around town, I hit about 1500 rpms I will jerk a load like it's nothing. It's because it delivers 90% of the available torque at 1800rpms. I towed a fully loaded Se-r on a tow dolly down from PA and it did pretty good. When in the mountains I had to leave it in drive and it definately needed some more kohonas when going up and down those steep hills (they were pretty steep for normal driving). I estimated I was towing about 3200-3300 lbs. (roughly 2500 with the Se-r and approx. 650 with the dolly) WITHOUT an electronic brake controller. The reason being that a tow dolly doesn't have electronic brakes on it from U-haul. I will be getting at least a POP charger for it, if not headers and exhaust to open the thing up. I personally believe that the motor is SERIOUSLY stricted from factory.
Anything over 1000 lbs. towing on a Frontier you get you WILL need an electronic brake controller. This will help braking quite a bit. I highly recommend putting very good brakes pads up front as I used the cheap Wearever Gold pads (the cheap ones from Advance) up front towing and I couldn't get the ABS to kick in when I was literally standing on the brakes when towing a car down from PA! Talk about scary. I just increased my distance to double what I normally do. I now run Axxis Ultimates and new rotors up front, but I have yet to tow with it.
Keep in mind that my truck has about 150K miles on it right now and the brake fluid has never being changed. And at the time of towing I need a major tune up bad. It had been about 70K since the last tune up and the oil was very near it's next oil change. I had to tow on a quick notice.
I think new Pathy or Frontier would do well with good brakes and an electronic controller. The last I heard about the new Frontier's is that they only increased the tow rating by 500 lbs. to 5500 lbs. total towing capacity. Of course if you could, get a full size to tow with. I want a white F250 (or Dodge) Ext. or Crew Cab Turbo Diesel personally for a truck.
I like the idea of staying in the Nissan family though as my truck is completely stock and never had anything non-consumable replaced other then a front wheel seal. If you want, I don't mind letting you use my truck next time you need to tow somewhere. I don't care about mileage as you may be able to tell. Just give me a descent head's up on it and I'll see what I can do.
If you want a new vehicle, let me know as there is a fellow member on the forum that use to be a Mercedes salesman and he may be able to point you in the right direction of a good person to talk too and my cousin works at Nissan in the Frontier/Xterra assembly line in Smryna, TN. I don't think he could help, but heck who knows. Most of my family there now drives a new Nissan. Wonder why!?
I also have a customer that does a first class tow equipment installation.
Good luck in whatever route you choose.
__________________
'92 Super Black Se-r w/ just mods - SOLD
'91 Super Black Se-r stock (for now )
"I'm more afraid of being nothing then I am of being hurt."
I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong place, but it's the best fit IMO...
My wife has been itching for a new(er) car lately, and we both like the newer Pathfinders. I would rather not have a larger car payment, but have come to realize the value in having such a vehicle for tow purposes, going snowboarding, hauling car parts and engines, etc.
IIRC, Mike K. has an older one to tow his car, and I wondered about his experiences with it. I am eyeing an '04 since it has higher ouput than previous years, and the wifey wants a brand new (screw me) car anyways. Does anyone else have experience with this as a tow vehicle? If not, what do you guys use to tow? I don't really want a truck for a few reasons that I can discuss if need be.
Thanks in advance,
Andy
Towing with my stock WD21 was death. I had to add trailer brakes, full suspension, HD brake pads and air bags to make it resonable. The motor still sucks but thats changing soon. http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/...pathfinder.php
I think new Pathy or Frontier would do well with good brakes and an electronic controller. The last I heard about the new Frontier's is that they only increased the tow rating by 500 lbs. to 5500 lbs. total towing capacity. Of course if you could, get a full size to tow with. I want a white F250 (or Dodge) Ext. or Crew Cab Turbo Diesel personally for a truck.
I have a friend who works for Nissan Southeast, and he has his finger on the Nissan pulse if anyone does. He's told me that the towing capacity for the 05 Pathfinder will be increased to 6500 pounds, due in large part to it being larger and getting the VQ40DE as opposed to the VQ35DE. This would make the 05 a better choice for towing, but obviously still not as qualified as a diesel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by choaderboy2
Towing with my stock WD21 was death. I had to add trailer brakes, full suspension, HD brake pads and air bags to make it resonable. The motor still sucks but thats changing soon. http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/...pathfinder.php
I've seen the articles, which is one of the main reasons I decided to post here. Do you not think the newer (esp. 05) Pathfinders would be more capable two vehicles?
The main thing is this: my parents not only have the aforementioned F-250 turbodiesel, but they also have a 94(?) F-350. The main issue is that both trucks have A LOT of miles on them, and they have been heavily-laden miles for the most part. I talked with my parents about buying the F-350 off them since it's a 4-door and would be great for trips, but it needs some serious attention. So I am in a dilemma in that I am starting to have trouble justifying the Pathfinder purchase from a tow-standpoint. Granted, I could use it for tons more like hauling materials for yardwork, car parts, engines, etc. But the truth is that my wife is far from willing to drive a large diesel to work since she works uptown and doesn't like trucks.
Essentially it's either the Pathfinder (or Highlander or Pilot) or nothing.
Update: I talked to another CarolinaNissans member, “drifterjerry,” who uses an ’02 Pathfinder as a tow vehicle. He bought his this spring and has used it ~15 times to tow his drift S13. He uses either the U-Haul trailer with hydraulic brakes, or his recently deceased trailer with electronic brakes, and hasn’t had a problem at all. He explained that it does pretty well, has enough power, and feels stable when towing.
I will probably try to use the F-350 or F-250 to tow if either is available and working properly, and use the Pathfinder as a back-up or for towing around town. This is assuming that all the finances work out and we can even afford one!
The funny thing is that Jerry’s wife daily drives their Pathfinder like my wife and I planned to do!
...My parents have a F-250 Powerstroke turbodiesel that I can use...
Why on God's green earth are you even CONSIDERING buying something else? You're going to need it for towing, what, 6-8 times a year? And the parents' truck is one of the best available vehicles for towing? And you still want to buy another vehicle, pay taxes and insurance on it, and be forced to daily-drive a truck that gets 15mpg as a daily driver?
Call me silly, but I just don't understand. If I had access to a PSD F-250 for the dozen times a year I'd need it - FREE OF CHARGE - I'd offer to buy my folks dinner and return it filled up each time...
GregA, who tows with a diesel E-350 and loves it. Can't have too much room or too much torque in your tow vehicle.
Call me silly, but I just don't understand. If I had access to a PSD F-250 for the dozen times a year I'd need it - FREE OF CHARGE - I'd offer to buy my folks dinner and return it filled up each time...
No doubt. I agree with Greg. Of course, I have Diesel envy.
What I was thinking was to tell the folks I'd get some of the maintenance done to the F350 if I could have it any time I needed it with reasonable advance notice. Fixing up the F350 (assuming it's not trashed) would be cheaper than buying a tow vehicle and it could tow your damned house down the road.
__________________
George Roffe
91 SE-R (well modded)
84 944 SCCA ITS race car under construction
http://www.nissport.com
I can tow with my pathfinder alright. It is a 92 SE with a manual trans. I have headers, nismo cams, exhaust and a pop charger on it. It also has a 4" trailmaster susp. lift and a 3" body lift. I have to run smaller 31x10.5 tires on it when towing (mud tires don't do very well) but it does fine. Little boggy, as most old VG30E trucks are. The cams are night and day, and I bet if I got a JWT ecu it would be even better. But i spend to much on my sentra and pulsar now to worry about the truck.
For Nissan truck/SUV parts and information check out www.4x4parts.com as the people that own that shop are awesome.
brent
__________________ Coach - EEN Member/The Fist Don't F with me!
1993 NX 2000 -- Slate Grey Metallic bitches
1999 SE-L -- Turbo stuff on it
Well, availability of the F-350 is an issue because they still use it for their business. And they bascially won't sell it until the damned thing blows up, because they cannot afford another fleet truck payment right now. They might let me borrow it for weekends, but they only have 1 or 2-days notice when they need it, because they work around their customers' schedules. The upside is that they have the F-250 as well, but its availability is more of an issue than it is with the F-350.
Ideally I would like to have a E-350 like Grega, so I could sleep in the back at track events if need be. Plus, it's a great place to put spares, tools, etc. But I do not have enough $$ right now to buy one specifically for that purpose, and I'm sure as hell not driving an E-350 to work every day.
The big thing here is that my wife wanted a SUV for stuff we do around the house and yard, so we didn't constantly have to put nasty chit in her trunk or mine. Plus she wants something bigger when we start having kids. Couple those two things with the fact that I am constantly in need of something to haul car parts, and the case for a SUV becomes stronger. Does this shed any light on my situation?
Go with the Pathfinder- it will tow almost everywhere (as opposed to the PSD which WILL tow everywhere).
The Pathfinder will have more utility and sounds like it will be more wife friendly for you.
Duh nothing tows like a diesel, but you don't need 400 diesel ft-lbs to tow a 2500 lb car on an open trailer. The Pathfinder will do just fine.
Later, if you have money for a dedicated tow vehicle, you can get a diesel. Or something like this and roll big-dog style for cheap:
Tows three, sleeps three, dual A/C, generator, compressor and an enclosed and locking space for all of your stuff at the track- all for less than 1/3 of the price of a new bottom-of-the-line PSD.
Last edited by Jim #98NX : 09-14-2004 at 01:46 PM.
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