Nissan sells about 7,000 Pathfinders a month in the US as of this video, making it popular but a few spots down the sales chart from the Explorer, Highlander and Pilot. As we have it here it was introduced as a 2013 model with few changes since then when it comes to styling.
It’s very much different from the Pathfinders of the past, with the more subdued style of a car-like station wagon than the brawny off-road SUV it once was. It’s lower, longer, and wider and has well adopted Nissan’s most recent style. Though, it’s likely due for a re-fresh course soon.
Our SL front-wheel drive were testing here is a mossy color, called Midnight Jade. It kind of looks muddy in low light, but glows a greenish brown pearl in sunlight. A mid-level trim grade, it came with 18-inch alloys, fog lights up front and halogen headlights.
Because ours has the SL Tech Package, at the rear you see the integrated tow hitch and wiring plug. While it’s a nice thing to have with 5000 lbs of towing capacity, a Tech Package seems an odd place for it.
The interior of the SL is lined with leather seating heated both front and rear. The front seats are both power adjustable and quite comfortable even though they aren’t of the “Zero Gravity” type found in more modern Nissan models.
Trims and design of the dash are business-like, the glove box, center console and door pockets offering a lot of storage spaces. A two-tone color scheme is light with accents of dark colored fake wood-grain used sparingly.
The center stack is reasonably simple with hard controls for most audio and HVAC functions, minimizing the necessity to page through menus on the Bose audio and infotainment touchscreen system. This is good, because it’s menus and common used functions aren’t as intuitive as most.
When it comes to scoring our technologies, the audio and navigation system gets reasonably high marks for its sound quality, but can have a steep learning curve with its menus. The driving aids here which included blind spot warnings and cross traffic alerts were well done, for a total technologies score of 4 out of 5 stars.
The second row seat on the passenger side has a unique tilt and slide feature to make getting to the third row pretty easy. And while it’s really mostly for kids, the third-row offers up reasonable space with room to be made for feet and legs.
Those seats which afford room for up to seven passengers can fold down flat in a variety of configurations, and getting them down is pretty easily done for both the second and third rows. Once down, the floor is flat but a bit high up.
Under the rear cargo floor you will find some extra storage space for your gear and doo-dads. There is a spare tire on the Pathfinder, but it’s accessed from underneath.
The interior while not the most exciting design out there is built well overall with quality materials, it’s comfortable and offers lots of storage and flexibility for lots of the uses and activities we buy SUV’s for. So it scores out with 4 out of 5 stars.
Underneath the hood is Nissan’s venerable VQ Series 3.5 liter V6, though in a relatively mild tune of 260 horsepower. It comes only with a constantly variable transmission here which gives it an EPA estimated 20 mpg city, 27 mpg highway and 23 mpg combined.
We were able to achieve the advertised 23 mpg combined even with the air-conditioner on at all times which is good. With that in mind, when it came to scoring the powertrain that performance offset our gripes with the CVT, achieving 4 out of 5 stars.
The Pathfinder rides on the same chassis platform as the Nissan Murano and Infiniti QX60 and has pretty much the same parts and bits underneath. These are a MacPherson strut type front suspension and a multi-link rear axle.
While all-wheel drive is an option, ours was a front-wheel drive model. The all-wheel drive does offer driver controls for various traction and terrain modes including a full front and rear lock. Ground clearance is 7-inches on both front and all-wheel drive Pathfinders.
With its softer handling character which tends to be less sharp than some competitors, and its penchant to lose composure on rougher surfaces, the chassis and handling score for the Pathfinder comes in at 4 out of 5 stars.
When it comes to safety the IIHS tests show the Pathfinder to perform well, earning a Top Safety Pick. It achieves good ratings in their full battery of testing, including the brutal small-overlap crash. It doesn’t yet offer crash prevention tech, thus it’s not eligible for Top Safety Pick + status yet.
Overall quality here is good in the build with only a few rattles and squeaks in to be heard. The paint finish seemed less smooth and shiny than some, but overall body fit and a solid structure bring our quality feel score to 4 out of 5 stars for the Pathfinder.
With the price coming in at just under $40,000 for the front-wheel drive SL as equipped it flies right in the same strata as its top-tier competitors, thus when we score value it earns 4 out of 4 stars. Thus, our total test drive rating for the 2016 Nissan Pathfinder is 4 of 5 stars.
