The Nissan Pathfinder will make an evolutionary leap this fall, shedding as many as 500 pounds and boosting its mileage by nearly 30%.
The current Pathfinder is one of the last midsize SUVs still based on “body on frame” architecture. Its passenger cabin rests on a heavy steel frame adapted from a pickup truck. During the 1990s, body on frame SUVs made billions for the big auto makers in the U.S. Today, truck-based SUVs are being crowded out of the automotive ecosystem by smoother-riding, more efficient crossover vehicles. These are minivans in most key respects – flexible seating, car-like handling, no heavy frame, not much real off-road capability – but have enough styling attitude and all-wheel drive technology to lure consumers for whom “minivan” is a four-letter word.
The new Pathfinder will straddle the minivan-SUV divide when it launches this fall, with a pronounced lean toward the family-friendly side.
It’s a “family vehicle.” To drive home that message, Nissan will promote features such as a “Latch and Glide” second row seat, that can tilt to allow older kids to get into the third row without requiring Mom or Dad to unlatch a baby seat in the second row.
By shedding the truck frame and engineering out pounds in the seats and elsewhere, Nissan engineers cut the new Pathfinder’s weight by 300 to 500 pounds, depending on the specific model. The new Pathfinder has a 3.5 liter, 260 horsepower six-cylinder engine and a continuously variable transmission rated at 20 miles per gallon in the city, 26 on the highway and 22 overall. That’s nearly 30% better than the old, six-cylinder Pathfinder.
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal
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