{"id":28639,"date":"2022-01-22T00:03:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T04:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28639"},"modified":"2022-01-22T00:03:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T04:03:45","slug":"all-aboard-the-nissan-pathfinder-for-a-payne-family-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/all-aboard-the-nissan-pathfinder-for-a-payne-family-holiday","title":{"rendered":"All aboard the Nissan Pathfinder for a Payne family holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seattle<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 The holiday season is behind us, and it\u2019s a great opportunity to assess the family SUV.<\/p>\n

The holidays demand utility to take on relatives, grocery runs and foul weather. I scored a 2022\u00a0Nissan Pathfinder for the Paynes’ Thanksgiving get-together in America\u2019s rain capital. Pathfinder is one of the latest in a series of recent Nissan value hits that include\u00a0the compact Sentra sedan and Rogue SUV. I first met Pathfinder last summer\u00a0in Holly<\/a>, where it came with 6\u201910\u201d product planner\u00a0Andrew Molnar showing off its third row.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

That\u2019s right. Six foot 10. My 6\u20195\u201d frame fit easily back there as well, giving me confidence that Pathfinder would be up to the job of ferrying three\u00a0six-foot-plus Payne men and their wives around Seattle\u2019s slippery streets for a packed weekend of outings. Our active family doesn\u2019t lay around, and my Seattle-based older son had prepared an agenda longer than a list of Thanksgiving dinner dishes.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Payne and I picked up a loaded\u00a0$51,790 Pathfinder at the Seattle airport on Wednesday afternoon. I recommend loaded. Not only is Pathfinder full of standard features like blind-spot assist and adaptive cruise control (a tone set for the brand by the Sentra, which includes the same features at a ridiculously low starting price of $25K), but it offers features like 360-degree surround view and panoramic sunroof at a price that won\u2019t break the bank. Only the Korean twins of Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride rival Pathfinder in value.<\/p>\n

Surround view and panoramic roof are essential in Seattle, with its narrow streets and gloomy winter weather that makes Michigan seem bright by comparison.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

We arrived under a typical cloud of drizzle. My wife wirelessly synced her Apple phone to the Pathfinder and routed us to my son\u2019s apartment in the Queen Anne neighborhood \u2014 a close-in suburb (think Royal Oak with San Francisco-like hills). Pathfinder could have taken us to more remote Washington state hills if necessary.<\/p>\n

With its all-wheel-drive system, the Nissan was loaded for bear with SNOW, SAND, ROCK, ECO, SPORT\u00a0and AUTO settings. I would only need AUTO, SPORT\u00a0and SNOW \u2014 the latter coming in handy during torrential rains on Queen Ann hills by cutting torque to the wheels and allowing for easy traction (Michiganians, take note for challenging snowstorms).<\/p>\n

Our weekend would be filled with dinner outings \u2014 including a grocery run for the Thanksgiving bird. But first up was Sawyer, one of Seattle\u2019s finest eateries. My long-suffering wife drew the short straw for the third-row seat first \u2014 but the experience wasn\u2019t bad. The second-row jumps forward at the touch of a button, allowing easy ingress\/egress. That entry is tougher for giants like myself, but once seated, the headroom is palatial and the sunroof lets in lots of light.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Our third-row needs would prove brief as my younger son caught the COVID bug and spent the weekend shuttered in a bedroom enjoying \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d on Netflix while we fed him a stream of food, Robitussin\u00a0and sympathetic cheer. His lawyer wife, due to join us Thanksgiving day, stayed home in New York lest she be COVID-compromised for an important legal trial. The rest of us weathered the weekend no problem.<\/p>\n

The Pathfinder weathered everything Seattle threw at us, too. Despite the constantly changing forecast, the interior climate system work effortlessly \u2014 avoiding fogging and loud blowing like, ahem, some other vehicles.<\/p>\n

The Pathfinder\u2019s ergonomics are well thought out with everything at the driver\u2019s fingertips \u2014 including an excellent chiclet shifter\u00a0and sub-console storage for hiding valuables.<\/p>\n

\"Camera<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Heading to Tukwila for some Saturday afternoon go-karting, the Pathfinder plied Interstate 5 with a competent assisted-driving system that kept us lane-centered and distanced from vehicles ahead of us. It\u2019s a system Nissan has touted going back to its \u201cRogue One: Star Wars\u201d commercials. The system may be able to navigate Star Wars robots, but\u00a0in an indication of the challenges ahead for a self-driving future, the system would give up in Seattle\u2019s heavy rain \u2014 the camera struggling to find road lines.<\/p>\n

The Green Church has a big congregation in Seattle, and Teslas are a common sight here (though its Chevy Bolt, Mustang Mach-E\u00a0and Audi EV competitors are conspicuously few). With regular gas at a lofty $4.38 a gallon \u2014 and hydroelectric power-fed electricity a cheap 7 cents a kilowatt hour \u2014 this is a town where EVs make sense for local commutes.<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

For longer trips to Washington\u2019s lovely mountains and rivers, Pathfinder\u2019s 286-horse V-6 offers good grunt combined with 480-mile range that puts your mind at ease. That range is especially important considering the range degradation of EVs in heavy rain.<\/p>\n

Pathfinder is also a challenge to Nissan\u2019s luxury brand. Built on the same platform as the Infiniti QX60, the Nissan may not be as pretty as its high-class cousin \u2014 but the digital interior is the Infiniti\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

You can put 65 grand down on a Tesla. But when it comes to holiday family duties, a $52K\u00a0Pathfinder has everything you need for a lot less.<\/p>\n

2022\u00a0Nissan Pathfinder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and-all-wheel-drive, seven- or eight-passenger\u00a0SUV<\/p>\n

Price: $34,560, including $1,150 destination fee $51,790 as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: 3.5-liter V-6<\/p>\n

Power: 284 horsepower, 259 pound-feet torque (V-6)<\/p>\n

Transmission: 9-speed automatic<\/p>\n

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.7 seconds (Car and Driver); Towing, 6,000 pounds<\/p>\n

Weight: 4,506 pounds<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 21 city\/26 highway\/23 combined<\/p>\n

Report card<\/p>\n

Highs: Family-friendly three-row seats; value pricing<\/p>\n

Lows: Big thing to park in the city; wireless Apple CarPlay but not Android Auto<\/p>\n

Overall: 4\u00a0stars<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seattle\u00a0\u2014 The holiday season is behind us, and it\u2019s a great opportunity to assess the family SUV. The holidays demand utility to take on relatives, grocery runs and foul weather. I scored a 2022\u00a0Nissan Pathfinder for the Paynes’ Thanksgiving get-together in America\u2019s rain capital. Pathfinder is one of the latest in a series of recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28640,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28639\/revisions\/28640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}