2022 Nissan Pathfinder | Cars.com photograph by Leslie Cunningham
By Kelsey Mays
August 30, 2021
The overhauled 2022 Nissan Pathfinder is an inquisitive family SUV, significantly better in certain regards however head-scratching in others. In June 2021, Cars.com analyst Aaron Bragman tried the upgraded three-column hauler in southeast Michigan; he summarized it as sensibly room-and tech-loaded, with satisfactory, if trudging, drivability.2022 Nissan Pathfinder Part Deux
Related: 2022 Nissan Pathfinder Review: Outdoor Adventure Wagon Rebooted
After two months, the other editors have invested significant energy driving the Pathfinder’s exceptional Platinum trim level for quite a long time, yet in addition testing a mid-level Pathfinder SL at an area media occasion. (The 2022 Pathfinder’s four trim levels, in rising request, are S, SV, SL and Platinum.) Here stood apart to me and three associates: Editor-in-Chief Jenni Newman, News Editor Brian Normile and Executive Editor Joe Wiesenfelder.2022 Nissan Pathfinder Part Deux
Suspension Tuning: Going Rogue?
Nissan has baffled us of late, keeping the upgraded Sentra a solace arranged minimized car, while the redesignd Rogue SUV turned into a firmer, sportier decision. The Pathfinder appears to have gone above and beyond. The suspension permits a level of effect brutality that is abnormal for a vehicle based family SUV. It’s occupied, as well, with fundamental choppiness that deadheads up on conventional rural roads. I passed judgment on the Rogue’s suspension somewhat more secured – the Pathfinder surrenders some additional development after each effect – however Wiesenfelder didn’t go up until this point.2022 Nissan Pathfinder Part Deux
“I concur with you that they ‘denounced any kind of authority,’ firmer than needed,” he said. “In any case, I truly do think the more prominent wheelbase and track alleviate it.”
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2022 Nissan Pathfinder | Cars.com photograph by Leslie Cunningham
Newman said she didn’t view ride cruelty as a lot of an issue, and that is notwithstanding the 20-inch wheels on our Platinum-level test vehicle. Lower manages have 18s and more prominent tires; that may further develop ride solace a smidgen, however it’s significant our impressions are for the most part aligned against other exceptional test vehicles, which likewise have enormous haggles profile tires.
Normile disagreed with the new Pathfinder considering its ancestor, a SUV known for its agreeable ride before Nissan chose to firm things up in the final part of the existence cycle. With the update, the pendulum didn’t swing a lot, if by any stretch of the imagination, the alternate way.
“The past age Pathfinder was delicate all around: comfortable ride, from the beginning, with a soft transmission and nary a sharp point to be found,” Normile said. “The upgraded Pathfinder’s ride is a lot firmer, presumably firmer than it should be – a pattern we’ve seen recently that doesn’t appear to have affected customer propensities, basically not yet.”
Inside: Big Improvements, Still Not Super Big
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2022 Nissan Pathfinder | Cars.com photograph by Leslie Cunningham
From knee to arm level, materials in the Pathfinder’s initial two columns trade the active age’s unavoidable hard-contact plastics for liberal cushioning, a lot of it with appealing twofold sewing. The electronic stuff selector and drive-mode dial both felt a digit free in our test vehicle, however different controls appeared to be good to go. The lodge’s silver accents have an appealing brushed completion, and it’s great to see the quality stretch out past the Platinum. The SL grade we inspected had essential calfskin upholstery rather than the Platinum’s semi-aniline cowhide, yet materials were reliable in any case – a positive development in the midst of the expense cutting among lower trim levels in an excessive number of vehicles nowadays.
“The inside, fundamentally ‘the Rogue yet greater,’ is all around spread out and present day,” Normile said. Furthermore Newman called our Platinum test vehicle “past Nissan – you could shut your eyes and believe you’re in an Infiniti or something from another extravagance brand.”
Bragman’s audit praised the Pathfinder’s third column as now a “usable size for grown-ups,” with simple section, on account of one-contact buttons to slide the second-line seats for stroll in access. Newman concurred, yet she criticized how Nissan’s wayback plans oblige Cars.com’s vehicle seats.
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2022 Nissan Pathfinder | Cars.com photograph by Leslie Cunningham
The third-column seat “is somewhat short, the back is excessively upstanding and the head limitation is extremely large that it’s pushing things forward,” Newman said. “With our front aligned convertible seat, some portion of the base was overhanging the Pathfinder’s base pad. That is OK, yet what’s less adequate is that none of the seatback contacted the rear of our front aligned vehicle seats. It ought to, however the Pathfinder’s forward-tipped head limitation raises it off the seat.”
Cars.com’s autonomous bookkeeping of freight space tracked down volume behind the third line a disappointing 8.41 cubic feet. That is in the neighborhood of as-tried volume for the current Toyota Highlander (8.64), however it trails the Mazda CX-9 (9.76), Jeep Grand Cherokee L (10.87), Hyundai Palisade (11.18) and Volkswagen Atlas (14.05).
As-tried volume behind the subsequent column (24.05 cubic feet) was more serious, if mediocre in general. For results set the Pathfinder comparable to the Highlander (24.02), and in front of the CX-9 (23.72) and Grand Cherokee L (22.04), yet it actually trails the Atlas (29.88) and Palisade (26.23) by significant spaces. Stack up all the freight regions we’ve tried among moderate size, three-line SUVs.
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Drivetrain: Nein, Nine-Speed
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2022 Nissan Pathfinder | Cars.com photograph by Leslie Cunningham
The Pathfinder’s nine-speed programmed transmission comes from ZF Friedrichshafen, a German auto provider, of whose front-drive-based nine-speeds we’re none excessively affectionate. It sets here with Nissan’s 3.5-liter V-6, really great for 284 drive and 259 pounds-feet of force. I tracked down the nine-speed fast to kick down single pinion wheels assuming you want more power, yet it upshifts soon on moderate beginnings, at times marooning the motor during low speed increase at clumsily low rpm and the lower part of another stuff. The powertrain has sufficient low-end force to sort out its method of such circumstances without leaving drivers level footed.
Normile called the nine-speed an improvement over the active Pathfinder’s persistently factor programmed, and Newman enlisted no grievance in general with transmission conduct. Bragman’s audit logged some stuff hunting, nonetheless, and Wiesenfelder noted inside and out slack.
“When I saw disturbing slack sitting tight for the new nine-speed transmission to downshift for passing power, I began focusing more on it,” he said, “and I thought I saw a little low-speed awkwardness also, which we know all around very well from our involvement in this part from ZF. On the potential gain, I don’t figure the normal driver would see quite a bit of this, and generally the transmission has improved torquier V-6 motors than with four-bangers – including vehicles heavier than this, like later instances of the Chrysler Pacifica.”
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