Car Shopping in 2023: The Exciting Conclusion!

 

If you recall my August post on starting a car search, I presented a list of requirements that I wanted my new car to meet.  If you don't recall, go ahead and reread it.  I'll wait.  I had to do that to remember what I wrote as I can't remember what happened yesterday, much less four months ago!

As expected, I had to compromise on some of my requirements.  After test driving most of the cars on my list of options, I ended up buying a 2018 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum, shown here after hauling a bunch of scouts up to Vermont for a backpacking trip just hours after I drove it off the lot.  

Incidentally, this photo has an easter egg for a future backpacking product review.

Now that I have had the car for a month or so, let's check out the score card and see how I did:

• Good Highway Gas Mileage (7 out of 10)
• Reliability (7 out of 10)
• Good towing capacity (10 out of 10)
• Cargo Capacity  >40 preferred. (10 out of 10)
• Wireless Android Auto (3 out of 10)
• Heated and Ventilated Seats (10 out of 10)
• Adaptive Cruise Control (10 out of 10)
• Good Ground Clearance (7 out of 10)
• All Wheel Drive(8 out of 10)
• Good Looks (3 out of 10)
• Price (9 out of 10)

Read on for the good, the bad and the ugly on this car.

The Good

Price

All in all, price won out as the prime differentiator between the Pathfinder and its competition.  You're shocked that I went with the most affordable option, right? 😜  When I first saw the car at the dealer sometime around the beginning of September, they were asking a little over $23K for it (top-of-the-line Platinum model with 79K miles).  Most every other car I test drove was significantly more expensive with a range from $27K for a Mazda CX-9 to $43K for a Hyundai Palisade.  As it was, I didn't love the Pathfinder enough to pay $23K for it.  It wasn't in immaculate condition.  There were a few paint scratches and a long rub mark on the side that was visible in certain lighting conditions.  It also had a number of panels repainted from a fender bender.  There was some orange peel in the paint in places if you looked closely and signs that it wasn't as good as the factory paint.  That's all stuff I can live with, provided it is reflected in the price.  I was willing to walk away, but the dealer wanted to negotiate, so I lowballed them with a $17K offer, which is all I was willing to pay for that car at that time.  That was way under the book value and risked being insultingly low.  Unsurprisingly, the dealer let me walk.   The car then sat on their lot and didn't sell.  They started knocking the price down in chunks every few weeks.  I continued looking for and test driving other cars while keeping an eye on the price of this one.  None of the other cars justified their higher price to me.

By the beginning of November, they had it down to $19.9K.  This is when the rusted-out control arm mount on the Element forced me to accelerate my car-buying plans.  I went back to the dealer to see what they would offer for trading in the Element.  Now it was their turn to low-ball me 😁.  I declined their offer of a few hundred bucks for the Element but I did negotiate them down to $18.9K for the Pathfinder, more than $3K below book value.  I'll call that a win!  Based on the dealer's lack of enthusiasm for prepping the car, inspecting it and getting plates which took days, I think they weren't too happy at my deal.

Mileage

The AWD Pathfinder (PF from here on out) has an EPA rating of 26mpg on the highway and 19 in the city.  Those are pretty good numbers for a 3-row SUV.  It's better than the smaller and lighter Element it is replacing.  It is not as good as the Toyota Highlander Hybrid.  However, those are going for more like $40K used right now.  That extra $22K I saved over buying a Highlander (or Sienna) hybrid will buy A LOT of gas.

Reliability

While Nissan isn't in the top tier of reliable Japanese manufacturers with Honda and Toyota, they tend to have pretty reliable cars.  The engine in the PF has been perfected over generations and is known for being reliable and most are trouble free.

Towing Capacity

The Platinum model has a 6000 lb towing capacity and comes with the hitch and wiring harness with 7 pin plug port built in as a nice bonus.  Every other vehicle I looked at maxed out at 5000 lbs capacity or less and most of them did not have a hitch installed.    The extra thousand pounds gives me the option to haul a car on a trailer, a consideration I need to take seriously given my penchant for older cars and working on them myself.   Max points for the PF here.

Cargo Capacity

The PF is fairly typical for a mid-size 3 row crossover SUV.  It has 16 cuft of space behind the 3rd row and 47.8 cuft of space with the 3rd row folded down.  That's enough for hauling the Wisdumb family on a cross-country camping trip.  10 out of 10 points here.

Comfort and Convenience

I didn't explicitly call this out as a category I was looking for.  I generally shun luxury, preferring simplicity to extravagance, but some aspects of it, like heated and ventilated seats and adaptive cruise control were features I knew I wanted.  Beyond that, I wasn't looking for luxury.   After driving a number of cars, I did come to appreciate the difference in comfort and convenience features between them.  I fear I'm going soft 😧  My car, being the fully loaded Platinum trim level, has all the bells and whistles that were available in 2018 and bested every other car that I drove in terms of features, except for the much more expensive and newer Hyundai Palisade that was overflowing with new tech.  

The PF has 360 degree cameras for backing up and parking along with sonar for obstacles, cross traffic detection and automatic emergency braking.  It has a heated steering wheel, which I had not considered as important but have ended up using almost every day since getting the car.  There's that softness creeping in again...  The leather interior is nice and the seats are very comfortable.  Very importantly, it has buttons and knobs for all of the most used functions as well as triple redundancy through touch screen controls and selector dial/steering wheel control.  Changing the temperature or radio volume is as simple as turning a knob.  No need to navigate through menus.  Required use of the touchscreen to do everything was my biggest problem with the Volvo XC90 and a big contributor to why I picked the PF over it.  On most of the newer cars, it appears knobs and buttons are making a comeback as manufacturers have figured out customers don't like the Tesla model of using a screen for EVERY function in a car.

The 3rd row is reasonably spacious and the access to them is among the easiest of all the cars I looked at.  The Hyundai Palisade, being loaded with tech conveniences, has a push button electric 2nd row that requires just one button push to allow access.  The problem is, the motors are so slow, you have to wait forever for the seat to motor into and out of position.  I'm too impatient for that kind of stuff.  I can't even deal with the slow powered doors on minivans.  Nissan has a neat method of flipping up the cushions of the 2nd row when they slide forward to give more room to climb in the back, all quick and easy with a single lever pull.

Another added bonus is how quiet the car is.  There is lots of sound deadening material in the PF and the interior stays nice and quiet compared to my other cars.

Oh, and let's not forget the outlets.   The PF easily bested the rest of the field in this area.  There are two USB charging ports and a 12V port in the front console.  There are two more USB ports for data/charging and a 12V port in the center console.  The 2nd row gets two more USB charging ports and a 120V outlet.  To top it off, there is a 12V outlet in the rear cargo area. 

Offroad Capability

This is a catchall category for ground clearance, AWD performance and the like.  Most of the vehicles I looked at are not really meant for off-roading, and the PF is no exception, despite AI's best attempt to ruggedize the car for the lead-in photo used above.  However, it does have some features that can help on some of the dirt roads and tracks that I sometimes end up on.  Ground clearance is OK at 7 inches.  Middling for the segment.  The PF does have a decent AWD system with the ability to apply the brakes individually to each wheel to allow all power to be distributed to the wheel (or wheels) with grip.  It still isn't as good as a true locking differential as it doesn't allow wheelspin when all wheels are loose on grip, but it will probably cover most situations in which I find myself (snow and ice, typically).  Being the Platinum model, the PF comes with giant 20" wheels with low profile tires.  Those are probably not the best for offroad use.  If I am going to do a lot of offroad travel, I would probably change those out for 18" wheels and some all-terrain tires.  So, 7.5 out of 10 compared to the competition.  It's not a 4Runner, but it is less expensive and gets significantly better gas mileage.

Handling

You'll notice in my initial thoughts back in August that I didn't give handling much consideration.  I didn't think it was important for what I needed in a vehicle.  I have changed my mind a bit after driving a bunch of different cars.  The Mazda CX-9 really impressed me with how it handled and drove.  It didn't feel like a big SUV at all.  To be fair, the CX-9 was also the smallest of the cars I was looking at, so it had some advantage there.  Still, none of the other cars could match how it felt to drive.  It had that Mazda Zoom Zoom feel.  None of the cars were particularly bad.  The PF handles well enough, and it feels surprisingly planted when cornering.  Those 20" wheels must be contributing a lot to that.  The acceleration is good, though the CVT takes all of the fun out of it.  More on that in the bad section below.  The brakes are strong thanks to their sizing to handle 3 ton tow loads.  The steering feels balanced and has a pleasant weighting.  Body roll seems minimal and well controlled, especially compared to the Element and the Prius.

The Bad

This list should be short, right?  These are the areas where I had to compromise on what I wanted.

Android Auto

Nissan was behind the times with their infotainment system in 2018.  Android Auto and Apple Carplay were not an option.  There is hope, however.  There are 3rd party hardware upgrades for the PF that take a circuit board and insert it in between the connections of the display and audio system that add Android Auto capability (including wireless) to the factory touch screen and controls.  It's a complicated installation but is within reason for a seasoned DIYer.  The only problem with these kits is they are expensive.  $600 to $800 expensive.  Now I have to decide if getting one of these is worth it just to have my phone integrate wirelessly with the car for using google maps.  I am undecided if I want to go this route.  Instead of 0 points, I'm giving this 3 since there is a 3rd party option to integrate Android Auto into the factory infotainment system.

Transmission

Nissan went to a CVT transmission for this generation of PF.  It isn't a particularly good implementation of one either.  My Prius has a CVT and it is executed significantly better.  The biggest problem with this CVT is lag.  When you take your foot off the brake and move it to the gas to start accelerating, there is a bit of delay from when you press the gas until the car starts moving.  This results in a jerk at the start.  Most cars start idling forward as soon as you release your foot from the brake so that all the slack is out of the drivetrain by the time you hit the gas and the car accelerates smoothly.  That isn't the case here.  In addition, there is some funky programming to simulate gear shifts.  This seems to kick in sometimes but not others.  It can make for some odd sounds and sensations when accelerating hard.  On the plus side, I think it makes for efficient acceleration in terms of gas usage when you are easy on the throttle.  It all adds up to feeling like your left foot isn't directly connected to the engine and makes it hard to judge how the car is going to react to your input.  I expect this transmission is largely responsible for the 3 to 4 better mpg better mileage that the PF gets compared to other cars this size and that is why they chose to use it.  I decided I could live with this compromise, but the transmission would get a 4 out of 10 rating from me.

The Ugly

I've covered the good and the bad.  Now it's time for the ugly.  And I mean that literally.

The PF is not a good looking car, though the AI generated images used in spots above do a pretty good job of making it look decent.  The "midnight pine" color helps as well.  To be fair, I shouldn't call it ugly.  It's not like it's a Pontiac Aztek.  It is just dull and indistinguishable from most of the other crossover SUVs, which is most of the cars on the road these days.  If I got it in gray or black, I would lose it in a parking lot in the sea of other gray and black SUV clones.  Luckily, the midnight pine color at least makes it somewhat unique.

You know how Jeep drivers always wave to each other?  I see the same in my Miata, and even on occasion with the Element these days as their numbers are dwindling.  I could not do that with this car because I can't tell when I'm meeting one head on.  I can pick out the Nissan grill, but it looks the same to me between Rogues and Pathfinders and Muranos, Infinity SUVs and so on.

Have you heard of the Baader-Meinhoff frequency illusion?  It essentially states that since I got a Pathfinder, I should start noticing them and seeing them everywhere.  They were really there all along, I just never noticed them.  This car breaks that theory!  I have one, but I still can't recognize them when I see them.  I'm not noticing them at all.  The newer model that came out in 2021 is a bit more distinctive and I can recognize it on the road.  But not mine.  I really can't believe I would ever buy a car as dull looking as the Pathfinder.  Even minivans have more style.

Conclusion

As I expected, I failed to find the perfect car.  The PF is as close as I could come and I'm happy enough with my selection.  It was definitely the best value.  While I still think $18K is way too much to pay for a car with nearly 80K miles, I console myself that in actuality it was a good deal given current market conditions.  I'm struggling to come to grips with inflation in everything.  There have been a few minor problems I've fixed up on the car, so you can look forward to some new old car files on what I learn in dealing with more modern electronics than I had to contend with in the Element.  This car buying process has forced me to think hard about what is really important in a vehicle.  Maybe my musings can help others find their own dull looking but supremely functional family hauler.