SEATTLE — The holiday season is behind us, and it's 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 Nissan Pathfinder for a Payne family get-together in America's rain capital. Pathfinder is one of the latest in a series of recent Nissan value hits that include the compact Sentra sedan and Rogue SUV. I first met Pathfinder last summer in Michigan, where it came with 6'10" product planner Andrew Molnar showing off its third row.
That's right. Six foot 10. My 6'5" frame fit easily back there as well, giving me confidence that Pathfinder would be up to the job of ferrying three six-foot-plus Payne men and their wives around Seattle's slippery streets for a packed weekend of outings. Our active family doesn't lay around, and my Seattle-based older son had prepared a full agenda.
Mrs. Payne and I picked up a loaded $51,790 Pathfinder at the Seattle airport. 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't break the bank. Only the Korean twins of Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride rival Pathfinder in value.
Surround view and panoramic roof are essential in Seattle, with its narrow streets and gloomy winter weather that makes Michigan seem bright by comparison.
We arrived under a typical cloud of drizzle. My wife wirelessly synced her Apple phone to the Pathfinder and routed us to my son's apartment in the Queen Anne neighborhood — a close-in suburb. Pathfinder could have taken us to more remote Washington state hills if necessary.
With its all-wheel-drive system, the Nissan was loaded for bear with SNOW, SAND, ROCK, ECO, SPORT and AUTO settings. I would only need AUTO, SPORT and SNOW — the latter coming in handy during torrential rains on Queen Ann hills by cutting torque to the wheels and allowing for easy traction (northerners, take note for challenging snowstorms).
Our weekend would be filled with dinner outings and at least one grocery run. But first up was Sawyer, one of Seattle's finest eateries. My long-suffering wife drew the short straw for the third-row seat first — but the experience wasn't 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.
The Pathfinder weathered everything Seattle threw at us, too. Despite the constantly changing forecast, the interior climate system work effortlessly — avoiding fogging and loud blowing like, ahem, some other vehicles.
The Pathfinder's ergonomics are well thought out with everything at the driver's fingertips — including an excellent chiclet shifter and sub-console storage for hiding valuables.
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's a system Nissan has touted going back to its "Rogue One: Star Wars" commercials. The system may be able to navigate Star Wars robots, but in an indication of the challenges ahead for a self-driving future, the system would give up in Seattle's heavy rain — the camera struggling to find road lines.
The Green Church has a big congregation in Seattle, and Teslas are a common sight here (though its Chevy Bolt, Mustang Mach-E and Audi EV competitors are conspicuously few). With regular gas at a lofty $4.38 a gallon — and hydroelectric power-fed electricity a cheap 7 cents a kilowatt hour — this is a town where EVs make sense for local commutes.
For longer trips to Washington's lovely mountains and rivers, Pathfinder's 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.
Pathfinder is also a challenge to Nissan's luxury brand. Built on the same platform as the Infiniti QX60, the Nissan may not be as pretty as its high-class cousin — but the digital interior is the Infiniti's match.
You can put 65 grand down on a Tesla. But when it comes to family duties, a $52K Pathfinder has everything you need for a lot less.
2022 Nissan Pathfinder
Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and-all-wheel-drive, seven- or eight-passenger SUV
Price: $34,560, including $1,150 destination fee $51,790 as tested)
Powerplant: 3.5-liter V-6
Power: 284 horsepower, 259 pound-feet torque (V-6)
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.7 seconds (Car and Driver); Towing, 6,000 pounds
Weight: 4,506 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 21 city/26 highway/23 combined
Report card
Highs: Family-friendly three-row seats; value pricing
Lows: Big thing to park in the city; wireless Apple CarPlay but not Android Auto
Overall: 4 stars
