Take a Ride to Happiness with the Xterra

I can honestly say that although I am not an expert on cars, I do consider myself more than a novice on Nissans. I have never had anything other than a Nissan in my life. First, I had a 210, then a 240SX, and now I have the XTERRA SE-V6 4x4 in a nice blue color. You ask why? Well, I don't know much about cars and consequently I have always stayed with a company that is committed to quality and has a good warranty and maintenance program. Nissan has always been there for me and I have had very little problems over the years with any of the cars, where I have put over 130k miles on each of these cars before I would get tired of the car and decide to buy a new one.

I took over a year to decide on the car I wanted. I wanted to have a car that matched my personality. I narrowed down my choices down to the RAV4 by Toyota, the Toyota Forerunner and the XTERRA. All of them matched my prerequisites of a comfortable car for the substantial driving that I do to the mountains and the beach, a car that is good in climbing since I live in the San Francisco area, of a comfortable back seat for my Dalmatian that is easy to clean out his hairs, space to tow my bike conveniently, a sun roof, and a good sound system. I leaned away from the RAV4 because it has a reputation of being a woman's car. I figured if I was going to get a truck-like car (the XTERRA sits on a Frontier truck base), I wanted it to look more rugged and a car that I would not be made fun of by the guys I work with. I also leaned away from the 4-Runner since it was priced well into the 30k range. I liked the fact that I could buy the XTERRA around the $24-25k range. I finally decided to buy the XTERRA after the positive advertising campaigns of Nissan, where the people that drive that car are sports-minded, adventurous, and a little daredevil.

LIKES and DISLIKES

Problems/Annoyances so far

I have had the car since February, 2001 and have over 34,000 miles on it. During that time I have had only a couple of problems with the car. There was a leak in the exhaust manifold that was found during normal maintenance in my first 7500 mile check-up. It was $450 but was covered under warranty so I had no expense associated with it.

From the time I had the car, the passenger side doggie-squirter kept popping off. After the third time that the service group popped it back in during servicing, they finally just replaced it with a new hose system and I have had no problems with it since. Each time they did not charge me for the repair.

I was driving an all-nighter to San Diego. I was sleepy and when filling up the gas tank, I forgot to put the cap back on. This set a light on my dashboard that said that the car needed to be serviced immediately. This can only be deactivated at the dealership. Luckily a Nissan dealer was open in San Diego that Saturday and got me in right away since I was on vacation and fixed it immediately.

Servicing costs are a little steep. I do get it serviced at the dealership each time since it's still under warranty for a lot of the parts. A typical cost is in the $230 range each time which covers the oil changing, wheel balancing, liquids filling and a 30-point check and shuttle service to and from work.

Also, I wish it had better gas mileage. It gets 15 city MPG and 19 highway MPG. Therefore a typical fuel cost in the San Francisco area (which is running at around $2.20/gallon now) is $34 per fill-up and goes around 300 miles on a tank of gas. Most of my driving is highway miles.

What I Like

The car is extremely comfortable and when going for long distances, the sound system is just great, especially with the 6-in dash CD player where I can have six CDs in the player at a time. Very nice feature I must say and convinced me to upgrade from the XE to the SE model for it. The car sits high and I feel much safer than my 240SX. The back seats are stadium seating and you can fit five people comfortably in the car and still have plenty of room for storage in the back with the hatch-back door lifts up and easy to load. It also has a handle to pull the door down. It helps when you are as short as I am. There is also plenty of room on the roof rack for additional storage, plus many side storage pockets. The car also has cloth seats that are easy to keep clean. What I like most about the car is the excellent pick-up that the V6 engine has. All my other cars have had V4 engines and it's nice to have some power behind the car. And let's not forget the step rails. Those steps are great for a short person like myself (5'2") and makes it much easier to clean the top of the car.

I had a blast taking the car to the snow in Tahoe. While everyone else had to pull over to put snow chains on their cars, I was able just to shift inside the car to four-wheel drive and I was off. It was heavy snow and I never once skidded. The windshield wipers on the back window helped with visibility in the heavy snow.


FEATURES

Mechanical and Performance
* 3.3 Liter SOHC 170HP V6 Engine
* Automatic Transmission
* 4-Wheel Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
* Power Assisted Front Disc/Rear Drum Brakes
* Limited Slip Differential
* Fuel Tank and Engine Skid Plates
* Power Steering
* Double Wishbone Front Suspension
* Front and Rear Stabilizer Bars
* Platinum Double-tipped Spark Plugs
* Up to 5,000 lbs Towing Capacity
* Tachometer
* 19.4 Gallon Fuel Tank
Exterior Styling and Amenities
* Tubular Roof Rack w/Cross Bars
* Integrated Gear Basket
* Pop-Up Sunroof
* P255/65R16 All-season Tires
* 16¡¨ Alloy Wheels
* Tubular Step Rails
* Fog Lights and Front Tow Hook
* Full Sized Spare Tire
* Recessed Mounted Halogen Headlamps
* Body side Molding
Comfort and Convenience
* 6 Disc In-Dash CD changer w/6 speakers
* Steering Wheel Mounted Audio Controls
* First Aid Kit
* Cruise Control
* CFC-Free Air Conditioning
* Power Windows, Door Locks, and Mirrors
* 50/50 Split Folding Rear Seats w/Removable Cushions
* Woven Cloth Seat Fabric w/Door Fabric Inserts
* Front & RearAuxiliary 12 Volt Power Outlets
* Tilt & Leather wrapped Steering wheel
* (4) Floor (6) Ceiling Tie-Down Hooks
* Titanium Face Gauges
* Cargo Area Dome Lamp
* Cargo Area Storage Bins
* Retractable Cargo Cover
* Center Console w/High Armrest & Integrated Storage
* Dual Front and Rear Cup Holders
* Passenger side Vanity Mirror
* Rear Window Wiper & Variable Intermittent Wipers
* Rear Glass Defroster
* Rear Floor Heater Ducts
* Twin Trip Odometers
Safety and Security
* Dual Air Bags
* ALR/ELR Seat Belt System for Front Passenger Seats
* Front Seat Belts with Pretentioners
* Front Seat Belts w/Upper Adjustable Seat Belt Anchor
* Vehicle Security System
* Remote Keyless Entry
* Energy Absorbing Steering Column
* Front and Rear Crumple Zones
* Side-Door Guard Beams
* Clutch Interlock
* (3) Child Seat Anchors
* Child Safety Rear Door Locks





CONCLUSION

I love this car and have never been sorry I bought it. I hope to have many years of fun in the car. Domino also loves to drive in the back seat and cruise to Half Moon Bay.