5200 mile Christmas Road Trip

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Kyson
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Location: Austin, TX

5200 mile Christmas Road Trip

Postby Kyson » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:54 pm

Well we just got back from very long road trip in the Pathfinder - 5,240 miles in 9 days. Left Texas on a Friday night and proceeded to Washington state via OK, KS, WY, CO, UT, ID, OR. Then made the return trip through Montana to visit friends there, got caught in the blizzard that hit Colorado and Kansas, so ended up rerouting back up through Nebraska. That trip went like this - WA, ID, MT, WY, CO, then back to WY, NE, KS, OK, and finally back to TX.

Here are the highlights:

2006 Pathfinder SE 4X4 (Grey with tan leather, SE Comfort, SE Premium packages)
Mods - Roof mounted DVD system for the kids and 265/75R16 Nitto Terra Grappler AT tires. Stock otherwise.

Highs:
Excellent power
Plenty of room for family of four, our gear, presents, luggage, etc.
Third row seats to separate the kids
The DVD system was worth many times what we paid for it on this trip. (The kids took 22 movies and their IPods, gameboys, etc and we had no issues whatsoever in some 77 travel hours spent in the PF. There would have been total bloodshed in the old Murano... heh heh)
Fuel economy was decent
Absolute control - The PF with the Nittos was a fantastic combination in all weather situations.

Lows:
Criminally negligent output from the headlights. Where o where are our HIDs?
Wrong selection of factory shocks/dampers. These provide a bouncy ride around town, but out on the road with uneven pavement and ice ridges the PF felt unsettled and bouncy quite often. Hit a pavement separation in a left handed sweeper going up a mountain pass and its an interesting second or two until everything settles back down. Thankfully the Terra Gapplers were velcro'd to the road.


Summary:
What a fantastic trip. I've owned more vehicles than I can easily count and bought the PF to be a good all around rough and tumble family SUV that could tow, go camping, and haul mountain bikes and kayaks. We also loved the third row. We've taken it camping and kayaking many times and it has shined each of them. This was it's first major long distance - all encompassing trip. We folded one second and one third row seat down, placed the baggage there and in the back, and then put our 7yr old in the remaining third row seat and our 11 yr old in the 2nd. We left Texas loaded to the gills Friday night, and traveled 2300 miles to family stops throughout WA state. TX, OK, and KS were largely uneventful. Crossing WY and the continental divide Saturday afternoon was far more interesting with lots of blowing snow on the roadway, temps in the teens, and many accidents - some right in front of us. Sad to see overturned SUVs with broken windows and wrapped undelivered Christmas presents lying in the snow. Lots of folks were helping out at each scene. Utah was better (though we did see an Audi that had passed us long before compressed into a snowy hill side on a slick steep canyon heading into SLC). The Idaho/Utah border was another story altogether. Hit that about 10:00pm and ran through a whiteout snowstorm that covered everything in sight. couldn't see a thing and picked our way through to Burley, ID at about 30mph. That was our first hotel stop and we got their early Sun morning.

Got up and continued on in through ID and OR into WA arriving that night about 6:00. Had one scare pulling a steep pass in OR at about 50 mph where we hit some black ice in 2WD. Had just hit a large bump and unsettled the rearend when the the strong sidewind and ice all converged at the same time causing the backend to step out sharply to the left. I counter steered and the rearend started the other way but VDC and my input brought us back in line. This could have happened many times as the rearend was always unsettled, but I give credit to the Nittos - this was the only time they spun.

Enjoyed Christmas and the PF was a shuttle for extended family and friends for a few days throughout central WA. Heavy snowstorms didn't slow it a bit. Changed the oil while there and headed to Montana. On the way out of MT Friday night, hit temps in the 0s and below and had lots of blowing snow and ice. Was in 4WD from the Custer battlefield all the way to WY. More of the same intermittently all the way to Denver where we were delayed a day as the interstates were closed. They were closed again yesterday, so we backtracked back to WY, and crossed Nebraska to get on the other side of the weather. Many terrible accidents across Nebraska - more than I have ever seen at one sitting. Vehicles (including semis) were on their sides and tops all over both sides fo the road. We had some more 4WD action down through Kansas and finally got home this morning at 5:30.

All in all this is a fantastic vehicle. It performed without a hitch and our family is still talking to one another despite nearly 80 hours spent together inside the Pathfinder. We averaged 17.4 mpg across the 5200 miles and that encompassed cruising speeds of 75-90mph where possible, as well as long times slogging through bad weather in 4WD. I found early on that the only way to average 20+mpg was to keep the speeds at 55-65 mph. Once we broke 70, MPG fell into the high teens, and once we exceeded 75, it was in the 17s. Others may be different, but that is how our PF behaved. Extended cruising in the 80s and 90s brought it to the mid/high 16s.

Sorry for the length of this post, but it was hard to encapsulate such a grand adventure in a few short words.

Pictures forthcoming!


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RacerZX
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Postby RacerZX » Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:37 pm

Heavens no, don't apologize for the length of the post, sounds like a great adventure! Pics pics pics pics please!!! :D

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blink32
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Postby blink32 » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:28 am

Good post. I'm glad not to be the only one who feels like the Pathfinder has an incorrect feel on non-perfect pavement.

Did you have any roof mounted accessories during this trip (cargo carriers or roof racks?) ?

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Kyson
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Location: Austin, TX

Postby Kyson » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:05 pm

No roof mounted accessories - everything was stored internally.

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blink32
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Postby blink32 » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:15 pm

I think my roof rack is farkin my mileage. I'll have to take it off and run a test.


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