The revised Nissan Pathfinder has been refurbed to create a more luxurious feel and takes the road less travelled
Words: Graham Scott; photos: Matt Fowler
In the UK the Pathfinder is almost a bit of an anomaly, an unusual vehicle to see out and about, but in Europe, and particularly Spain where it’s made, you’ll see them all over the place. The Pyrenees seem to be full of them at the weekends, being used as God, or Nissan, intended.
Nissan UK’s range, outside the passenger cars, focuses more on its crossover vehicles. The Qashqai is indeed the cash cow here and in Europe. You have to have a minor rummage beyond the headlines on the Nissan site to find its ‘intelligent 4x4s’. No hardcore Patrol here any more, but instead the X-Trail which you could argue is a crossover, and the Navara pick-up. That leaves just one large 4×4 in the range – the Pathfinder.
Phil Weeden editorial director I’d been looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Rodeo. When we acquired the company Mazda BT-50 pick-up in 2008, the Rodeo was firmly on our shortlist. It’s better looking than the Mazda and the 3.0-litre turbo diesel feels uber strong, with a purposeful induction roar, a decent turn of speed, plenty of traction and reasonable refinement on the motorway. Only a killer lease price made us choose the Mazda over the Isuzu in the end.
It seemed a good idea at the time. We were due to go down to our house in South West France for a few weeks in July when I learned of a new Land Rover event near Clermont Ferrand, deep in the Massif Central. We needed to be down there on a Friday, but only found out about it the day before, so the Terrano had to be fettled and loaded in a hurry so that we could drive down to Dover overnight and sleep for a few hours at the ferry port before boarding an LD Lines ferry to Boulogne at 05.00hrs.
If I was concerned last time that my finances were becoming stretched by my coy little motor after a couple of big garage bills, I was set to see even more moths fluttering from my rapidly emptying purse this month. I’d forgotten for a moment that my insurance was due.
While buying a new 4×4 is fun, it is also undoubtedly frustrating and, at times, stressful. Why do some traders insist on writing ‘immaculate’ in their advertisements when even the most cursory inspection shows the vehicle to have been used and seriously abused? Why, after phoning up to check, do you find out when you arrive to view a vehicle that, ‘there’s a small problem with the air flow sensor so you can’t go for a drive, I’m afraid. The mechanic should have changed it this morning but he’s a DJ and last night he had all his gear nicked so he’s not come in…’ Would you buy a 4×4 from some absentminded DJ who can’t even be bothered to come to work? No, neither would we.
Never again will I allow a lunatic at the wheel of the Hotchkiss…well, maybe ‘lunatic’ is a bit strong, it’s just that it’s a while since Ivor had done any off-roading and he’d never before driven anything as much fun – and as open – as Eugene. Now Eugene may be close on 50 years old but the old dog can still move; the 2.2-litre Willys engine may only be puffing out around 55 of its original 60 horses but with its stroke of nearly 4.5 inches it’s still got surprisingly muscular lowdown torque, so when Ivor saw a gap in the undergrowth and went for it, his enthusiastic flooring of the accelerator saw Eugene leaping into the bushes like a startled rabbit, leaving me hardly any time to hang on, let alone blink.
The Range Rover is celebrating a significant birthday this summer. In company with most of its customers, Land Rover’s flagship 4×4 has passed the big 4-0, and by way of celebration it has been equipped with a new, more powerful and cleaner diesel engine plus a few cosmetic touches. 
The sun has been beating down in North Wales and so there has been little excuse not to get on with sorting the TM for its MoT. I started well and the lower cab panels have been removed, revealing even more rust, I have exposed even more daylight through the cab floor.
It was only a couple of months ago that I was telling you about the spate of Defender thefts in the West Yorkshire area which had reached such epidemic proportions that it had prompted the local Police to implement a stop and check policy on any Defender, night and day. I reported that although this hadn’t seemed to deter whoever was responsible, thankfully my 90 had managed to escape the attention of the local ‘TWOC’ers’. That’ll teach me…
After enjoying some excellent offroading in the lee of the rolling hills of Herefordshire, our Rodeo Denver Max LE pick-up truck has been put to more everyday use. Over the years the longterm pick-ups on the magazine fleet have been extensively used for hauling stuff around – and on many occasions shifting various bits of furniture.
Prev