What if I told that that a Nissan Pathfinder was the toughest vehicle that I had ever seen. Up until I watched the video below, I would have laughed as well but the fact is that I have never seen a truck take what this thing does and keep on working. Yes, it is running over its own parts, steaming, bleeding, and broken beyond all measure of repair, but it keeps on running. Like some sort of unstoppable cyborg the only thing that is able to stop it is….actually you will have to watch the video to see how this Pathfinder finally stops being a mode of transportation and turns into some sort of modern art installation. It isn’t the rocks, jumps, or water that kill it….there’s your teaser.
I had a buddy with one of these things in college and I kind of hated it. Uncomfortable, slow, and just not anything BangShifty, I kind of wrote it off until I needed it to yank my truck out of a snow covered parking lot. I had to repay that favor by replacing a front fog light which was supposed to be done by pulling the bumper off but with some inventive tool making I had that sucker in and replaced lickety split (like two hours and lots of blood).
This video proves how generally jaded we all are about cars now. Just watch what this thing stands up to. A full frontal assault that is designed to kill it and it keeps living. The next time someone complains about how unreliable their car is after it snaps a timing belt that they never changed in 150,000 miles, remind them of how many potholes, winters, skidding stops, burnouts, donuts, and other violent acts were foisted upon it by its owners along the way.
This is the Pathfinder that refused to die.
Those slow-mo shots are awesome! Guessing the fuel tank was hanging from the lines and wires in the last bit of action.
My wife had one of these. The Nissan mechanics were never able to figure out a wobble that turned out to be shot rear suspension bushings, but other than that, it was a pretty durable truck. But I still didn’t expect it to hold up like that – I’ve seen monster trucks break under that sort of treatment.
As you probably well know by now, I’m a huge, hardcore fan of all things Land Cruiser and Toyota pickup. They’re largely considered some of the toughest, most reliable vehicles on the planet, but even we Cruiserheads have to tip our hats to the Pathfinder. Or at least those of us who aren’t too fully wrapped up in the propaganda. (Every faction had one of “those guys”.)
Those trucks are amazingly tough and thoroughly reliable. They’re also just so simply designed that even major repairs can be carried out in the field by a couple of well equipped hobby mechanics with a service manual. Add to that the fact that the Pathfinder/Hardbody pickup had a much better V6 than us for pretty much ten years, it makes selling somebody on a 4Runner or Pickup a real challenge considering their Nissan competitors are usually cheaper.