New to us 2019 Nissan Pathfinder SV

[JTK]

The bride is out of a minivan for the fist time since 2002. I traded the 2016 Nissan Quest for an ex-rental 2019 Pathfinder SV with 22K miles on it. Got the PF for $24K. Quest had 90K miles on it and was an ex-rental when we bought it in ~2016.

I'm pretty familiar with the Pathfinder's powertrain since it's basically the same as the Quest, but this version of the VQ35DE looks a bit different cosmetically.

First thing imma do is a spill/fill on the CVT. I've got half a case of NS-3 blue juice on hand from when I owned the Quest.

 

[BAJA_05]

Congrats, sharp looking!!!

 

[WhyMe]

what kind of warranty comes with it?

 

[wemay]

Congrats, very nice

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
what kind of warranty comes with it?


Nothing other than the standard 3/36 bumper/bumper and 5/60 powertrain.

They tried like mad to sell me a 75K mile bumper/bumper extended warranty contract for $2000. It started at over $3K.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Are those like the CVT cars where you can easily add a dipstick?

I can't see too much a reason for a warranty, the only thing that really will fail on that is the CVT. Otherwise they're nice vehicles. And I thought Nissan offered 100K warranty on the CVT? If you offload it by 100K you should be all set!

 

[Al]

Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by WhyMe
what kind of warranty comes with it?


Nothing other than the standard 3/36 bumper/bumper and 5/60 powertrain.

They tried like mad to sell me a 75K mile bumper/bumper extended warranty contract for $2000. It started at over $3K.


I bought a 18 Forester and I did get them down to like 1700+ including tax. I bought a '91 Crosstrek and got it online for 1340 including tax. Get on a Quest forum and ask the question.

Is that VQ engine variable compression? Anyway the VQ6 is one of the best (or the best) engines ever made.

Congrats.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Miller88
Are those like the CVT cars where you can easily add a dipstick?



You probably could add a dipsitck to the tube that's already in place, but the level check plug is right down by the pan drain plug. Luckily the 3.5L and CVT combo is a breeze to drain/fill and level check the CVT. This was one of the deciding factors on this particular vehicle. That and the same basic design has been rolling since 2013.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Al


I bought a 18 Forester and I did get them down to like 1700+ including tax. I bought a '91 Crosstrek and got it online for 1340 including tax. Get on a Quest forum and ask the question.

Is that VQ engine variable compression? Anyway the VQ6 is one of the best (or the best) engines ever made.

Congrats.


Thanks Al.

When I bought the Quest, I was able to negotiate an extended warranty to about $1800 that covered the van bumper to bumper until 90K miles. I had one repair done on the rear A/C of the van just a few months ago and the invoice claimed it was an $1100 repair so in the end, I still ate $700. I do payroll deduction into a credit union as my little car slush fund, so I'm just going to continue rolling with that.

No, there's nothing fancy that I know of with the latest generation VQ35DE, other than HP being up slightly. The power is so nice and the CVT is just perfect on them IMO.

 

[MolaKule]

We have the 2015 version and the wife loves it. Great suspension for cruising and long trips.

I run synthetic 5W20 and change the CVT fluid every 20k. I change the transfer case fluid every 10k-15k because of its location and small capacity. I recommend changing the fluids pronto no matter what the dealer said they changed.

The only part failure we have had was one of the two cooling fans failed right before summer.

You might have seen the sticker but do not remove the dipstick while refilling the engine oil.

 

[JTK]

Thanks MolaKule!

I do recall reading some posts on your 2015. Do you think there's any advantage to running 5w30 in the VQ35DE? The manual only shows 0w20. Our 2016 Quest with the VQ35 also suggested 0w20, but said 5w30 could be used for severe service. I ran 5w20 or 5w30 in the Quest.

I do intend to drain/fill the CVT as soon as I can and will also try for the rear diff and T-case. She was a rental put into service in Jan/Feb 2019, so a lot of miles were put on it in ~9 months.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by MolaKule
You might have seen the sticker but do not remove the dipstick while refilling the engine oil.

Enlighten us! Don't leave us hanging! I picture a jet of oil spraying out of the dipstick tube.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by Al


I bought a 18 Forester and I did get them down to like 1700+ including tax. I bought a '91 Crosstrek and got it online for 1340 including tax. Get on a Quest forum and ask the question.

Is that VQ engine variable compression? Anyway the VQ6 is one of the best (or the best) engines ever made.

Congrats.


Thanks Al.

When I bought the Quest, I was able to negotiate an extended warranty to about $1800 that covered the van bumper to bumper until 90K miles. I had one repair done on the rear A/C of the van just a few months ago and the invoice claimed it was an $1100 repair so in the end, I still ate $700. I do payroll deduction into a credit union as my little car slush fund, so I'm just going to continue rolling with that.

No, there's nothing fancy that I know of with the latest generation VQ35DE, other than HP being up slightly. The power is so nice and the CVT is just perfect on them IMO.



Fiance has a Leaseon Sentra. And will probably replace it with another Lease from Leaseon. It really is a nice driving car. It gets confused if you try to accelerate hard, but for moderate driving and especially in heavy traffic it's really perfect.

Drove it into town and back on US11 and was just taking it easy and the thing was cruising along at 1100 RPM. Managed 49MPG for that trip according to the lie-o-meter on the dash. I'm sure it was much lower, but they really do make for a great DD type of vehicle.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Miller88
... It really is a nice driving car. It gets confused if you try to accelerate hard, but for moderate driving and especially in heavy traffic it's really perfect.

Drove it into town and back on US11 and was just taking it easy and the thing was cruising along at 1100 RPM. Managed 49MPG for that trip according to the lie-o-meter on the dash. I'm sure it was much lower, but they really do make for a great DD type of vehicle.


I haven't driven a newer Sentra, but have driven Rogues and Altimas. The Rogue to me is a bit unnerving sounding because of the CVT if you floor the go pedal. No so much on the Altima. I don't find it to be an issue at all with V6 powered Nissans. They really have it dialed in perfectly IMO. A really impressive burst of power that just keeps going. There are mimicked shift points under heavy pedal mashing.

 

[MolaKule]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by MolaKule
You might have seen the sticker but do not remove the dipstick while refilling the engine oil.

Enlighten us! Don't leave us hanging! I picture a jet of oil spraying out of the dipstick tube.



Right, the dipstick hole is close to the oil fill and if you fill engine oil too quick, it will gurgle out of the oil fill hole.

Also, it takes a while before you can check the oil level because the oil runs down the inside of the engine very close to the dipstick.

 

[MolaKule]

Originally Posted by JTK
Thanks MolaKule!

I do recall reading some posts on your 2015. Do you think there's any advantage to running 5w30 in the VQ35DE? The manual only shows 0w20. Our 2016 Quest with the VQ35 also suggested 0w20, but said 5w30 could be used for severe service. I ran 5w20 or 5w30 in the Quest.

I do intend to drain/fill the CVT as soon as I can and will also try for the rear diff and T-case. She was a rental put into service in Jan/Feb 2019, so a lot of miles were put on it in ~9 months.


Everyone at Nissan here (I have been dealing with these guys for over 25 years) told me they refill all of their Frontier and PathFinder resales with a mineral oil 5W30, but uses a 0W20 for warranty, but recommend a synthetic 5W20 year round.

It is virtually impossible in an oil analysis to differentiate between a 0W20 and a 5W20.

I use the synthetic 5W20 because it has given me the best analyses results, better than the mineral oil 5W30 which sheared to a 20 weight within 5k miles.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted by JTK
The bride is out of a minivan for the fist time since 2002. I traded the 2016 Nissan Quest for an ex-rental 2019 Pathfinder SV with 22K miles on it. Got the PF for $24K. Quest had 90K miles on it and was an ex-rental when we bought it in ~2016.

I'm pretty familiar with the Pathfinder's powertrain since it's basically the same as the Quest, but this version of the VQ35DE looks a bit different cosmetically.

First thing imma do is a spill/fill on the CVT. I've got half a case of NS-3 blue juice on hand from when I owned the Quest.

That's an awesome picture! You could honestly frame it!

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by Miller88
... It really is a nice driving car. It gets confused if you try to accelerate hard, but for moderate driving and especially in heavy traffic it's really perfect.

Drove it into town and back on US11 and was just taking it easy and the thing was cruising along at 1100 RPM. Managed 49MPG for that trip according to the lie-o-meter on the dash. I'm sure it was much lower, but they really do make for a great DD type of vehicle.


I haven't driven a newer Sentra, but have driven Rogues and Altimas. The Rogue to me is a bit unnerving sounding because of the CVT if you floor the go pedal. No so much on the Altima. I don't find it to be an issue at all with V6 powered Nissans. They really have it dialed in perfectly IMO. A really impressive burst of power that just keeps going. There are mimicked shift points under heavy pedal mashing.


A coworker of mine has a 2013 Sentra. I rode in that new and it was horrible. Same CVT programming, but it just had this awful reverberation / vibration in the cabin as the engine held 1200 RPM. I believe it's the same engine -- but not sure if Nissan added extra balancing to the engine or changed out the engine mounts for ones that isolate better. But that car was unbearably bad.

I haven't been in anything other than a Versa so not sure I can compare it to other Nissan products.

 

[Anthony]

Nice Pathfinder. It did gain 24hp over the quest due to direct injection.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Anthony
Nice Pathfinder. It did gain 24hp over the quest due to direct injection.


For sure the new VQ35 has DI? I can't find info in regards to what makes the 2017+ different.

I did notice what looked like a foam rubber covered DI pump looking thing at the front left of the engine, but it has what looks like rubber hoses coming out of it.