staff@slashgear.com (Jowi Morales)
2024-04-07 11:15:40
www.slashgear.com
Nissan discontinued the Quest because of the minivan’s falling popularity against the SUV. But even if you don’t want an executive sedan or a ‘mom-mobile,’ you can still get a VQ engine with the mid-size crossover Pathfinder with the VQ35DD. This crossover SUV gets 284 hp @ 6,400 rpm and 259 ft-lb of torque @ 4,800 rpm coupled to a nine-speed automatic. And even if it’s using a 30-year-old engine design, Nissan engineers have kept it updated, allowing you to hit 0 to 60 in 7.4 seconds and a 139 mph top speed – good numbers for a large SUV that weighs in at over 4,400 lbs.
The 2024 Nissan Pathfinder is an excellent SUV and family car, allowing you to bring everyone with you without looking like you’re driving a boring old vehicle. Despite its weight and performance, you can still get reasonable fuel consumption numbers, with the Pathfinder getting 20 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway, with a combined result of 21 mpg during our testing. This shows how the concept behind the VQ has allowed Nissan engineers to work on it through the years, still providing good power and performance despite ever-tightening emissions requirements. However, it’s beginning to show its age when driving on challenging surfaces like snow, as our reading dropped to as low as 12 mpg in those conditions.