Nissan Pathfinder 2019 Tow Test Review

The Nissan Pathfinder has come a long way from its Navara ute-based origins with the current platform shared with Altima, Maxima and Murano -- all of course now defunct Nissan products.

Built in Tennessee, the Pathfinder is very much an American market-oriented SUV, with admirable traits such as a large body and roomy interior for the class, along with smooth if not subtle chassis refinement.

While Nissan has squeezed out a lot of life from the R52 Pathfinder (with the model first seeing the light of day at the 2012 New York show and arriving here a year later) it had a major facelift and performance tweaks in 2017 with further equipment updates this year.

What’s new for Pathfinder?

Updates for the top-shelf Ti petrol version reviewed for this tow test are restricted to the new inclusion of rear seat heaters, remote engine start and rear door alert.

The $66,390, 2019 Nissan Pathfinder Ti V6 is one step below the premium $69,390 Pathfinder Ti Hybrid, and comes with a bunch of tech including 8.0-inch colour touch-screen with Advanced Drive Assist technology, Bluetooth telephony and audio streaming, sat-nav, voice control, 13-speaker BOSE audio system, heated/cooled front seats, heated outer second-row seats, adaptive cruise control, USB ports in the second row, motion-activated tailgate, front and rear entertainment system with rear wireless headphones, and twin sunroofs.

Safety equipment is also well covered off with autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning and blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, auto-levelling LED headlights and a 360-degree camera with Moving Object Detection.

While the Pathfinder Ti V6 misses out on the premium model’s hybrid technology, it  has superior towing capacity with a 2700kg maximum (with 270kg on the towball).

At 1960mm wide and 5042mm long, the Pathfinder feels like a big car driving around tight urban streets. It's not helped by some poorly thought out design elements such as large side mirrors that can obstruct the driver’s view when turning.

The V6 is responsive though, and you don’t really notice the CVT’s knack for flaring revs until you give the throttle a hard shove -- there's enough torque available down low so that you rarely need to access the ample 202kW that arrives at a peaky 6500rpm.

Big on space

The pay-off for being a handful around town is excellent interior size -- the Pathfinder is a very comfortable hauler of five occupants in the first two rows. Number six and seven passenger get a rawer deal in the third row, although it’s better in the cheap seats than some similar-sized SUVs.

Not only is the cabin comfortable, but it has a quality feel and plenty of storage space. However, the Pathfinder’s age shows behind the wheel, where there are numerous fussy switches and buttons you have to get used to and odd omissions for a modern vehicle like the lack of a digital speedo and electric parking brake (there's a foot-operated pedal instead).

When the urban grind shifts to twisting country roads, this large SUV is more about comfortable cruising than corner carving. It rides well, although steering is light and not all that responsive.

Time to tow

For the tow test component we hooked up a Jayco Expanda tandem-axle van borrowed from Jayco Sydney that weighed around 2200kg and had a measured towball mass of 200kg.

While the front of the Pathfinder didn’t rise much with the caravan hitched up (15mm) the back dropped a disconcerting 40mm. delivering a 'nose up' stance. The question was, would it affect towing dynamics?

The Pathfinder quickly got up to 100km/h cruising speed on the highway, and felt responsive despite the more than two tonnes behind. The transmission didn’t need to constantly change ‘gears’ (it’s a seven-step CVT) and could rely on the engine’s low-rpm torque to cruise.

The Pathfinder easily stuck to the 90km/h speed limit during a steep hill climb, although it needed plenty of revs to do it. On the descent, engine braking was less impressive.

Stability was OK while sitting on 100km/h, and there was no sign of yaw when passing large trucks or when going over undulations. However, large dips did set off some pitching and after a slight movement of the steering wheel (replicating a mild evasive manoeuvre), the rig became unsettled.

While we saw a fuel figure of 9.1L/100km in mostly freeway driving without the trailer, that figure quickly rose to mid-teens over several days of short suburban hops. With the caravan behind, the Pathfinder returned a reasonable 16.4L/100km. With the Pathfinder’s 73-litre fuel tank, you’ll get about 395km of touring at this fuel consumption figure with a 50km safety margin.

Time for helper springs?

The Pathfinder’s rear springs seem too soft for towing, so it could do with either helper springs at the back or possibly a Weight Distribution Hitch.

Depending on how the amount of towball download, a WDH might be overkill as the body didn’t rise significantly with the 200kg towball download as tested.

By chance, we met up with a current Pathfinder owner with a caravan hitched up, and couldn’t help but notice how level their Pathfinder sat. The owner reported that fitting airbag helper springs in the rear improved towing stability and ride significantly.

Summing up

The 2019 Nissan Pathfinder is a smooth, comfortable, large and well-featured wagon that covers off workday wagon duties and occasional towing well.

While its towing stability was slightly compromised by soft rear springs (which might be fixed with stiffer rear springs or helper springs), towing fuel consumption was acceptable for a V6 petrol and performance with a van behind more than adequate.

How much does the 2019 Nissan Pathfinder Ti cost?
Price: $66,390 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.5-litre V6 petrol
Output: 202kW/340Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed continuously variable
Fuel: 10.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 234g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (tested 2013)