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PRO 4X ?!?! WTH ?


Flamemaster66
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Although I have never cared for the xterra and is why I am on my second pathy and looking for my third , I was informed of the Xterra Pro 4x as a SERIOUS 4 X 4 off road beast right out of the box with all the good stuff being OEM along with a locking rear end ! My mechanic friend has a sister that owns one and just did a mid level lift with bigger tires and goes EVERYWHERE that the big jeep and toyota boys go effortless....any thoughts or real info on this unit ??

 

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You aren't the only one who's noticed.
Have you looked at the resale values? They are out of my car budget. If Nissan does bring back the Xterra, I'm hoping it pushes the value back down.

I got a screaming deal on my R50 ages ago. But being a unibody it never had the love of many SUV platforms. And my manual version had gotten stranded at a Nissan dealer in rural Texas, so if I didn't buy it they were going to have to take it to auction.

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I understand , I bought mine for 50.00 with a blown motor and dropped a used motor in for 800 and been running ever since ....and yes here in Atlanta they run for 10 to 14k...but compared to jeeps or toyos , thats CHEEP

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Yea. But almost no one here is into serious off roading. And really if some one is spending that kind of cash on this platform, it’s a pretty big mistake in terms of return on investment.


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The Xterra is more like the original Pathfinder in that it is a SUV based off of the pickup. The Pro4X package in the Frontiers, Titans, and Xterras is the off road setup. That had the selectable rear locker, Bilstein shocks, skid plates, and more aggressive tires. The combo makes them pretty capable out of the box. 

The Pathfinder kinda went the family car route. 

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5 hours ago, DonutHands said:

Yea. But almost no one here is into serious off roading. And really if some one is spending that kind of cash on this platform, it’s a pretty big mistake in terms of return on investment.


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I find the phrase “serious off-roading” to not only be comical, but also nonsensical 

 

Think about it for a second. What percent of these “serious” off-roaders are going off road because they have an absolute need to do so? I suppose someone who does not own a home and lives in the wilds of Alaska or the outback might be considered a “serious” off-roader, but beyond that? The off-roading scene is a hobby for 95% of those involved, regardless of how “seriously” they take themselves. Sure, we all build our rigs for the off chance that one day we’re in genuine need and have to keep rolling no matter what. But most of the time what we’re really doing is adding stuff to help us get out of situations we put ourselves in purposefully for the fun of it.

 

As for the Pro4x thing, I think it’s cool and all but I’d rather have my pathy. When I see another lifted 5th gen runner or xterra or wrangler, I never pay more than a seconds worth of attention because guess how many there are that look not just similar, but absolutely identical? Meanwhile I’ve seen MAYBE a couple of well taken care of pathfinders that are built tastefully for off-roading. The people doing stuff like us are having much more fun than the bro with his leased 5th gen who just slapped on a standard 4” lift, rear ladder, roof tent and blacked out the badges so he could feel cool when he takes his girlfriend and medium sized dog to the local trailhead on the weekend. Oh yeah and don’t forget the overlanding hashtags he can then add to his Instagram posts 

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I find the phrase “serious off-roading” to not only be comical, but also nonsensical 
 
Think about it for a second. What percent of these “serious” off-roaders are going off road because they have an absolute need to do so? I suppose someone who does not own a home and lives in the wilds of Alaska or the outback might be considered a “serious” off-roader, but beyond that? The off-roading scene is a hobby for 95% of those involved, regardless of how “seriously” they take themselves. Sure, we all build our rigs for the off chance that one day we’re in genuine need and have to keep rolling no matter what. But most of the time what we’re really doing is adding stuff to help us get out of situations we put ourselves in purposefully for the fun of it.
 
As for the Pro4x thing, I think it’s cool and all but I’d rather have my pathy. When I see another lifted 5th gen runner or xterra or wrangler, I never pay more than a seconds worth of attention because guess how many there are that look not just similar, but absolutely identical? Meanwhile I’ve seen MAYBE a couple of well taken care of pathfinders that are built tastefully for off-roading. The people doing stuff like us are having much more fun than the bro with his leased 5th gen who just slapped on a standard 4” lift, rear ladder, roof tent and blacked out the badges so he could feel cool when he takes his girlfriend and medium sized dog to the local trailhead on the weekend. Oh yeah and don’t forget the overlanding hashtags he can then add to his Instagram posts 

Lol. You say think about it for a second. Sounds like you way over thought this one.

Like as a serious hobby, the R50 is a poor choice to put a bunch of money into as it will always have limitations due to its unibody construction and poor aftermarket support.


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I’ve wanted a Xterra since like 2010 but pathfinders are so much cheaper. What’s cool about the second gen Xterras is that yes, they have factory skid plates, body on frame design, rear locker on pro-4x, 260hp and for the real dedicated wrench turner, you can titan swap the suspension. Titan control arms, cv axles and rear axle which gives it a lift, wider stance and more suspension travel. And you can also swap in a Titan VK56 V8 with some coolant hose modifications, wire harness conversion and an ecu flash have the meanest sounding Xterra on the block. 

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21 minutes ago, DonutHands said:


Lol. You say think about it for a second. Sounds like you way over thought this one.

Like as a serious hobby, the R50 is a poor choice to put a bunch of money into as it will always have limitations due to its unibody construction and poor aftermarket support.


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“Serious” and “hobby” are somewhat contradictory terms as far as I’m concerned. People take off-roading to be an overly serious endeavor when really we all just do it because of the enjoyment we can get out of it. Some people enjoy more intense technical challenges so they prefer to build something that will climb rock ledges all day, and others just want to be able to go down rough fire roads to get to the nice camp sites they couldn’t reach in their sedans. “Seriousness” has never come into my mind when thinking about adding something to let me have more fun on dirt. The only serious part is making sure things work as planned so you don’t get yourself stuck or hurt needlessly

 

Have you ever been to a theme park and thought “I’m so damn serious about having fun on these roller coasters and games!” ? Kinda defeats the point

 

Consider that there are people who lift their Subaru’s. Do I laugh a little because it looks a tad bit ridiculous? Sure, but honestly I respect them more than the dumbasses with the lifted JKs and no desire to leave the mall parking lot. I have never felt “limited” by the R50, even in its stock form. If you look through this place long enough you’ll find amazing pictures of these trucks doing things you’d never believe. Add on a few upgrades and a modest lift and they can be taken almost anywhere in the right hands. I don’t believe that anyone can call someone “less serious” about a hobby just because their idea of what constitutes fun is less extreme. A rock crawling enthusiast is no more “serious” about off roading than someone who enjoys hill climbs, playing in the mud, or running high mountain passes for the views. 

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Well I myself have always built hot rods and bikes so this is my first time "lifting" vehicles and taking my pathy into the woods , and its been quite the suprise to myself that at 54 I want to go further with this fun hobby , so next summer I will be hunting for an 03/04 four wheel drive pathy to swap my stuff over to and sell my two wheel girl ...I'm just having fun !

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My main reason for this topic is that I have several friends that spend 40/50 k in there JKs and then another 10/15 in upgrades to go play in the woods/mud and to think of a 10/15 K vehicle with a few upgrades to be able to keep pace with the high dollar boys is just soooo amusing to me .

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This is a fun thread, so I'll weigh in here. When I purchased my 97 LE 4x4 in 1998, the Xterra was barely a gleam in Nissan's eye. The Xterra wasn't even introduced until 2001. In 1998, the only alternative I was willing to consider was the 4Runner, but it was too expensive.

When I bought my Pathy, I actually wasn't even into 4-wheeling. I was into watersports, and I figured 4WD might come in handy for the occasional slippery launch ramp. It wasn't until I actually went off-roading for the first time that I got hooked. I started building my R50 into a "serious" 4-wheeler. By "serious" I mean, I actually drive it off-road, over boulders, often getting 2 wheels in the air. My R50 is not a mall crawler or poseur expedition rig.

 

In the early days, there was almost ZERO aftermarket support for the R50, so I had to find creative ways to build up what I owned. I started with 31" tires, then had a local spring fabricator custom-make 2" lift springs for me. I did a little trial-and-error shopping for Rancho RS9000 shocks that worked with the lift. Soon afterward, I scored a TJM T-15 bull bar and added a Warn winch to it. I added a Safari-style roof rack and found a local fabricator to build rock sliders for me. This was all prior to 2001 (again, BEFORE the Xterra was introduced).

 

By the time the Xterra PRO4X models were even available, my Pathy was paid off and was mostly fully built. The only things I've added since the PRO4X became available on new Xterras (circa 2011) are: LED lights, which replaced the IPF driving lights I had before, and a 4" subframe drop to add to my existing 2" lift and a matching 6" rear spring/shock combo.

 

I suppose if anyone interested in getting off the beaten path and actually fully using 4WD, a decent pre-owned platform to start with might be the Xterra PRO4X, since it's newer, larger, better equipped, and more powerful than even the youngest R50. It'll also be more expensive, but that's what it takes to drive something at least 7 years newer. I doubt that many R50 owners chose the inexpensive, reliable platform to build into a "serious" off-roader with resale in mind.

 

Starting an off-road build with the R50 platform is certainly more complicated than building a PRO4X, but it is a completely unfounded statement to say that the R50 cannot be built to be as competent as a PRO4X.

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