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From looking at thousands of cars over the years and buying many, I found that many dealers make mistakes all the time. I have seen models listed differently than what they actually were. When looking at it I would tell them it was not the model listed and it was this model because of so and so. They would just say it's our mistake. One story is back in early 2007 I saved my father $7000 on a 2006 F-150 supercrew Lariat 4x4 truck with 12,000 miles on it. I knew the listed price $24,999 was a typo but when I called and asked about it they told me it was the correct price. Told my father to jump on it and he went in to make the deal after looking it over. When he was about to sign, they told him it was a mistake and that was the price for the 2005 XLT with 30,000 miles. Furious when I heard what happened, I called and spoke with the general manager. He told me he was not informed about the incident and would get back with me. He called back an hour later saying what I told him was verified through the employees and said because of that, they would sell the truck at that price of my father still wanted it. The dealer had bought the truck on trade-in for $28,000 and was suppose to sell for $32,000. This Pathfinder is an SE by the cloth interior, the manual 4x4 shifter, and the SE emblem right on the liftgate. The details listed are probably just a copy and paste info when creating the ad when the employee did not know the difference between and SE and LE model.

We are talking about different engines too. I just saw that the OP has a 97 with 3.3L and not the 3.5L. Mine has the 3.5L which is why it may do about 200 less rpm at that speed with is not much difference with a more powerful engine. Either way, any V6 should not have the be revving that high for highway cruising speed.

The 4th gear in Pathfinders are, in my opinion, have too low of a ratio. At 65mph my RPMs are running around 2400 rpm. For highway cruising the RPMs should be around 2000. That would help a lot for highway gas mileage and easier on the engine and trans. My past several vehicles (1998 to 2005 model years) with V-6's all have ran around 2000 RPM at 65mph. Just seems like when I run 70mph that it just feels like it needs another gear to change to. 2005 model year went to 5 speeds with a higher 5th gear ratio from what I hear. But those transmissions are flawed too and are going out left and right.

I'm getting ready to have a Magnaflow 12580 installed on mine today. I'm hoping it is not too much louder. I'm getting older now so I like more quiet in the cabin than loud. Keeping the rest of the exhaust stock. Did have to cut off the front two heat shields the other day because they started rattling. I'm putting the Magnaflow on in hopes of a little better fuel economy along with the K&N filter and weight reduction I took off it. I got my 12580 from AdvanceAuto for $80 and the install is only costing me $40. Update 02/25/2012.....Got the Magnaflow installed today and to my surprise I hear no sound difference in the cabin under all RPM's compared to the stock muffler. Have not put my ear by the tailpipe to see if I hear any difference there. But at idle in the garage with the windows down it does not sound any different either.