R50 vs R51 V8 questions

[aedavis]

I've been driving an R50 Pathfinder for about 6 years now.  Initially I bought it as a work truck, but since I've retired I just use it for running around, camping in the mountains and desert, and towing my dirt bikes around.  Mine is clean and runs fine (2002 LE with 214K miles), and I don't have any reason to part with it except one of my kids wants to buy it from me.  There is a 2008 V8 Pathfinder for sale nearby and I've been considering it as a replacement for my R50, but I'm wondering what the driving experience will be like coming from the smaller SUV.  I like the R50 for its size, light feeling, and 'nimbleness'.  I have always been interested in the VK56 powered R51s, but if they feel like a land whale despite the big engine, I wouldn't like that.

 

For context, I have a 100 Series Landcruiser I use for towing my boat, but as nice as it is it feels like driving a school bus compared to my R50.  I am wondering if an R51 will feel the same way. 

 

Has anyone who has spent time in both an R50 and R51 comment on the driving feel of both?  One of the reasons I like my R50 so much is that it is pretty car like in handling, but still capable off road for moderate stuff.   I wouldn't want to give up that small feel.

 

Heres a pic of my R50:

 

Here's a pic of it next to my Landcruiser.  There's a pretty big difference in size.

 

 

[hawairish]

Not sure if there are many converted owners here who've specifically jumped to the V8 given how brief that option in the R51 was.  Hopefully someone can weigh in better.

 

But the main things to know about the R51 that might help the decision is that its front suspension is practically identical to the IFS of the D40 Frontier and N40 Xterra, but has rear independent suspension (IRS) like that of Nissan RWD/AWD cars.  The R51 is essentially on a truck frame but with IRS...sort of a flop of what the R50 was with its car-like IFS and rigid rear axle on a unibody (and practically identical drivetrain to all Nissan trucks at the time).  The R51 suspension is a significant departure from the R50 suspension, much like the R50 was to the WD21.  We're not even going to discuss the last two generations.

 

That said, and having no personal experience, I'll speculate that the R51 will likely fall right in between both your vehicles in terms of size and road comfort.  The only way to confirm will be to test drive the one nearby.  In terms of your adventures, the R50 IFS will be as much of a restriction as the R51 IRS.  Both are poorly supported, too, but one upside to both applications is the use of rear coil springs and availability of inner-spring air bags to improve ride quality a bit if needed.

[R50JR]

14 hours ago, aedavis said:

 

 

That's a good looking r50. I can't comment on the v8 of the r51, but I have driven a 2012 v6 d40 several times. The 6 cyl d40 definitely has much more pep to it than the r50, but what it lacks is the luxury feel of the r50 LE model. Everything inside is plastic and rattles. To me, that is a downgrade. Your r50 interior is probably on par with your LC. I personally would not get rid of it.

[aedavis]

Thanks for the responses.  I ended up test driving the V8 R51 and thought it felt very similar to my R50 size wise, other than length.  It certainly wasn't cumbersome and seemed to handle pretty responsively, or at least as much as you can expect from a truck.  It felt pretty tight too, though the seats felt flat and less supportive than my R50.  I would have bought it except for one glaring problem.

 

It reeked of cigarette smoke and I could barely manage to sit through a 15 minute test drive.  It also had the airbag light on, but I may have been willing to work around that.  The smell was too much - I was pretty disappointed because while I liked the size, clean condition, and V8 power, the stench was unbearable.  I know some people have reported success with ozone machines and other stuff, but I wasn't willing to take the risk.  

 

Anyway, I'm going to watch for other R51 V8s, or Pro4X Xterras and see what comes up in my local market.  In the meantime I'm happy to keep using my R50 as my run around SUV.

[Slartibartfast]

Ah, that's too bad. It's amazing how that smell sticks to things.