Certain circumstances all but ruled out another Pathy for the 99’s replacement, although the 2002 model was still on our list. Also on the list was the 2002 Altima 3.5SE, Altima 2.5SL, Maxima SE and GLE, Volkswagen Passat, Infiniti I35, and Infiniti G35. The Infinitis were a bit of a long shot, though, as we weren’t quite willing to pay that high of a monthly payment. 

The lease-end experience on the ‘99 Pathfinder was disappointing. For once, it wasn’t the dealer’s fault at all. It was Nissan's credit arm (Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation) itself. Starting at around 90 days before the lease termination, NMAC began sending our editor’s household very suspicious letters. The letters talked about having to conduct an inspection of the Pathfinder to search for excessive wear and tear, which could cost the leasee hundreds of dollars. The carrot was an offer of hundreds of dollars in rebates on damages if we leased/purchased another Nissan. 

One particular quote in one of the letters stands out especially clear in our minds, “Whatever the result of your inspection, we recommend discussing it with your Nissan Dealer, who may have helpful suggestions for cost effective repairs as well as minimizing your out-of-pocket expenses. Of course, we also encourage you to take advantage of your dealer visit to test drive a new Nissan. And as an added incentive for you to do just that, we’ve enclosed an exclusive offer which could help you save up to $850 in end-of-lease charges when you buy or lease a new Nissan.”

The overall feeling our editor and his family got from these letters was very negative. To them, it seemed almost as if NMAC was threatening hefty charges if they didn’t stay with a Nissan vehicle. When a lease-end inspection for the Pathfinder was scheduled, we were given a five hour window during which we had to wait for their independent contractor to come to our home. Basically, we had to take time out of our personal schedule to wait for Nissan to inspect our truck. And after over four hours of waiting, an inspector finally showed up and made quick work of our white SUV. Thankfully, the truck was in fairly good shape and no charges for wear and tear were levied. But the overall lease-end process left a bitter taste in our mouths and would have driven us to switch brands if we could have found a vehicle that suited our wants and needs as well as the Nissans did. Our editor suggests that Nissan refine its lease-end tactics if they want continued owner loyalty, or worse, if they don’t want a lawsuit.

Multiple trips to local dealerships in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area were equally as entertaining. Two were Nissan dealers and one was an Infiniti dealership. Of the three, one ( we shall henceforth call them “Dealer ‘A’”) left us with the most positive reactions. But we did get a laugh at a few of the test drives taken there:

First up was a test of a white 2002 Pathfinder SE. During a drive over to the test area, the salesman demonstrated how well the Pathy handled by sawing back and forth in the parking lot. We heard an disconcerting bouncing sound coming from the rear cargo area, but brushed it off as just a plastic water bottle. But once arriving back at the dealership, expletives were tossed as the salesman realized that an open Coke can was the culprit, splashing the brown drink all over the light brown carpet of the Pathfinder’s cargo hold.

Next up, they showed us a loaded, silver Altima 3.5SE. They took a quarter from the editor’s family member and placed it on the plastic engine over. Then, a salesman revved the engine in an attempt to show how smooth the VQ engine is as the quarter barely moved. But when they backed the car out to take it for a test drive, we were all treated to a loud clanking noise from the engine bay. Turns out, they forgot to take the quarter off of the engine cover and it had fallen through to the ground. Thankfully, it seemed, no damage was done.

Despite the blunders, the majority of the staff on hand at Dealer A were impressively easy on us when we were looking. The two other dealerships were not so lucky. Dealer C (Infiniti) had already given us a bad feeling when they seemingly typecast our editor and family as not being of the “Infiniti standard” during an earlier visit.

The loaded Altima 3.5SE was the next test. “Damn!” was the word of the day. This thing had some muscle. Handling was pretty good as well. Remember, our editor and his family were coming from an SUV, an LS430 would probably be sporty to them. But the interior did seem to leave something to be desired. A piece of the dash was misaligned and sticking out compared to the rest of the dash. A rear seatbelt was an utter pain to use. The overall feeling of the interior was that it was a bit hollow. You could say the car seemed to be a bit raw, more sport oriented. 

The Maxima GLE we tested, on the other hand, was smooth as silk. Unlike the Altima, “refined” is the choice word here. The power memory driver seat was a plus, as two people would be driving our tester. The entry system that had the seat move back and forth to get out of your way was very cool. The Bose system was powerful enough to cause Southern California’s seismographs to go nuts. The quality of the leather was outstanding in comparison to the Altima’s. The downside to the Maxima is that it seemed perhaps too refined, more disconnected than the Altima. 

The Infiniti I35 and G35, while nice, were just a bit too much out of our league. Besides, driving one of them in our editor’s home town was liable to get you car jacked. The Pathfinder was out as well. We’d like to save a few bucks on gas, especially during these uncertain times. Other circumstances nixed the Pathy from our list. But in its three years with us, our ‘99 was a trusty, if rattle-prone, mule. So that leaves us with the question that any Nissan enthusiast who wanted to buy a sedan had to face, “Maxima or Altima?” The Altima is a fresh, aggressive looking car. It seemed a bit more raw and performance oriented to our testers as well. But the Max was loaded, silky, and classy. And with hefty rebates, cheaper as well 

It all came down to a spontaneous trip (one of many) to Dealer A just to “look at the Maximas” again. It just happened that they had one with the basic stuff we wanted: Leather, sunroof, Bose, and did we say leather? It was also in the color our editor’s family wanted, Glacier Pearl Metallic. Not exactly sexy, but a good color for trying to hide from the 110 degree Palm Springs summer heat and its good for masking the signs of our wonderful sand storms. Of course, we would have preferred an SE, but this model was a GLE. 

After a test drive, it was into the office and into the fire. Well, at least that’s what we expected. But amazingly it was very simple and dare we say, pleasant. They matched the $2,000+ discount we brought in from another SoCal dealer. They also matched our monthly payment demand. So what else were we supposed to do but sign? It was tough to see our Pathfinder go, but we’ll stifle our sadness with our new Maxima GLE. Our first impressions were that it was amazingly smooth. The car only had under 10 miles on the odo, so it wasn’t broken in. But despite that, the VQ was like silk. But we’ll continue this later. So stay tuned. We’ve only had our new baby for two weeks and we have a long way to go. If only there was no such thing as a “break in period!” 

-Mike Cervantes



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