The Pathfinder is going soft for the 2013 model year – it will be a crossover. Instead of truck underpinnings, it will be built on a car frame. While that may give the Pathfinder name less credibility, it’s the right decision for Nissan.

But what about the Xterra? Rumors of its demise have been floating around for a few years. After all, sales are down, and the market for rugged, off-road capable body on frame SUV’s is a mere shadow of its former self. Should Nissan scrap the Xterra altogether, or just make it a unibody poseur?

Neither.

Nissan engineers have told Car & Driver that the Xterra will live on as a body on frame vehicle. That’s actually the first time I’ve heard even a hint of a new generation of Xterra. Good to see that Nissan isn’t going to put yet another crossover on the market. Crossovers have their place (and they’re certainly the right choice for most people haulers,) but vehicles like the Xterra need to be built on top of a truck frame, period.

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And just like that, Nissan has unveiled the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. Officially this is a concept… but let’s be honest folks – there’s nothing conceptual about this. The production 2013 Pathfinder will be 99% like this “concept.” What’s it all about, you ask? Well, let’s take a look.

For starters, they’re going back to a unibody design. The current generation Pathfinder went body-on-frame, but it was unibody before that (And body on frame before that.) Since approximately zero percent of Pathfinder buyers take their pricey SUV’s off-road, it makes sense to go back to a unibody design. It will be significantly lighter, it will have a smoother ride, and it will get better gas mileage.

2013 Nissan Pathfinder Gallery

There are still three rows of seats, for a total seating capacity of seven. That said, only very tiny people should ever venture to the third row – it doesn’t look much bigger than the current model.

As for the looks? Well, it’s not ugly, so there is that. It’s much “softer” than the current style, almost Murano-like, without going to that extreme. It looks good, but not particularly unique or interesting. There’s really only so much you can do with a midsize CUV to make it stand out.

I don’t know where the Murano fits into Nissan’s lineup once this Pathfinder is introduced.

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Body on frame (truck based) SUV’s are nearly dead. Most of the BOF holdouts are just plain old. They’re products of a different market, a different world. They’re waiting to be reimagined as a unibody.

That’s certainly the case with the Nissan Pathfinder. Fortunately the wait is almost over. The 2013 Pathfinder will be a unibody / crossover / CUV design. It will ride on the same platform that underpins the 2013 Infiniti JX. This platform, called simply D by Nissan, also lives under the Murano and Maxima.

Looking at that list, it’s clear that the D platform is FWD / AWD — not quite what you’d expect for a vehicle named Pathfinder. Of course, Pathfinder drives venture off—road no more than Explorer customers do.

The unibody platform will mean a lighter, more fuel efficient, better riding and better handling Pathfinder. It’s a new world out there, and this is the type of people mover people are buying.

As for the teaser image that Nissan has released, it’s purposely vague. The one thing that is clear, though, is that the 2013 Pathfinder looks absolutely nothing like the outgoing model.

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Some of these Sentras, from model years 2010 and 2011 have a defect which could cause the engine to stall. Not good news if you’re barreling down the highway at 70 miles per hour.

According to the NHTSA, the zinc coating on the positive terminal stud bolt is thicker than its supposed to be. This could potentially cause a voltage drop, which could in turn make the vehicle hard to start or even stall while moving.

The fix is easy — just swap out the positive terminal. Nissan dealers will handle this repair at no cost to owners, of course. While Nissan will notify affected owners in the coming weeks, you may feel better calling Nissan now at 1-800-647-7261.

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Nissan has issued a recall for a small number (7365) of it’s popular crossover – the Rogue. The only model year affected is 2009.

The concern is a flaw in the power steering system, which could cause the power steering to fail. If you’ve been driving for awhile, this may not be the end of the world… but there are plenty of folks out there who have never driven a car without power steering. No accidents have been reported as a result of this flaw.

Nissan will be in contact with the owners of affected vehicles soon.

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The 2013 Altima, as previously noted, the 2013 Altima will ditch the fantastic but poorly selling V6 engine. In its place will be a hybrid four cylinder powertrain. Oh, and it’s supercharged, of course. Well, yeah.

Nissan expects similar output to the V6 from this fancy new setup, with about 10% better fuel economy. Similar power with better fuel economy is always a noble goal, but I’m having trouble with this one. Adding a hybrid system (electric motor and a lithium ion battery) adds a lot of complexity to a car… but more importantly it adds a lot of cost. Superchargers are a great way to wring more power out of a small engine, but they decrease fuel efficiency and add, once again, cost.

I’m not seeing how this powertrain makes sense for Nissan from a cost standpoint. There’s no way around it – this is an expensive setup. Adding all that complexity and cost for a mere 10% bump in fuel economy doesn’t seem worth it to me.

Want to see some awesome pictures of this setup? Check them out at Autoblog.

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The current Altima Hybrid uses a Toyota hybrid system. Apparently Nissan is tired of sending money to their rival, so they’re developing a brand new hybrid system all of their own. At it’s core is, of all things, a supercharged four cylinder engine. That potent powerplant will be hooked up to an electric motor and lithium ion battery pack.

Due in 2013, Nissan expects this very sophisticated powertrain to produce power similar to their 3.5 liter V6 engine, but with much better fuel economy. Though I’m most certainly a fan of combining power and fuel economy, Nissan is going the wrong direction here. Think way back to Honda’s Accord hybrid experiment. In that case, Honda mated their V6 engine to the hybrid powertrain. The result? A very powerful, very quick, very expensive, not very efficient hybrid that sold very poorly. Nissan’s plan sounds similar.

Mr. Ghosn, here’s a free tip. Ditch the cool supercharger, and focus on making a ridiculously efficient plain-jane four-cylinder hybrid Altima. And this time, offer it across the country, instead of just a few states. You’re welcome.

Source.

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That crazy dude from Hollywood, Vince Burlapp, got his hands on a picture of the upcoming, all new 2013 Altima. It looks like a camera phone shot from some sort of secret Nissan meeting, but it is free of any camouflage. The front end looks fantastic, with an aggressive but not offensive grille,and a very steeply raked windshield. It’s hard to see much of the rear, so I’ll reserve my judgment there.

Rumors these days involve three engine levels… a turbo 1.6 liter engine (from the Juke) in the base model, a high power turbo 2.0 liter, and an all-new hybrid model. No V6 engine. Just rumors at this point, so take them with a grain of salt. Whatever that saying means.

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Nissan’s all-electric Leaf is going to be even more expensive than it already is. The base SV model price will increase from $33,630 to $36,050. The higher SL jumps even more, from $34,570 to $38,100. (These price all include the destination charge.)

That’s a $2420 increase for the SV, and a whopping $3530 increase for the SL. This is not peanuts we’re talking about… especially in an already pricing vehicle. That said, demand for the Leaf has far oustripped supply, so this probably makes sense from Nissan’s view.

To cushion the price hikes somewhat, Nissan is offering an extra package on each trim. The SV gets the cold-weather package standard, and the SL gets the quick cahrge port. Neither of these packages is worth the extra cost, but such is life.

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Nissan has completely redesigned the Versa Sedan for the 2012 model year, as we all know by now. What we weren’t completely sure about was the fate of the 2012 Versa Hatchback. Instead of a sexy redesign for the hatch, we now know that the first generation hatch will live on for another year.

Pricing for the carryover start at $15,140 including destination. That’s quite a bit more than the sedan (starting from $11,750), which makes me wonder how much sense it makes. I’d bet Nissan will pile the incentives on the hatchback only to keep it moving.

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