Car and Driver: 2017 Nissan Pathfinder Driven: Longing for the Jungle

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-The Pathfinder is one of Nissan’s longest-serving nameplates, having been launched in 1986 as a two-door, off-road-themed sport-utility derived from the brand’s Hardbody pickup. With its switch to a four-door body and then, for 2013, the move to a passenger-car platform (the Altima’s) with a transverse engine and front-wheel drive (all-wheel drive is optional), the Pathfinder pretty well traces the trajectory of the genus sport-utility in America. This once rugged vehicle has evolved into a soft, rounded carpool-mobile, no longer tasked with taming the jungle—as the original version did in its launch ad campaign—but with toting kids to school and sports. Four years into the Pathfinder’s latest iteration, Nissan appears to have had a tinge of regret at turning its SUV into the four-wheeled equivalent of mom jeans and, with the mid-cycle update for the 2017 model year, attempts to walk it back a bit. But only a bit. READ MORE ››

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