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Five reasons to love and hate the Nissan Pathfinder III
The name Pathfinder first appeared in the gamut of the Nissan brand in 1985, during the heyday of interest in off-road cars of the “universal” class, combining the permeability and utility of the “professionals” with the comfort of passenger cars. Then the designers of the brand did the same as everyone else: they took the four-wheel drive pickup truck chassis (with independent front suspension and reduction gear in the transmission) and equipped it with a station wagon. Thus was born the SUV with the factory code WD21. In other markets, this car was sold as a Terrano, and the production of this model continued until 1996, when it was replaced by the Pathfinder R50.
In 1993, a separate, purely European branch, named Terrano II, sprang from this trunk, which, nevertheless, soon sprouted in America under the name Ford Maverick (the car whose exterior was designed by Belgian designer Alain Bloné was developed jointly with the concern Ford) but this is a slightly different story. Continue reading
Almost as real: the cheapest all-wheel drive crossovers
Most recently, we have already figured out what choice there is for those who need not just a crossover, but a real frame SUV, but at the same time for little money. Today we will talk about crossovers in their modern sense – that is, we will not include Niva here (neither the former nor the real one), as well as those cheap frames mentioned in the past material. And yet, even with the mandatory all-wheel drive, you can also meet the amount of “a million and a little.” What is on the market for this money?
Like it or not, and everything is expected to begin with Renault Duster. Keeping the extremely low cost of the basic configuration due to its absolutely minimal equipment, Duster, nevertheless, and with the increase in the number of options, remains one of the most attractive options. Continue reading
Five reasons to love and hate the Mazda CX-7
Mazda joined the crossover race later than other Japanese brands. Toyota, Honda and Subaru were already working on the third generation of their crossovers, and Nissan and Mitsubishi were working on the second, when in February 2006 at the Los Angeles auto show the Mazda CX-Crossport concept was shown, which after a little tweaking and minimal changes and went to the series in April of the same year as the Mazda CX-7. Mazda had to offer something new in the already highly competitive market, and this “something” was not the usual motor for the family of universal cars.
Under the hood of the crossover, a four-turbocharged 2.3 MZR L3-VDT was registered, borrowed from the Mazdaspeed Atenza sportscar (aka Mazda 6 MPS) with a K04 turbocharger retuned to lower power and more torque. Power for different markets ranged from 238 hp (in Russia) up to 256 hp (in England). Transmission – or six-speed automatic Aisin Warner AW TF-80SC (aka – AWF21, AF40-6, AM6, AW6A-EL), or six-speed mechanics. All-wheel drive Active Torque Split AWD with Haldex controlled electronic multi-plate clutch was taken from the same Mazda 6 MPS. Continue reading