Yahoo Autos 2022 Nissan Pathfinder debuts with fresh new duds, no more CVT
Say hello to the new 2022 Nissan Pathfinder. It’s the latest evolution of Nissan’s three-row crossover, and it comes with a host of new reasons to like it.
The first is design. Nissan did away with the soft, car-like styling of the outgoing Pathfinder and reinvented it with this blocky, rough-and-tumble look. The front end’s resemblance to the recently-launched Nissan Armada is immediately apparent with the wide, black grille and U-shaped outline. It’s V-Motion on steroids. The whole front end looks tall and imposing with its largely flat hood falling into the flatter face. It’s subtle, but you can make out a small homage to the first-generation Pathfinder with its three-slot hood. We’re suspect of the headlight design — the headlights themselves look normal, but the LED running lights remind us of furrowing eyebrows. It’s a bit weird in photos, but we’ll withhold final judgment until seeing the car in person.
All the rougher edges are tempered by a number of premium touches. There’s chrome spattered throughout, and glossy black trim bits aplenty.. The slick, horizontal LED taillights look great, and the large Pathfinder text across the tailgate is a nice touch. Moving the license plate location into the bottom of the bumper facilitated this new rear design, and it looks much more cohesive and better than before. Nissan’s upright stance and shape carries backward to great effect here, too. It looks tough without suggesting anything more than basic light off-roading capabilities, which is just about right for the unibody Pathfinder.
And yes, it’s still unibody. The outgoing Pathfinder’s platform was revised and modified for duty in this 2022 model. Nissan’s 3.5-liter V6 carries over unchanged with 284 horsepower and 259 pound-feet of torque, but there’s one big powertrain change we’ll all be thankful for: no more CVT. Instead, the Pathfinder will shift via a new nine-speed automatic transmission supplied by ZF. We’ve had misgivings with the ZF nine-speed auto in other vehicles before, so let’s hope the one in the Pathfinder is satisfactory. Front-wheel drive is still standard, but a new all-wheel drive system is available. It’s a new direct coupling design, so it doesn’t need to sense front wheel slip to begin sending torque rearward. Of which, 50% of torque can go to the rear wheels, and Nissan says its off-road performance is better with the new design. Ground clearance is only up by about two tenths of an inch (now 7.2 inches), though, so don’t get any rock crawling ideas in your head.
Towing is still mighty impressive for the class at a maximum of 6,000 pounds. Nissan is also introducing a new Trailer Sway Control feature that comes standard. The last big, mechanical change is a new electric power steering system that’s tuned to be quicker and make the car feel like it’s more agile.
