05 Pilot vs. 05 Pathfinder

[Aaron in Denver]

I've owned my Pilot now for about a month, so I thought I'd post to offer an opinion for those comparing the Pilot and Pathfinder as I was.
I was moving up from an 02 Pathfinder, and was thinking at first that moving to an 05 was an easy choice. A little bigger, three rows, bigger V6, etc. I wanted full time/automatic all wheel drive, so that meant going for the Pathfinder LE, which is their top trim level.
I then began doing some reading, and heard the raves about the Pilot, so I thought I'd at least drive one, though I was lukewarm to its styling. I ended up test driving each of them three times, once within about ten minutes of each other to see how they drove "back to back". I noticed the following differences and ended up preferring the Pilot.

Room- The Pathfinder is substantially longer that the old one, but it doesn't really feel that way. It remains a pretty narrow truck ( I think it lists as only one inch wider than the old model). The roof line feels low against your head. I don't know how to put it better except to say that the Pathfinder feels tight inside. The third row is definitely for kids only, and is also very narrow.
The Pilot feels very open and much roomier. I think the cubic volume measurements were fairly similar, but the Pilot seems to make much better use of its space. It is a full 5 or 6 inches wider than the Pathfinder, and it feels like more. The third row is better, especially since the second row can slide for more leg room.
The Pathfinder's folding seat arrangement was nicer, as the rears fold completely flat with no gaps right up to the backs of the front seats. We have a Bernese Mountain Dog who goes everywhere with us, so this was important. The Pilot's seat 2nd row folds not quite flat, and leaves a gap to the backs of the front seats. Ben the Berner found this annoying at first, but got used to it quickly.

Power- This was about a toss up. The Nissan has about 15 more horsepower, but it's hauling around another 400 pounds. The Pilot 3.5 liter is smooth, quiet, and shifts like a dream. The 4.0 Nissan V-6 felt just like my old Pathfinder's 3.5, gutsy but very noisy above about 3500 rpm. The tranny was not near as smooth in the Nissan. I think Nissan was going for a raspy, powerful exhaust note, which they got, but after only a little driving I was getting annoyed by it. I prefer the quiet of the Honda motor.

Handling- The Nissan was better. The LE has considerably wider 17" rubber, while the Pilot makes due with fairly skinny 16's. I just decided that it wasn't that big of a deal in a vehicle like this. The Honda does rider smoother, but has much more body roll when turning.

Misc.- It had been 10 years since I'd driven a Honda. I'd forgotten how well they engineer the ergonomics of their cars. Wow. Each switch feels just right, each control effort is smooth and accurate. I love that in a car. The Nissan was pretty good too, but they seem to put a little more effort into making things look cool. The wiper and signal stalks felt a little flimsy, and the gauges seemed too small.
As far as Honda's stodgy shifter on the column vs. Nissan's console shifter...bravo Honda. I've been amazed at how much miscellaneous stuff you can put in the center console area without the shifter there.

I could write more, but I'm tired! I will say that if you really want to do some off-roading, then you should get the Nissan. It has a "real" transfer case with low range that the Honda can't match. I found that I could count the number of times I'd used low range on my old Pathfinder on one hand, so this wasn't a worry.
If you want a solid, roomy SUV that feels great in your hands and performs well (and is pretty quick from a stoplight for a 4400 pound car) then the Pilot might be a good choice.

Then again, this is all IMHO, YMMV, yada...yada...yada. Hope this helps someone choose.

Aaron in Denver
05 Pilot EX-L
Billet Silver (now thats a cool color name)

[GreenMachine]

Great write-up. When I heard the 2005 Pathfinder was going to have 3 rows, it was a consideration for our next, larger SUV. A few weeks ago I was at Nissan for service, and I got the opportunity to sit in the Pathy. The front seat and second row were no problem, but the third row was really small. The head rest hit me about the middle of my back, and when fully raised, got to about my neck. Perfect scenario for breaking my neck in a rear-end collision.

The exterior is not too bad. Those front fenders are quite large, and that is probably the only part that I do not like. The engine/drivetrain looks good, and the mileage isn't too bad for what you get.

While I would love the manly (sp??) image/sound/capability of the Pathfinder, that third row is the deal-breaker as no adult could stand anything but a short trip back there.

Also, why Nissan did you make the same mistake of having the automatic 4WD only available on the LE.