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Test Drive: Nissan Pathfinder a big smoothie

January 12th, 2013

Not much griping to do about Nissan’s mega-redesign of the Pathfinder for 2013, changing it from a midsize truck-based SUV to a big crossover SUV.

It’s roomy, smooth and almost sporty, due to quick steering and modest body lean in corners.

It’s quiet, soaks up bad pavement pretty well and is tastefully appointed inside.

Second-row seats tip and slide, even when a child seat is strapped in, to provide a wide aisle to the third row. The second row slides forward and back, providing stunning legroom when fully rearward.

The new Pathfinder, which went on sale in October, is also a remarkable engineering achievement in weight reduction. Roughly 4.5 inches wider and about that much longer than the previous Pathfinder, the new one is some 500 pounds lighter, Nissan says.

Less weight means more scoot using less power and, thus, less fuel. It’s no mpg-champ, but no seven-passenger, three-row, full-size SUV is.

Must be a good combination. Nissan sold twice as many Pathfinders last month as it did a year earlier. Brisk sales gave Nissan enough confidence to bump up Pathfinder’s price $ 380 last month.

Cooling Test Drive’s enthusiasm:

Front seats are a bit lumpy, though they seem like armchairs compared with the dreadful “zero-gravity” seats in the new Altima sedan, which we worried would become Nissan’s standard seats.

Bulbous styling is somewhere between troubling and inoffensive. If you like a crisp, tailored look, nothing here for you to see.

Marginal luggage space behind the third row. It took some creative slanting and tailgate slamming to secure two big suitcases and a duffel for a trek to the airport when all seven seats were taken.

Pathfinder’s only gearbox is a CVT (continuously variable-ratio automatic transmission). Test Drive finds most CVTs odious for their tendencies toward a rubber-band, slipping-clutch sound and feel when the engine’s accelerated hard.

Pathfinder’s gearbox performs suitably when driven easy, however. Nissan says it is a new design, with 40% less internal friction for better mileage. It also has a chain drive instead of a steel-reinforced belt, which lets it tow up to the 5,000 pounds that Nissan set as a key goal for the new SUV.

And most folks who buy a family bus such as the Pathfinder don’t give diddly about CVTs vs. state-of-the-art, crisp-shifting, soul-satisfying, six- or seven- or eight-speed conventional automatic.

The Pathfinder’s luxury cousin, Nissan’s mechanically similar Infiniti JX35, uses a CVT, too, but it provides — and Pathfinder doesn’t — a “sport” mode that converts the CVT to six specific gear ratios, shifting among them much like a conventional automatic. Very nice, and much missed in the Pathfinder.

CVTs usually deliver better fuel economy than other automatics, so more probably are inevitable. (However, Honda’s CVT in the new Accord, it is worth emphasizing, feels much better to drive than most, and shouldn’t be painted with this broad brush.)

Nissan “absolutely” considered a conventional automatic, but “engineers came back and told us a CVT is the best way to get” good mileage, a 5,000-pound towing capacity and strong four-wheel-drive performance in models with that feature, says Rich Miller, truck and SUV product manager for Nissan North America.

The test vehicle had the around-view system that you see advertised on TV, when the wife challenges the hubby as they pass a tight parallel-parking spot: “You sure you can fit in there?” The ad shows little birds escorting the Pathfinder into the slot just fine, suggesting that around-view gives the driver a useful, bird’s-eye view when parking.

Some folks swear by it. Test Drive swears at it.

Too much visual information that’s too little real help, in our opinion. However, visual logic varies, so you might embrace it. And it doesn’t detract from the benefits of the crisp backup camera.

Nissan insists it’s as useful as the automatic-parking systems sold on some vehicles, but the Pathfinder’s around-view setup lost to a couple of the better auto-park systems in a USA TODAY/Cars.com parking system challenge late last year.

It’s hard not to wince when a heavy right foot makes the engine rev needlessly, generating coarse and rude noises because of the evil CVT. But otherwise, it’s hard to find much to seriously dislike about the new Nissan.

What? Radical makeover, turning Pathfinder into three-row crossover SUV that’s bigger, but lighter and more fuel-efficient, than truck-based predecessor. Available with front-wheel drive (FWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD).

When? On sale since late October.

Where? Made at Smyrna, Tenn., alongside similar Infiniti JX 35 and the Nissan Altima sedan to which both are related.

How much? Base S FWD is $ 29,495 with $ 845 shipping. Top-end Platinum Premium AWD (like test vehicle) starts at $ 42,695.

What makes it go? 3.5-liter V-6 rated 260 horsepower at 6,400 rpm, 240 pounds-feet of torque at 4,400 rpm; CVT (continuously variable-ratio automatic transmission) without manual-shift mode.

How big? Similar to Ford Explorer. Pathfinder is 197.2 inches long, 77.2 in. wide, 69.6 in. tall on a 114.2-in. wheelbase. Weighs 4,149 to 4,471 lbs.

Passenger space, 157.8 cubic ft. Cargo space, 16 cu. ft. behind third row, 79.8 cu. ft. with second and third rows folded.

Turning circle diameter, 38.7 ft.

Rated to carry 1,583 to 1,764 lbs. of people, cargo, accessories (FWD); 1,442 to 1,623 lbs. (AWD). Tows up to 5,000 lbs.

How thirsty? FWD rated 20 mpg in the city, 26 highway, 22 in city/highway mix.

AWD rated 19/25/21.

Trip computer in AWD Platinum Premium tester registered 19 mpg (5.26 gallons per 100 miles) in mix of suburban, highway driving.

Burns regular, holds 19.5 gal.

Overall: A honey.

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Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomMoney-TopStories/~3/z8qLI2mAfxc/

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Father of Alleged Connecticut Shooter is VP of GE Capital: Report

American Overkill
December 15, 2012

According to ABC and Yahoo news, the alleged shooter at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Adam Lanza, is the son of Vice President of GE Capital, Peter Lanza. Peter Lanza is also a partner at Ernst & Young, and major accounting firm. The older brother, Ryan Lanza, is also reported to be employed at Ernst & Young.

Peter Lanza, who drove to northern New Jersey to talk to police and the FBI, is a vice president at GE Capital and had been a partner at global accounting giant Ernst & Young.

Adam’s older brother Ryan Lanza, 24, has worked at Ernst & Young for four years, apparently following in his father’s footsteps and carving out a solid niche in the tax practice. He too was interviewed by the FBI. Neither he nor his father is under any suspicion.

Another report from Stamford Advocate says Peter Lanza is vice president of taxes for GE Energy Financial Services and also an adjunct professor a Northeastern University in Boston since 1995. The facts have been sketchy and changing from hour to hour.

After 28 years of marriage, Peter and Nancy Lanza divorced. Nancy Lanza was found shot at her home. A source told The Post Ryan has told investigators he last saw Adam in 2010 and that Adam is autistic.

The tragedy is also being politically exploited for tighter gun control. If they ever get guns banned in the U.S., the politically unfavorable will be quickly rounded up and we will get a Soviet style authoritarian system magnified by 100. It is not the guns doing the shooting, but the people. Some of the “leaders” in the U.S. want to get the guns away from the citizens. I don’t know what the answer is to the violence that permeates the United States, but it is likely a symptom of a very sick society. Nobody is shedding tears for the thousands of children who die from U.S. bombs. A nation that exports violence around the planet with an elite core of individuals that profit from it, is destined to be troubled domestically. It’s a karmic certainty.

Obama’s tears

Are Obama’s tears fake like some people are suggesting? Obama has no compunction to order bombings all over the place which regularly kill civilians including children. He also authorizes the killing of Americans, so it’s very hard to believe that his tears are real, although anything is possible in this strange world.

This article was posted: Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 3:45 pm

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Tags: Submit Your News  Politics  Conspiracy  Spontaneous  Confessions  
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Source: http://www.infowars.com/father-of-alleged-connecticut-shooter-is-vp-of-ge-capital-reports/

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About Jim Smith

Hi members, friends and explorers. I know that some of you will not agree with my point of view. Feel free to let me know your opinion on the issues that I discuss. I was born in Chicago, (the windy city) where I learned how to shovel snow very well. I am an expert snow shoveler. I'm also passionate about politics and I love trying to help and wake up the uninformed and the misinformed.
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