# Review of my BOV



## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

After nearly getting stuck a couple times going up the dirt road to the ranges I knew I needed a truck.

I bought my 2015 Xterra with 500 miles on it. 
Put on 700 miles of my own now.

A mix of mostly city and hiway but also some dirt roads and some short not-so-roads stretches.

First a few general remarks.

- The Xterra is one of very few remaining body-frame 4x4 SUVs.
- It is the SUV version of the Frontier mid size pick-up
- Its primary competitors are/were the Toyota FJ Cruiser and Toyota 4runner and the Jeep wrangler.
- It has a fully boxed ladder frame like the Mercedes Benz G Class
- Powered by a 4.0 L VQ series engine and a 5 Speed auto


Pros:

- very precise and accurate low speed steering that is nicely weighed.

- fantastic vision out compared to vehicles of all classes, never had such good situational awareness in a vehicle before!

- Much more livable than the Wrangler as daily, while having by all accounts about 95% of the stock wranglers off road abilities.

- Much less expensive than the nearest competitors in concept the 4 runner. (The 4 runner admittedly looks better/more expensive/more modern, but under the skin is near identical except for a couple of features and is consistently $ 9,000-10,000 dollars more when comparing equivalent trims.

- Good power in all driving situations

- Available with a 6 peed manual transmission, very rare!

- Very comprehensive base equipment: standard transmission cooler, rear locking diff. 4LO transfer case.

- chassis shared with a full size truck, the Titan, so you know its strong. lots of running gear components are oversized , for its weight, for this reason.

-Hugely oversized airfilter and air intake almost a foot above the top of the tires

- Love the PRO 4 X trim, comes with offroad lamps (in addition to the fog lights), bigger tires that effectively result in a mild lift, Bilstein offroad shocks. hill descent control, Hill start control, rockford fosgate stereo, , Navigation, skid plates for engine, transfer case and fuel tank, Machined (!) wheels for incredible strength, functional roof rails.

- Many many thoughtful detail touches in the interior, lots of practical features like tie down rails/hooks all over the load area and little nooks everywhere. Its easy to load this with different kinds of stuff in an orderly way.

- Wonderful ergonomics. This has always been one of Nissan's strong suit. The dash board is very easily legible and all controls are very intuitive.

- Understated handsomeness. Though called a bit dated by some to me it is timeless

- Incredibly handy in town. It has an incredible tight turn radius. No doubt the short wheelbase helped make that happen. It is this handiness that convinced me to buy it, as it makes it real good BOV for quick reaction to changing traffic and/or roadblocks. 
And due to almost no overhang in the back and front it is also very easy to park, easier than most cars (the rear camera also helps, it's stock in all trims from mid range on up)


Cons:

- Fuel economy: around town with my short trips in DC traffic I get around 13 mpg. On the hiway you can get 20 mpg in nearly normal driving, driving like grandma 21-22 mpg can be done (I have many times gotten 22 mpg, but you need to stick to a constant 62 mph) ... 23 mpg is possible on the hiway but requires gentle driving with very deliberate fuel saving driving techniques (in my maxima those techniques would have yielded 28 mpg) The good thing at least you have a 21 gallon fuel tank.

- Steering/handling at hiway speeds is old school which is to say unimpressive. It drives very much like a traditional truck/SUV rather than like a modern Unibody crossover (which it isnt), but that's part of a deliberate trade-off. 
My PRO4X suspension/tire set-up likely didn't help this area.

- The interior material, hard plastic, shows the age of the design, newer designs use a lot softer materials. . My truck is dressed up in leather, Nav and rockford fosgate which helps mask this quite a bit .

In summary I feel almost invincible in this truck like I can jump curbs and go offroad anytime. Despite the hard plastics in the interior I really enjoy its logical arrangement and I just love the overall design and intent.

PS: I know Blue is not an ideal color for a BOV, I would have preferred "Night Armor" Dark grey, but this was a loaded truck they were willing to deal on. Also the blue is a nod at making it a bit non threatening looking.


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

Nice BOV Blue! Seems like you got yourself a heck of a truck there and got a good deal on it too.


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

It's OK- we know you were looking for something to match your board name. 

Nice looking rig. :2thumb: 4Runners lost my interest back in '03 when Toyota did such a radical redesign on them.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

TimB said:


> 4Runners lost my interest back in '03 when Toyota did such a radical redesign on them.


The new ones are even weirder still!


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

LincTex said:


> The new ones are even weirder still!


As my dear old Mom used to say- "They are uglier than homemade sin. ". And have been since '03, IMHO.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Nice rig! We're going to be looking to replace DW's '03 Liberty in the next year or so. What does one of those sticker at, Blue?


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

Jason said:


> Nice rig! We're going to be looking to replace DW's '03 Liberty in the next year or so. What does one of those sticker at, Blue?


The Base stickers at 23 k and mine which was loaded to the gills stickered at 33.6K

From the mid trim models on up the following are already included transmission cooler, 
2 mode (hi and lo) transfer case) 
Traction control,
Vehicle dynamic braking control (VBDS), 
tire pressure monitor,
Vehicle dynamic Control (helps if u lose control on normal roads)
fully functional rook rack with cross members where you can change the position
Transmission cooler

The PRO4 X version with the extra off road goodies starts at 28k and adds

- the slightly larger tires that bring a 1 inch lift for a ground clearance of 10 inches (more than a MB G class, only an inch shy of a Raptor, but the raptors longer wheelbase negates that a advantage a bit))

- Bilstein off road shocks
- Hill descent control
- Hill Start assist
- Skid plate under engine, under transfer case and under fuel tank
- PRO4x stitching on the seats

All of them come with the powerful 4.0 L multivalve variable timing V6 that runs on 87 Octane. artydance:

Also I like that this vehicles even though it has big truck bones does not have big truck size so you can sqeeze thru smaller trails and shoulders than a Raptor would not be able to.

Yes I said raptor, thats the class I put a PRO4X Xterra in even though it wont be as good in the desert as a Raptor but on trails I would prefer it since huge can be a dis- advantage for a BOV

It also has better or equal approach and departure angles than Toyota 4 Runner TRD, (which almost $10,000 more when you compare equivalent trims) , Mercedes Benz G class (which is 3 times the cost of an Xterra)


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)




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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

The roof rack works well with Kolpin Gas cans:


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

She cleans up well. :2thumb: :laugh:


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

TimB said:


> She cleans up well. :2thumb: :laugh:


Thanks!

I filled up 2 spare 5 gallon Jerry cans yesterday.

review of the cans to follow :flower:


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