Hello all, curious about this site, had my 06 for about a year, about 10,000 miles, no mods....mostly my everyday car, serves as my "civilized" car as most of my other half dozen or so cars are mostly toys, built by me. As such they tend to lack some things such as air conditioning or windshield washer pumps, hence the lack of civility....

I have experience with serious off roading, one of the above mentioned toys being a '74 big block Chevy Blazer with 36" tires, front and rear Spicer LSDs, 4-wheel disks, Warn 9500 winch on a quick disconnect reciever. I live at about 4000 feet elevation, so when shopping for this Xterra, some serious off roading and traction capability was important to my decision. This pretty much ruled out what I call "wanna-be" SUVs such as RAVs and CRVs, or ones that don't like to get their feet wet like Murano or any of the GM offerings, or the mini van based Durango. I've never liked any of the Chrysler Jeeps, and Fords are just....well lets just say I've never been a Ford Guy! That left pretty much Toyota as the only other consideration. I found the new 4-Runner to be mostly fluff, and the FJ cruiser to have the worst outward visibility I'd ever seen (or not seen more accurately!). The power of the new 4 liter V6 in the Xterra just trounced everything else I drove, and I liked the way the auto trans worked too...first time I've bought an auto trans car on purpose !

I have to say I have been completely impressed and satisfied with my Yellow Xterra. It's snow traction capabilty is absolutely the best I've experienced. I do have the "Off Road" package which includes the locking Diff Dana 44 rear axle, but the ABS actuated electronic traction control is so good, I havn't needed to lock the rear yet. Now that I've had it for almost a year, Ive started taking it places and hammering it through brush that might sctatch it up a bit- Manzanita and Buck brush. So far the paint quality and durability us up there with the best I've seen. There are lots of 5 year old Xterras that still look great in my area.

Really the only thing that has been a slight dissapointment is the fuel milage. It was rated 16/21, and I seem to average 12-13, and no, I don't drive it aggressively or floor it every time I take off from a stop. I attribute it to the terrain where I live....I loose about 1000 feet in about 7 miles between home and work, not much I can do about it. It hasn't deminished my enjoyment of the car, but I'd be curiouse of others' experience.

Had my 06 about a year also, and I have paid very close attn. to the mileage because it gives me somethin to do on the way to work. I have a 35 mile commute on rather flat terrain and see an average of twenty or so mpg. Now last winter when I had around the 10000 mile mark I was seeing an average of about 16 to 18, which I attribute to either the cold weather or the motor still breaking in...don't really know. Just last week I put synthetic oil in and am anxious to see if I can gain any also. Oh, I have to note that my offroad is a manual too, so that may help my mpgs a bit.

Yes, I'd be interested in your experience with synthetic oil.....I've heard it can lead to 1 or 2 mpg improvement, that's 5 or 10%, so seems worth it. I've never been a big fan of synthetic oil. Seems when I've tried it in hot-rods, it finds ways to leak out, and in superbikes, it's led to clutch slippage, and I think the extra cost justifies not changing as often....but hey this is a Nissan, not a ford or Harley !

i run mobile 1 synthetic in the X and amsoil in my street bike and i have no problems with either.... and the temp on both have went down since changing to syn.... its the way to go.....