"If it was Carlos Ghosn who fixed the disaster that was the previous Xterra, then someone should hire the guy to direct FEMA. That first-gen effort, introduced in 1999, was underpowered and rode atop a chassis with all the structural integrity of squeezable Velveeta. Too bad this gen-two iteration, with its fast-revving 265-horse V-6 nestled within a modified Titan’s steel ladder frame, looks so much like the original, because it doesn’t deserve one iota of its forebear’s rep. It’s like the difference between Kate Smith and Kate Moss."[/qb]