Ok, the 4.0 v6 is the same in the X, Frontier, and Pathfinder. Both the X, and the Front have 265 HP, yet the Pathfinder has 270. Anyone have an answer as to why they ripped us off for 5 HP?

Just to piss you off.

They're sonsabitches . . .

I knew it!! I work up at Nissan of Fort Pierce, and they were pretty tight lipped about the whole thing...

Probably to make it seem like the Pathfinder is a little more powerful than the smaller Xterra...and IIRC there is a less restrictive exhuast on the Pathfinder.

The Pathfinder is the "premium" mid-size SUV offered by Nissan. You can't have the "premium" model being the same or even upstaged by the "lesser" Xterra. It's just marketing.

You can't tell, feel, smell, or taste the other 5 hp anyway. You're talking less than 2% difference at the uppermost Hp peak. Leaving the spare tire (and it's dead weight) at home would do more for the performance of the truck than getting that 5 Hp.

I honestly don't know if I've ever run my truck at 5600 RPM's for more than a few seconds at most (if that)... The HP for this motor in this application is purely marketing. I would trade 20 more horses for 20 more torque, or the same torque at 3000 RPM's or less. That in the Pathfinder and not in the X would be worth crying over I think.

They pulled the number right out of their ass.

I *cough* raced a QX56 with my late fathers Armada. I don't know where they found that extra 10HP but my best guess is it was somewhere around my tail lights.

It's a BS ploy so you spend more and feel special.

and...so you feel better about spending money on premium for the pathfinder.

Shoot; that could account for the difference right there.

Reminds me of the ram-air Firebirds and Camaros which had the LS1 engine from the C5 in it but generated a good bit less horsepower (even though the Corvette was lighter and overall better enough that even with the same power output it would have never been upstaged by the muscle cars :-/ ).

The Pathfinder is heavier so it actually has a bit less "go" power than the Xterra afaik.

How did the LS1 in the C5 have less hp than the F-body? It was the same engine.

I thought that the Pathy required premium fuel, if so, an engine could benefit 5 additional horsepower with advanced timing.
I received a flyer in the mail the other week for a new Frontior pickup rated at 262hp. I don't know if that was a misprint or a new true output rating. Either way, 265/270 is pretty much the same. The tire/weight thing was a good point.

2007 Xterra's are now "261 hp" Which probably can be accounted for by the industry change in measurement of said HP. Otherwise it's all marketing as said before.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3165/is_1_41/ai_n9484910

"Rated at 5 hp less than in the Pathfinder (due to the suggested use of premium fuel in the SUV), the 265-hp V-6 makes 284 lb.-ft. (385 Nm) of torque at 4,000 rpm. That's also less than the Pathfinder's peak of 291 lb.-ft. (395 Nm) at 4,000 rpm."

Some should dyno this and see if they can pick up 1-2 rear wheel hp LOL.