Friend thinking about an X

Hey guys!
My buddy is thinking about buying a new rig. He drives a 98 Ford Explorer that has served him well. But he's getting tired of it and wants to get a Pathfinder or a Xterra. We looked around and he seems to like the Xterra the more he looks at them. One thing he can't get over is that there's no leather in an Xterra. One of the guys at the Nissan Dealership has said that leather wasn't an option with the Xterra. Is this true? He also said its was an aftermarket thing you could buy. What confused me was that the display Xterra in the main room had leather. That's the main stopper for him. If he can't find the leather, he most likely will settle for the Pathy.

His budget is around 10K and under. He doesn't like the first body style with the square headlights. He would prefer the years with the round headlights with the bar across the grille, or newer Xterra. What do you guys think? Any input would be appreciated.

I am not aware about leather options for X. I know that you can get a custom made interior any way you want as long as you don't use Spotted Owls, Pandas, etc. You may look it up on Google for the actual cost. If he's on a budget of 10K, then buying a car with as many options as he wants sounds like a good idea. I know that this is a Nissan forum, but what about 4Runners?

When I was looking for my Xterra back in '00, there was an dealer aftermarket leather package called the "Xtreme" edition. It looked like nice leather seats but it cost around $2k more... not worth it for me. It may be hard to find a used one with them, but there are a few out there. And I'm sure you could find some aftermarket leather seat covers for it somewhere.

My '04 came with two-tone leather (black and gray). I looked it up and in the '04's they offered what they called a "Rugged Leather Package". So I'm assuming that's what I've got. It's very nice and a hell of a lot easier to clean.

I suggested a 4Runner for him, but he was disapppointed with how skinny the truck was. In his Explorer it's pretty spacey side to side. Thanks for the input guys! I'll tell him and see what he says. If he gets a Xterra, maybe he'll join us on some of our 4x4 trips!