my thing is.. folks are always saying jeeps are "better" than xterras offroad.. sure.. they are technically "better" offroaders. but i've said this before. in order to find a spot where a jeep is BETTER than an xterra at offroading, here's what will happen.

you leave work. hook up with your Xterra buddy, go hit the trail (perhaps camp or whatnot), go down the trail further (depending on how long the trail is) and you'll both be there side by side of course.. then, the jeep guy goes "HEY, look at the supersmooth rock over there. i think i'm going to go climb that sucker.. the one that your ifs can't handle.. you know, since i'm cool and you're not." to which the Xterra guy replies, "man, i suck so hard. a complete idiot i am. i should have bought the jeep so i could hit that ONE rock that he's hitting. man i'm so jealous. i guess i'll have to console myself with better gas mileage... and about double the storage space i guess. man, i'm even sad about the towing capacity.. that doesn't do much for me. oh, and my interior sux ass compared to the jeep. not to mention the fact that my car is unoriginal and ugly compared to the jeep."

highly modified jeep vs highly modfied xterra is nearly equal badness offroad... save except for the different advantages of wheel bases. SO, they're not that much more capable. certainly not when you sacrifice all of the stuff mentioned above. now, what IS cool are the doors coming off, and the top coming off. that's sweet. although, here in Alabama, that would be murderously hot in any season other than winter.