Quote:
Originally posted by joe johnson:
I have been a jeep man my whole life, I love their abilities off road but dislike the squirliness on the road in a wind storm or on ice. I am looking into the xterra as a compromise. How do these 4x4's perform off road for real; I assume that they high center often with the long wheel base and frame hanging down. How much would it cost to get one of these to run on 33's.
do any models come with lockers?

Sell my on the xterra; I go offroad almost weekly, it has to perform.
Welp, if you're looking at the previous model (prior to '05 year), then yes, you can high center a lot more easily than in a TJ, but not any worse than an XJ (comperably equipped!). IMO, the biggest drawback of the X is it's departure angle. I drive a Frontier, but offroad w/ Xterras every now and then, and their departure angle leaves something to be desired, even w/ 33's. An dif you've got a rear hitch, it's like a boat anchor. Extremely annoying; especially coming from a Jeep, you'll notice that.

With a moderate amount of $$, you can build the X into a fairly capable offroading rig. It's not going to be a great rock-crawler, but w/ 33s, it'll handle a good bit, anyways. Obviously, a locker is a must, and the only ones available (front and/or rear) is the ARB. Great locker; steep price.

The front IFS is not a huge drawback, considering it's as comperable to any other IFS rig out there. Jeep Liberty comes to mind... It's still IFS, though, and it'll take you a little bit to get used to driving it offroad. You have to pick your lines a little better, because there's just not nearly as much droop avaialable as w/ a SFA. There isn't a quick and easy front disconnect for the front sway bar available; you'll have to either come up with your own idea, or just remove it altogether. The problem w/ it is that there's just no place to put it, once it's disconnected, that it won't interfere with something.

All in all, the Xterra is a moderately capable offroader, w/ some decent upgrades (SL lift, larger tires, bumpers, skids, sliders, lockers, etc.) It's not going to be a great rockcrawler, and it's not going to be a great mud bogger, but it will be fairly decent all around. If you're hitting extreme stuff, then I'd stay away from it. But if it's the ordinary, mild to moderate type trails, then it's definately a good rig. And it's dependability will keep you going for a very, very long time.

As for the '05s, well, it's so new, every single part on the truck is brand new, nobody can really know how good (or not) it's going to be. It's got a lot of potential, but then it has a few drawbacks, too. So it's still up in the air, right now.