Ok, so I went to trade my 04 for an 05 and walked out of the dealer after reading the specs that show the 05 with 1" or more lower ground clearance than an 04. My 04 (XE V6 4x4 Utility, Power, World Championship, Sport Package, & factor towing option) was marketed to me by both the dealer (based on their training manuals) and the brochures the dealers give out as having a "minimum ground clearance 9.3"-10.3"" Problem is even with tires inflated to 42 psi (OEM specs say 35 psi, but where I live in the mountains the local Nissan dealer and tire dealers all recommend 42 or higher on the X) min ground clearance is 8 9/16" measured with a digital tape on pavement. I have an 04 XE with 16" rims/tires (17's are actually .1" shorter than 16's in overall height).

Since there was no "Off Road" or other ride-height modified X in 2004, where did they come up with the 10.3" minimum ground clearance? The XE with 16" rims should have the biggest clearance and yet it's almost 2" lower than advertised and I run my tires with 7psi more air pressure in them than Nissan specs (which should give me even more clearance than they claimed).

It looks like they figured out they were lying to customers and modified their advertisements for 05 to say 8.3" to 9.5". Based on my measurements of 05's those #'s appear to be correct.

The question is, have any of you actually measured your ground clearance at the bottom of the rear differential (a regional manager at Nissan USA told me that's where it's measured) and discovered anywhere near the ground clearance they advertise?

I've gotten song and dance about how 'Nissan has the right to change specs at any time without notification' from the regional manager for Nissan but I submit they never changed any specs and simply put incorrect information on the marketing material to make it more attractive to people shopping for OEM ground clearance. I escalated the issue to their exec response team on Monday. I'm still waiting for a call back but I'm assured it will be today.

I'd love to hear what any of you are finding with ground clearance on a 2004 XE 4x4 w/ 265/70R-16 tires inflated to at least Nissan's 35 psi recommend specs. Should Nissan be allowed to advertise one thing and sell another? Should we tolerate it? Is it even legal in the US to advertise one thing and deliver another (if you consider Federal False Advertising laws)?