Dubai, UAE - 2013 Nissan Pathfinder launch event was held on Thursday, 21st February. The models are expected to go on sale in March. Here is our coverage of the event.
We started the day bright and early at the Jabal Ali Beach Hotel, greeted with dancing peacocks in the greens. By 9am we were ushered into a small 8 seater Cessna 208 Caravan seaplane of Seawings Airlines for a 50 minutes scenic and roller-coaster flight to Fujairah. This was a great experience as the plane goes upto 50,000 feet and you can get great views of the islands and new developments around the emirates.
Arriving at the Fujairah beach, we were greeted by Nissan ME team and lead to the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder models. There were two cars each, of Base level, Mid Level and Top Level trims.
As soon as the second airplane arrived we jumped into the cars and started driving towards the North Omani border at Dibba, crossing over and heading towards the Six Senses Resort and Spa at Zighy Bay.
Getting through the border was an experience as well and took more than an hour, as the authorities couldn’t find our passes to go across!
Zigzagging through a little bit of tarmac and then gravel unpaved tracks, the Pathfinder’s ‘i-Auto’ 4WD system sent the needed torque automatically to the rear wheels (as its now primarily front wheel drive) to keep the direction of travel and direction of intended travel same (read the First Drive Review here)
We arrived at the Six Senses resorts main entrance at about 1215 hrs.
The 5km Private path from the main entrance to the Resort is a winding, unwinding serpent with roadwork still going on at places and loose gravel and laid cobblestone covering most of the extremely sharp incline and decline taking us quickly up and down the 300 mt. tall hill which secludes the Zighy Bay from the main land.
The new 2013 Pathfinder being 13% faster and 30% lighter than the outgoing model, Nissan is aiming to sell more than 8000 units in the first years alone in the UAE and further its 24% YOY growth.
With full seven seats and features like bird’s eye-view, tri-zone A/C and entertainment, Hill assist, intuitive 4x4 and 5 star crash ratings and many more on the 2013 Pathfinder looks like they have aimed pretty reasonable.
Following lunch and a chat with the Nissan officials, we got back into the cars and headed back 180kms towards Jabal Ali Beach hotel. The VQ35 engine and the new CVT transmission performing decently, at best, got us back in about 2.30 hrs. We were able to push the car to about 170 kmph on a deserted stretch without being flashed and attained an average fuel consumption of about about 8km/L.
The hardest part of the day was the drive back home after dropping off the new Pathfinders at the Jabal Ali Hotel at 1845 hrs, and battling the traffic on the way back. Thanks to the old school, huge American seats and the effortless drive of my pick up, the drive back home was not so bad and made me realize that the new Pathfinder is indeed a new car from all aspects and needs to be seen in a new light!
Check Out
- First Drive: 2013 Nissan Pathfinder Review
