2007 Nissan Maxima on 2040-cars

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2013 Nissan Pathfinder: March 2013

Over the past few months, we've talked a lot about how our long-term 2013 Nissan Pathfinder functions as a daily-driver, long-hauler and all-weather warrior. And so far, it's earning high praise from most of us for being a well-rounded, pleasant vehicle in these regards. But the vast majority of people who actually go out and buy a Pathfinder will do so because of its people-and-stuff-carrying abilities. Nissan specifically engineered the new Pathfinder to be a softer, more widely appealing crossover than the sort of rugged SUV that it was before, and in doing so, the company is hoping its new CUV will find homes in the garages of many American families.
We needed to get some family impressions of the new Pathfinder, and fast.
Thing is, many of us Autobloggers live the kid-free life - at least that's true of most of us in the Detroit area where the Pathfinder currently resides. We have no doubts that the Pathfinder will get a proper family road trip workout from west coast editor Michael Harley after it shuffles over to the left side of the country, and it might also do a jaunt to North Carolina this summer with executive editor Chris Paukert and his family before it leaves the area, but in the meantime, we needed to get some family impressions of the new Pathfinder, and fast.

Nissan Juke-R pitted against Bugatti Veyron in brilliantly odd drag race

The Nissan Juke-R must've been a tough car to build a business case for, yet the madcap little crossover with the heart of a GT-R is now a production reality. Admittedly, we should probably assign some quotes around "production," since the vehicle is being built on a one-by-one on-demand basis at extraordinary cost - at an estimated price of well over $600,000, it has little in common with the already bonkers everyday Juke. We're just happy it exists at all.
With 545 horsepower, we also didn't figure it needed more power. But that apparently hasn't stopped the tuning community, which probably only had to adapt performance adders designed for the GT-R to the mechanically similar CUV. Thus, we end up with this mile-long drag race, which pits a Bugatti Veyron against a Juke-R prepared by an outfit called Shpilli Villi Engineering with a claimed 700 horsepower. That's still well down on horsepower versus the legendary quad-turbo supercar, but the much smaller Nissan also figures to be a lot lighter while boasting similar all-wheel-drive traction. We don't have much more information to go on other than this video, and it doesn't appear that both drivers necessarily got their best runs in, but it certainly makes for jaw-dropping watching. Check it out by scrolling below.

Nissan IDX sports coupe future increasingly cloudy [w/poll]

There's a strong desire among enthusiasts for more inexpensive, lightweight, fun-to-drive, rear-wheel-drive cars to exist in a world that contrasts sharply with automakers' desire to make money. While we all love the feeling of controlling the back end with the throttle, front-wheel drive is king when it comes to affordable cars. One of the future bright spots in the rear-drive market appeared to come from Nissan with its pair of IDx concepts. The two showcars from the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show took liberal design inspiration from the classic Datsun 510 and mixed it with modern powertrains in very attractive little packages. However, some pretty dark clouds are reportedly now hanging over the project.
Last we heard, a production version was supposedly "in the plan" from the Japanese automaker, but its trajectory may have changed inside the company in the last few months. According to Pierre Loing, vice president of product planning for Nissan Americas, the issue is making the sports coupe profitable. While Nissan has access to rear-wheel drive platforms, they are all meant for more premium vehicles (read: they cost too much). Assuming around 60,000 annual sales, Loing tells Ward's Auto that making a dedicated chassis for the IDx just isn't a moneymaker. If the car still does see production, it'll be after 2016, he says.
The decision whether to build the IDx has been teetering for a while. Nissan spokesperson Dan Bedore previously told Autoblog that the coupe would need a groundswell of support from consumers and enthusiasts if is to actually have a shot at production. If you are among the hopeful looking to see this affordable, rear-drive performance car in showrooms, get some friends together and start letting Nissan know that you actually want it - you can start here by adding a Comment and voting in our poll, because we're going to send the results on to Nissan.