My wife saw an Xterra the other day and thought she might want one.
I'm a Land Cruiser guy so I know nothing about them, no particular bias against them, just been driving Cruisers since HS and never looked much further at import 4WD trucks.
What I do know is every model of every brand has it's own warts, my UZJ100 Land Cruiser has a well know weak front differential. It was corrected in later models.
So what are the warts of the Xterra?
Any particular year to look for? Avoid?
Sought after factory options or sub models?
I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Thanks,
Dan
So what are the warts of the Xterra:
- Front diff - can be problematic if you beat on it. From what I've seen this tends to be with folks who do lots of rock-crawling or other things where you get a lot of wheelspin and then suddenly get traction. It puts too much stress on the diff and it blows.
- Aftermarket is still very new - there are lift kits out there, armor for the front and rear, sliders, skids, etc., but compared to the Jeep and Toyota market, it's lacking in terms of number of vendors. This can impact lead times as well. The vendors that do support the market, however, tend to be very good guys to work with.
- Alternator - as mentioned, it's down low and hitting it with mud-slurry combos can blow it up.
- Factory skid plates are better than nothing - but not by much. If you're going to do heavy rock-crawling upgrade them.
- The factory step rails, brush guards, etc., are all damage multipliers. Save your money and get real armor.
- Some of the years have had issues with the FSU - there's a recall out there to replace it, so ask the dealer specific information on your model to make sure that if the year you want is affected that yours has been taken care of.
In terms of years to get - 05-07 tend to be the best of the Gen2 versions. I'd lean towards a Gen2 if I were you - 6 cyl engine, so you get plenty of power for what it is. Either the 08 or 09 started to add some more stuff you don't need, but honestly any of the Gen2 versions should do. If you get a Gen1 check the mileage as they've got a timing belt that can go (and promptly does around 100K miles). Since it's an interference engine that spells major dollars to repair.
If you're going to mod the hell out of it, just get the base model and save yourself the dough. The OR versions have rear locker, better suspension, and a few other doodads that make them desirable - so if you're planning on a DD and just want to have a pretty capable from stock vehicle, I'd recommend that.
One thing to get is either an aftermarket bumper or a hitch on the rear. You've got a stock front recovery point, but nothing on the back without that hitch and a receiver/clevis set up.
The last thing to be very careful about is the OR badging. If it doesn't have Bilstein shocks and a rear locker, it's not an OR. Period. Doesn't matter what anyone says, what the badges on the side say, etc. No rear locker = no OR version.
That's the basics of it. I picked up an 07 OR new and absolutely love it. I'm not blind to the warts, but I wouldn't get anything else. I use mine as a DD and try to get on the trails at least once a quarter and this thing continues to amaze me. I did upgrade the stock tires to some BFG AT KO 285/75-16s as well as added sliders. Those two things have allowed me to do what I, as a novice, consider to be absolutely amazing things. When I'm out and run across Jeeps and other vehicles they're consistently surprised by just how capable the Xterra's are. Plenty of room to lug stuff, big enough to sleep in, and very capable.
