There’s a whole category of vehicles that doesn’t seem to exist in most of the country: two-wheel-drive SUVs. Yes, believe it or not, 4WD was an option on almost every SUV on the market. If you didn’t live in a snowy place, and had no intention of off-roading, you could save yourself some money and maintenance by skipping the front driveline altogether. Today, we’re going to look at a couple of them, for sale in a place where they actually make some sense: Las Vegas.
Friday was Boxing Day, and we celebrated by looking at two boxy vehicles with boxer engines. I knew going in that the Subaru was going to lose. Unlike the SUVs we’re about to look at, the main point of buying a Subaru is to get one with four-wheel-drive. Otherwise, it’s just a weird car with middling reliability. The VW Vanagon absolutely clobbered it in the vote.
Personally, I don’t have much use for either of these, but if I was going to pick one, it would be the Vanagon. They’re going up in value, and there’s a possibility this one could actually be sold at a profit after some sprucing up. The old Subaru wagon would just irritate me. The only Subaru I’d really be interested in owning is a Brat.
I grew up in the Chicago area, and spent my twenties in Minnesota. The SUV boom hit big in both places, and lots of friends and family quickly swapped out their station wagons for new, taller station wagons – with four-wheel-drive. Nobody in Minnesota would ever dream of buying an SUV driven only by its rear wheels. I mean, 4WD isn’t absolutely a necessity for snow; millions of people get around just fine without it, but if you’re going to get an SUV anyway, you might as well get one that’s snow-ready.
It wasn’t until I headed west that I realized just how many SUVs were available in two-wheel-drive form. Even Ford Bronco IIs and Jeep Cherokees could be ordered without a driven front axle. And they were surprisingly common in California; in fact, when I met my wife, she was driving a 2WD Toyota 4Runner – which I had no idea even existed. We’ve owned two other 2WD SUVs since then, one of them almost identical to one of today’s choices. They make a lot of sense as cheap beaters in places where you don’t encounter snow, like Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, where these two are for sale. Let’s check them out.
1995 Nissan Pathfinder XE – $2,650
Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter OHC V6, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Odometer reading: 92,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Nissan Pathfinder entered the US market in 1987, as a two-door SUV based on the D21 Hardbody trucks. This four-door model came along in 1990 – the same year that Chevy added a four-door S-10 Blazer and Ford replaced the Bronco II with the Explorer – and replaced the two-door entirely. SUVs were taking over suburbia, and climbing into the back seat of a two-door SUV was, and is, a real pain in the ass. Nobody buying an SUV for a family car wanted a two-door. This 1995 Pathfinder is the last year for the original bodystyle, and it’s the same configuration as a 1991 model that I once knew very well.
This Pathfinder is powered by Nissan’s VG30E V6 and a five-speed manual transmission. You could theoretically get a Pathfinder with a four-cylinder engine, but I’ve never actually seen one. Based on the performance of the V6 version, I don’t think you’d want any less power. This car was donated to a charity, and they put some effort into fixing it up to sell. It has rebuilt heads, a new water pump, a new fuel pump, and a new power steering line, which is a repair I remember doing to the one we had. With only 92,000 miles, it should have a lot of life left. The one we had was still running fine at a whopping 365,000 miles, but we gave up and sold it due to electrical issues.
The Pathfinder got an updated interior in ’94, along with the Hardbody pickups, with a new dashboard and a driver’s side airbag. We only get this one photo of the interior, but it looks pretty good. And the seller says the air conditioning works fine.
Outside, it has some dings and scrapes, but I think in an SUV this age you just call those “character.” Being from the desert, it shouldn’t have any rust underneath. I still like the styling of these old Pathfinders, both two- and four-door models. It looks purposeful, but not tough for tough’s sake.
2002 Ford Explorer XLS – $2,800
Engine/drivetrain: 4.0-liter OHC V6, five-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Henderson, NV
Odometer reading: 104,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Tell someone to picture an SUV, and chances are it will be some flavor of Ford Explorer. Since its introduction in 1990, the Explorer has been a fixture on the roads. These days, since it has replaced the Crown Victoria as the de facto cop car in much of the country, it’s not a car you always want to see on the road, especially in your rearview mirror. But a beige one like this, from a couple generations back, doesn’t scare anybody.
The third-generation Explorer was an all-new design, larger than its predecessor, and featuring an independent rear suspension for a more comfortable ride. The base engine, a single overhead-cam version of the 4.0-liter Cologne V6, and the 5R55 automatic transmission, were carried over from the previous generation. Unfortunately, the SOHC Cologne engine uses a stupid and failure-prone timing chain arrangement, and as far as I can tell, these transmissions are made of Silly Putty and good intentions. This one runs and drives well at the moment, according to the seller, and it has only a little over 100,000 miles on it. It should have some life left in it. And some of these never have timing chain or transmission problems at all.
It’s the basic XLS model, so it’s a little utilitarian inside, but it’s in good shape. It does have power windows and locks and all that good stuff, as well as air conditioning, which works. A lot of these had three rows of seats; I don’t know if this one does or not. If it does, the third row is folded down in the photos.
It’s really clean outside as well, though it looks like there’s a little damage to the quarter panel behind the right rear wheel. Since it’s the base model, it has plain gray plastic bumpers and black door handles, and it’s lacking that cool keypad on the driver’s door to unlock it. That’s a feature that you never think you’re going to use until you have it, and then when you no longer have it, you miss it.
Obviously, since they’re only two-wheel-drive, neither one of these is going to be suitable for hitting the trails. But only a tiny percentage of SUVs ever see any terrain more rugged than a gravel parking lot anyway, and if it doesn’t snow where you live, why deal with the extra maintenance and mileage penalty of 4WD? These will both do everything any other SUV will do – haul, tow, and eat up highway miles – as long as you don’t drive on anything too slippery. And they’re significantly cheaper than their 4WD counterparts. Which one would you pick?
Red, rad, and manual vs acres of gray.
Hmmmm.
What to do, what to do?
Went with the Pathfinder. I liked those old ones. The 2 door thing would get old but 5spd would be fun. I couldn’t really buy either though. We just got 5 feet of new snow last week and RWD is not much fun here.
The Pathfinder is also 4 doors. They just did a great job of making a 4 door look like a 2 door.
Oh yeah. The hidden side handle. I do like that look.
The Ford is probably the better deal between the two, but I’d keep the Nissan around. You don’t need 4WD for light off-road, and the Pathfinder would work great.
Being a ford guy for most of my life, im going with the Nissan. Reason im not a Ford guy? That era the exploder came from
A 2wd SUV is like a stud horse without balls. What’s the point? It’s just a worse station wagon at that point.
The Explorer would probably be better if you’re not a “car nut” and just want to haul people and crap around. But I’d check out all the problem points (which can include a whining differential, IIRC). As for me, I’ll take the Pathfinder, just cuz it has a 5 speed and is more interesting in general.
4WD? I don’t need no stinkin’ 4WD!
I had a ’95 Gen-2 Explorer equipped new with the Firestone “Exploder” tires. It left me stranded on a family vacation halfway between Beatty and Tonopah, pretty much the definition of nowhere, when the idler arm pulley disintegrated. Fool me once, so just no. I’ll take the Pathfinder, even though that interior doesn’t exactly look “pretty good” in the photo.
Those old Pathfinders look great, and I think that is my least favorite Explorer generation so make mine the Nissan.
As resident of MN for 35 years, I don’t think 4wd isn’t strictly necessary, but I can’t bring myself to buy a 2WD SUV because I imagine it would be difficult to sell and I haven’t kept many vehicles for very long. In the last 10yrs I think there was only 1 snow storm that kept my wife from being able to head to work, and my Suburban could make it out of the driveway but at that point the whole city is shutdown anyway and we can walk to a grocery store… What else do you need?
Former Mn. resident here as well.
Usually went snow skiing all over the state and Wisconsin as well every winter weekend.
Our experience was that 4WD was not really needed, except in extreme weather.
And don’t recall ever getting stuck either on the roads, or in a snowbank either.
Later moved to the mountains of Colorado. Skied everywhere there.
Never needed or owned a 4WD at all.
People have become conditioned to think 4WD is required in a new car, for the most part. YMMV as always.
I am preaching to the choir but tires are much more important, in the snow storm that kept my wife from going to work I had to help dig out a guy in a newer f150 with 4WD, you could tell he was extremely frustrated but the truck was still wearing shitty factory tires.
On a ski trip in Colorado I once stayed in an Airbnb that required 4wd to reach because the road that serviced the house wasn’t regularly or promptly plowed, otherwise we would have been fine.
Good points made. To me tires are the key to winter driving, and safety. Of course knowledge and experience are also very important as well.
BTW I do believe 4WD does have its own advantages in Colorado winter weather. Yet experience and common sense feels almost as important to your safety and survival as 4WD can be.
Please know that in my previous comments I was not bragging about being just fine driving a 2WD vehicle. There is a lot of luck involved, as well as being cautious.
But decent tires have been the key to staying safe and on the move.
We stayed at my sister’s home in Breckenridge. They had a 4WD SUV that could not make it up the hill to get out of her driveway. It had cheap crap OEM tires on it.
Our little Toyota truck 2WD was able to do it just fine.
Good tires are our friend.
I’m definitely trusting yesteryear Nissan reliability over yesteryear Ford reliability. Pathfinder for the win.
I didn’t even have to read the article but did just in case. Yeah, the import manual all day long.
(My ex-wife had a 2WD Cherokee for many years, zero options. Manual, 2 door, 2WD, cassette stereo, steel wheels. I still enjoyed it, except for the death wobble that I didn’t know what that was in the 90s.)
I’ve had both. Quite a few years out of the next gen pathfinder, great comfortable SUV, just the right size too.
OTOH I took on a 2wd Explorer XLS on as a project, exactly spec’d like this one (seriously, same colors, year, eveyrthing. It ran, but had the dreaded chain rattle and having done a couple timing jobs, I figured this would be pretty straightforward.
Wrong. Engine has to come out because chain is at the back, at least the one that tends to be problematic. Once the engine is out, the timing job requires a special tool/jig which is both ungainly and rather difficult to align right. None of the gears or shafts are keyed, so it’s careful measurement and guesswork while hoping nothing gets shifted out of place while you’re torquing the cam sprockets down (those bolts the only thing holding them in place since its not keyed…). NO markings on shafts, sprockets, or chains. Maintaining 30* off TDC while torquing 100ftlbs on one hand (and countertorquing with the other best you can)… not fun.
It didn’t end well. I must have gotten one of the measurements or torque wrong and it went boom on startup. Shame because the rest of the car was in excellent condition.
tl;dr — Explorer if the chain doesn’t rattle and the oil has been changed regularly it’s a good deal. Tons of room to haul stuff and aside from the timing chain issue, these are pretty solid. The Nissan isn’t bad either — I’d personally take that one for the manual and rad factor.
It’s almost like they engineered it to last just as long as the warranty.
Surely no company is that cynical…
BMW E9X sez “hold my beer”.
The Explorer’s interior reminds me of the era when Ford controls were simple, ergonomic, and consistent across most of their line. I could operate that HVAC drunk, blindfolded, and missing most of the fingers on my right hand. Let me (again) curse touchscreens.
The Ford is otherwise generic in all ways. Not that it’s bad, and a good price for what it is, but not a chance against the Nissan.
5-speed Nissan in a heartbeat. Good price, assuming the non-profit cared for all the broken bits.
Wasn’t this the generation of Exploders where every single one developed a crack in that plastic panel below the rear window? Don’t see these around much anymore but for a while they were everywhere – and they were all cracked. Strangely this one doesn’t seem cracked, or they fixed it once already.
LOL I looked too — shocked this doesn’t have it, maybe from living in vegas its whole life…in the northeast they’re all cracked.
That was my 1st thought…it’s not cracked!
Must have been garage kept.
Most of the one I see down here in the South are cracked.
Pathfinder would make a mediocre street truck canyon carver or pre runner build. That ford ohc v6 engine is a nightmare from a maintenance perspective.
Pathfinder all the way.
Having had one of those Pathfinders with 4wd, never again. The quality was horrible.
Edit: Also, it does not drive as well as anyone here seems to think it will.
I had a Pathfinder from this era and I also had the unfortunate experience of having to drive a similar Explorer while helping someone move. Let me tell you, the Pathfinder might not have had spectacular driving dynamics, but at least it didn’t put me into a miserable depression like the Explorer did.
I’m trying really hard to pick one even when they both suck. I’d take the Exploder if it was 4WD, mostly because it’s a lot nicer inside. With 4WD it would make a good blizzard beast.
But with RWD, I’ll take the Nissan, because it has a manual transmission and probably drives a little bit like a small car.
I’m happy to serve as The Autopian’s Las Vegas-based commenter. I’d buy that Pathfinder in a hot second if I needed an SUV. But I’m entirely content with my FWD Mazda CX-5, which was indeed easier to find for sale hereabouts than it would have been in the northlands.
Blowout incoming, for sure. Old school Pathfinder with a manual? Yes, please.
I very much do not like that generation of Explorer. I don’t like it mechanically. I don’t love the way it looks. The interior is pretty terrible (this one held up well, but its a pretty creaky, plasticy place to be based on my experience). That upholstery is super miserable too.
The Pathfinder at least looks like fun.
While my vote went to the Pathfinder because of its stout drive train, at these prices, I definitely would have went for “both” today. Both are rust free, analog examples with robust chassis, and especially in the Explorers case, a good cheap parts stream should you need repairs or decide to convert to 4wd. Gimme both!
I wish the Pathfinder was a 2-door because the styling is so much more interesting. But I’ll still take it over the Exploder.
Agreed. A former co-worker had a first gen 2-door 4×4 with a manual in this Nissan red color. Pretty much an Autopian poster car. We squeezed five adults in it frequently for going out for lunch. Rear seat access isn’t bad for occasional use, but would definitely become tiresome for hauling kids daily.
Nissan it is. Since I have to pick one, it might as well be the one that benefits charity. Also, it would be a good working on stuff truck. Plenty of space in the back and no worrying about junking it up.
So… It was really a 2-Runner?
I think I actually made that joke at the time.
Toyota made the joke.
Or the ‘PreRunner’
Hardbody Pathfinder with a manual? Winner. Sure it needs a 4×4 modification but it will be the better SUV for truck things. Plus it looks so much better.
Having had a few Z31 300ZXs with the same engine, I voted for the Pathfinder. It’s not gonna blow your socks off, but it’s a stout and reliable engine, and it seems like this one, with the work it’s had and only 92k should last you a good while. Plus it’s just cooler looking than the Explorer.
I would be a bit leery with ‘rebuilt heads’ on a supposedly 92k vehicle.