2024 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek Review: The Cost Of Driving Confidence

SUVs in recent years fit into two distinct categories: vehicles that are essentially trucks without a bed and vehicles that are just tall station wagons. The 2024 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek sort of bridges that gap, or at least it makes a valiant effort at the attempt. The off-roadification of the Pathfinder and the "Rock Creek" edition signifies that this Nissan has done it's best to take the "mall" out of mall crawler and give the Pathfinder, a family-oriented SUV, something akin the to Subaru Wilderness Edition treatment.

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Underneath the rugged exterior, the Pathfinder Rock Creek is a Pathfinder SV, the middle trim of the lineup. Per Nissan, you get a 5/8th of an inch suspension lift, 18-inch wheels, the most aggressive Toyo tires I've ever seen on a family-SUV, captains chairs for the second row, a roof rack with a 220-pound capacity, badges absolutely everywhere, orange stitching, and a distinctive front grille and fascia. You also get 295 horsepower from its 3.5-liter V6 (if you opt for premium fuel). 

As goofy as the idea may sound written out. It really does work from an aesthetic standpoint. The Pathfinder Rock Creek, especially when finished in the aptly named "Gun Metallic" looks great and wouldn't look out of place as a support car for the Dakar Rally or some other exotic rally locale.

But does it live up to the off-road persona? Mechanically, the Pathfinder is vastly different from other off-road giants like the Jeep Wrangler or Ford Bronco. For instance, the Pathfinder doesn't have locking differentials, selectable four-wheel drive gearing, detachable sway bars, a factory installed winch, or detachable doors. The Pathfinder Rock Creek doesn't exist within a vacuum. Author A. W. Tozer says "Nothing is complete in itself but requires something outside itself in order to exist." Nissan's play in the off-road game is informed by others that came before it. Without vehicles like the Wrangler Rubicon or even Toyota's TRD Pro cars, the Rock Creek trim at best wouldn't make any sense and at worst wouldn't exist.

The lack of dedicated off-roading or rock crawling features, however, doesn't mean the Nissan is worthless anywhere but firmly planted on pavement, quite the opposite in fact. To the average driver, selectable drive modes may seem like a gimmick. A large portion of people will just plant the selector knob into "AUTO" and cease to think about it ever again. For the majority of my time with the Pathfinder, that's exactly what I did.

When inclement weather struck and several inches of snow decided to materialize and cover the entirety of Southern Pennsylvania, I decided to see what Nissan's mean-looking SUV was capable of. I slapped the selector into "SNOW" mode and went out in search of unplowed parking lots. Once the appropriate parking lot was acquired, I did the prerequisite sawing of the steering wheel and blipped the throttle to try and make the Pathfinder lose its grip and start going sideways. That trick has always worked in the number of tired old pickup trucks or beater cars I've driven in the snow.

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But, much to my pleasant surprise, the Nissan didn't balk at Jack Frost's gift North of the Mason Dixon. I was expecting to fly around the parking lot sideways and instead I got a very neat circle as the Nissan seemed to completely ignore the snow and go on its merry way. Whatever mechanical witchcraft was occurring inside the Pathfinder's 9-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive system seemed to figure out what was happening with the snow and behave accordingly. It was perfectly boring. That can seem like a knock on its credibility but you don't want your car to behave unpredictably when you hit inclement weather or decide that cleared roadways aren't for you. You want the car to go where you tell it to.

The mechanical aspects that set the Nissan apart from the aforementioned Wrangler mean that you might not be able to drive it up the side of ravine on your way home from the dealership. But you can be reasonably confident in its ability to handle driving in the snow. That's not to say you can just slam into a snow drift at any moment while driving and expect to be fine. The Nissan won't appreciate that, and local emergency services won't either. The ground was frozen most of the time so I was not able to test the Rock Creek's "SAND" or "MUD/RUT" driving modes, nor did I test its 6,000 pound towing capacity.

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Given the fact that most people don't always feel the desire to blast around the snow/mud/sand/etc. in their SUV, especially with a load of grocery trips in the back or children in the car, it bears recounting how the Pathfinder Rock Creek behaves when doing normal SUV-activities. I can say that you are definitely reminded of its knobby off-road tires on the highway as driving with the pace of traffic is accompanied by the tell-tale humming of tires that would rather be somewhere else. This trim does not come with a premium sound system as standard, so you will just have to live with it, unfortunately. While the transmission handles the snow swimmingly, it doesn't always appreciate hard driving. The gearbox can get confused while punching the accelerator and then letting off the pedal while merging onto the highway, resulting in a few seconds of the engine howling while the RPMs slowly drop.

From a functionality standpoint, it accomplished SUV-centric tasks swimmingly. I used it to help a friend of mine move to a new house and it managed to swallow an impressive amount of furniture, a printer, and a computer monitor with the two back rows of seats folded down. Additionally, the Pathfinder was entrusted with the greatly important job of ferrying a crockpot of macaroni and cheese and a tray of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets (yes, really) to a movie night. Despite what the noise from the tires would have you believe, the ride quality itself was actually very smooth. I'm pleased to report that the macaroni and cheese, plus the chicken nuggets survived the trip unscathed.

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As a family SUV doing family SUV things, it excelled. For what it's worth, my 60-year old father loved the Pathfinder. Plus, a friend of mine who drives dump trucks and heavy equipment for a living, sung the praises of the interior, pointing out how spacious the driver's seat was compared to his wife's older Hyundai Santa Fe's cockpit. I am over six-feet tall and I found it very comfortable to drive from an ergonomic point of view. While off-roading and mudding enthusiasts could accuse the Pathfinder Rock Creek of being soft, regular people seemed to find riding in it a treat. Whether it's the novelty of riding in a new and fancy car, or genuine sentiment towards the quality of the vehicle, it's still worth noting.

With the optional extras of Rock Creek-branded floor liners and mats covering every square inch of the interior totalling $340 and a $1,335 destination charge, the 2024 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek will set you back $45,305 at the Nissan dealer. Comparatively a base model Pathfinder carries an MSRP of $36,080. Is it worth the extra cost to look cool and stand a little taller than all the other Nissans? That's up to you. But I think it is. 

While its bark may outweigh its bite from a purely mechanical off-roading functionality standpoint, that doesn't detract from the fact that it looks downright cool and you feel cool driving it. Perhaps it's my inner 12-year old speaking but I felt like I was driving an armored personnel carrier whenever I hopped behind the wheel of the Nissan. It's big and imposing in a way that feels diametrically opposed to the fact it's just a mom-SUV with a lift kit and really beefy tires.

Lastly, there's the Nissan's tendency to drink fuel like it's going out of style. To get the most power, Nissan recommends premium fuel, which isn't cheap. Nissan says the Pathfinder Rock Creek accomplishes an estimated 20 miles per gallon in the city, 23 miles per gallon on the highway and a 21 miles per gallon combined. Fortunately, 21 mpg was just about right for the majority of my time behind the wheel, but it could drop as low as 12 miles per gallon when it was forcing its way through the snow, or when I was heavy on the accelerator.

Looking good is a purpose in its own right and I firmly believe the 2024 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek accomplishes that grand purpose for its existence. The rocky deserts of Utah or plodding up the side of Mt. Rainier might not be the natural home of the Rock Creek. But if you want something that looks like it could feasibly exist in those places while hauling a dresser home from the antique store or ferrying around a bunch of children or pets, the Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek is there if you need it.