2019 NISSAN PATHFINDER

Bob, friends don’t let friends tow with CVT cars.

kellem wrote:
A Durango with the 5.7 Hemi would prove a formidable TV......gas mileage? Ehh

I think an Ecodiesel Durango would be a great tow vehicle with terrific mpg. I'm not a Mopar guy but I wonder if that motor has a future in the Durango.

A Durango with the 5.7 Hemi would prove a formidable TV......gas mileage? Ehh

Bionic Man wrote:
Of the three vehicles you listed, the Durango is far and away the best tow vehicle. And I would argue it makes a very good DD as well. Skip the V6, and find a Hemi.

This is my feeling as well.

A Durango would be a perfect fit as a tow vehicle for the camper you have listed. Either engine will do the job, the 3.6 V6 will need some rpms on the hills though. I would choose the Hemi if I was buying it, but we have the same V6 in our van and it's a good engine. I know the price jumps for the V8.

Just make sure it has whatever cooling/tow package they offer.

A long time friend of mine is a mechanic at a Nissan dealer. He has replaced a lot of CVT's. I would not buy one for towing. Which is a shame because we have had a lot of good luck with earlier Nissans (Sentra and Xterra).

Of the three vehicles you listed, the Durango is far and away the best tow vehicle. And I would argue it makes a very good DD as well. Skip the V6, and find a Hemi.

Transmsission engineers have dreamed of the perfect belt drive CVT for years ... you are trying to control a steel on steel friction interface between belt and two sets of variators. Both parts have to be heat treated to very high hardness and the variator surfaces need to be ground and polished to a tightly controlled surface finsih specificaiton. You put a very high pressure pump on the transmission and use hydraulc pressure to set clamping force and always make sure that you don't undershoot on force because the slightest slip of the belt destroys the variator surface. My opinion, the perfect belt drive CVT doesn't exist. The only CVT I care for is the hybrid powersplit designs used by Ford and Toyota as they use a gear set and electric generator to set ratio.

My first rule is real automatic transmissions have a torque converter, at least one one way-clutch, and transfer torque via planetary gear sets.

We looked at a Pathfinder, and they look great, and the interiors are awesome. My wife was ready to take it home on the spot, and googling Pathfinder problems found all kinds of tranny issues.
They weren’t holding up under normal use. No way I’d tow with one.

DO NOT count on that CVT to tow your trailer reliably! The belts just can't tolerate much heat from the belt-to-pulley interface. They've gotten around this simply by making it go into limp mode at any sign of temps climbing. Stick with a regular torque-converter automatic for towing.

Google research tells a lengthy tale of CVT transmission woe's within the Nissan line beginning in 2000. Nissan extended the warranty for many who suffered tranny issues. I can find no current info however. One would hope the problem is resolved but I am not sure. Since I will be towing 3,600 pounds , if I buy, I will be also buying the extended warranty which is cheaper than same for Ford Explorer or Ranger. Makes me wonder if it is still a problem?

Google Nissan CVT problems.