I have to say that it seems pretty damn cool to me...will probly be even MORE reliable and well put together since it share a common platform with so many other of the Nissan trucks...and...the Titan/Armada/Fronty will all have been on the road for up to a year before the '05 X comes out...so hopefully if there are any bugs they can get worked out with them!! All that being said I AM tempted to trade in my '00 for an '05(damn my X sounds OLD now!!!) but I think I will just try to take good care of my current best friend and it will soon be a "classic" in the truck world....Now how many years old does your truck need to be before it qualifies for an "antique" license plate???

20. By then we'll have flying cars rite??

Overall, I like it. I'm glad they didn't go too radical. To me, body lines say "Xterra" at first glance. I'd like to see a rear mounted spare come back. Not crazy about the fenders/wheel openings. Looks a little too "Avalanche or 4Runner" for my taste. Like everyone else, can't wait to see what the new engine's like. And please keep it affordable!!!

First impressions say "Grand Cherokee" to me,
I like all the new features, can't say I like "bigger" though.Probably heavier too.

The Xterra grows up! Bigger, better, more powerful! I believe the increase in price is expected which would target a higher income bracket class and die-hard Nissan enthusiasts. Overall, Nissan did a good job re-inventing the Xterra from what I read and saw from pictures. I'm sold just from the engine alone! And did someone mention, No Torsion Bars? If I ever trade in my '01, I also hope the roof rack have a heavier load capacity!

2005 Xterra: Everything I need, but not enough to give up my 2001 X!

My 2 cents,

After seeing the new Frontier, this is kinda how I thought it would look. It's a freash look no doubt, I dont really care for where the gas filler is. Also I think that it's a little big, reminds me of the Armada, sad part is now all the Nissan Trucks, wil look very simalir.

There appear to be screws there, right on the sides of the basket, beside the rack bars.

I guess the sun-roof problem is still there huh .

Nope, no sunroof option anymore.

No sunroof = no problem

Though I do enjoy mine in the summer.

Looks like Sean's Clear Deflector Sales will be going out of business!! Thats what you get Yankee fan scum!!

First impression. The front end looked pretty similiar to the Ford Explorer.

Anyone know if the interior bike rack still works or in fact even the Raingler interior nets?

I don't like it. It's morphing into every other SUV out there.

I kinda hate that it doesn't have a sun-roof option. It may seem pretty worthless to most people, but here in AZ it is nice to leave it open during the day to let the heat out. Wonder if someone could put an aftermark one in (without the basket in of course).

Dig in.

now that is funny...

Hmmm...

The electronic transfer case. Well I'd really like to see exactly what they went with. When GM first started with the push-button type, it was really just the same transfercase as before, only where the linkage used to hook up there was an electric stepper motor. I like the same t-case idea, and the motor does have the advantage of being direct mounted ie; no linkage to get knocked/popped of in extreme 4X4 conditions. Admittedly at first I was skeptical of the reliabilty, but the great thing was, the shifter shaft stuck right thru the motor... no matter what happened to the motor, you could always put a wrench on the shaft, and shift into whatever you needed. I liked that feature, but I doubt we'll see it like that anymore. Still I worried, but as the years went by, I noticed that I worked on a lot more 4X4's with linkage/shifter problems than I ever did electrical ones... So I guess I'm ok with it.

Now for our beloved X, what I don't want to see is some air or fluid shifted unit controlled via solenoid valves (or heaven forbid huge electro-magnetic clutches...). Not just yet anyway. I know they work ok in the auto trans but I'm still just a little skeptical.

Heck, I guess we can live with just about everything. The new X has no throttle cable, just electronics, and if you can trust it to run the throttle, why not the t-case too?
MV

I for myself, don't really like it. It sure looks good, but aside from the X typical bump on the top, it's nothing short of a pathy. It lost most of it's uniqueness and bad boy looks. I think the round headlights served it a lot better. And I'm not sure that off raod talking, bigger is really better. I must admit that everything but the looks makes me jalous tought! But I'd still keep my 03 X over this one... and i'm not even thinking about the pricetag!

For the looks: BIG
For the new features:

I think it's a swell evolution of our rugged, quick to market, little ute.

I like the interior door handles, the frontier wheelflare inspired rivety things on the dash instrument panel, but I don't particularly like the wheel.

The new roofrack looks really sweet.

I like the rear step thing to get to the roof, because it's really hard to balance on the tire without the parking brake on when you are trying to get a bike on your roofrack.

I'm a big fan of the new grille. There, I said it. Might not lend itself to aftermarket ARBs, but I think it is very slick without using any chrome.

The bigger fender flares, sweet.

The rear hump, good to see it stayed, along with the goofy rear window.

The spare seems to be sitting up higher, cool.

Now is this thing going to have a third row of seats? EVERYONE else does, personally, I hope not.

bigger tires, cool, more intimidating.

all in all, I likey, except maybe the headlights. Too generic.

I like the interior and exterior door handles too.

This is what happens when you have a little time to design your vehicle. I think they did a good job incorporating our requests.

Pull E Brake.
Bigger more powerful engine
lose the gay gauges
allowing bigger wheels
better front suspension
better rear diff (well, we didn't really ask for that one)

I think this will be an even better performer off road, despite the non manual transfer case. That they just made easier for the majority of people who have problems with a manual T case that they probably use once every year or so.

I like it. I told the wife about it and she will probably get one eventually. (I'll keep hers)

It needs a REAR LOCKER. Seriously, Toyota has been doing it for years in the TRD, do it!

Price , better be below 30k loaded.

Good job on keeping solid rear end on it.

I like the Basket.

I DON'T like the electric shift crap, like IAN said, "Never trust a button to do the job of a lever."

If it looked more like this I might have been interested.

Yesterday I loved it...today, I don't know. I'm going to have to agree with the last post. I dig the old front end.

I just picture many more soccer moms driving this and the rest of us keeping ours. Everyone I've showed it too loves it but that's a bad thing because that means it looks like all the other yuppie crap that everyone likes.

I don't like it, sucks. Oh well, to each his own.

My gut says the same thing about the electric transfer case, but my real experience with my Xterras says for me the electric is better:

* Shift on the fly up to 55

* Auto mode- which is great in patchy ice/ snow, which is the only way we seem to get it here. Any time in these conditions I wanted to switch from 2h to 4h, I couldn't because I was going over 25.

Off road, I think a lever and manual hubs reigns supreme, but for combined use, I'm willing to go w/ the electric. It has been on the Pathy and Armada for a while now, and I have yet to hear a complaint.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the '05. It's only a fraction longer, and the overhangs are shorter, so approach/ departure should improve.

I just hope we get the locker option, and a clutch start cancel for the manuals.

Get rid of those horrible rear bumper steps on the side and I'm sold!

It's a part-time system, there is no auto mode.

That's actually one of the things I *DO* like about it.

...seriously considering my own 'side-step' mod.....