Hello from North East Pennsylvania

[MrOlaf]

Hello, I recently purchased the 2013 Nissan NV Passenger

• Graphite Blue
• SL Trim
• Technology Package
• Towing Package
• Body Side Moldings
• Splash Guards
• Rear Carpeted Floor Mats
• Hood Protector

The Animals

• Twin boys, 17 Months
• Girl, 12 Years
• Girl, 11 Years
• Girl, 9 Years
• Dog, 8 years
• Dog, 4 Years

 

We were in the market for a vehicle that could carry 5 kids and yet still have trunk space to carry our 2 dogs.  Sadly it seems that as soon as you utilize 3rd row seating trunk space is next to nothing.  I found the NV and my wife was hesitant as it's not the prettiest.  Although not having to climb over each other get into you seats has changed her mind.

So far I've been pretty happy with my purchase.  I did have some minor issues but the dealer was more than happy to fix them.  The first problem was that one of the adhesive pads that mounts the hood protector on came loose and also I had an issue with the clips that hold the plastic entry on the side door.  The plastic entry didn't come loose but when you stepped toward the rear of the entry you could hear it pop.

 

 

[foyboy99]

I have one sitting out in the Quigley lot to be 4xd..  It is a replacement for my 2004 Express (Quigley)that I am getting tired of.

I bought a loaded SL pass. because on my last van I went manual door locks,manual windows,standard grill/lights,and just 2 3x seats. But also did the Quigley 4x4 just like my 89 chevy before that.I could not do the back road driving that I like to do camping ,hunting, BoyScouting.dunebuggying. I do not like being in upstate PA without 4x4. Did the Nissan dealer talk you into interior/exterior protection???

[MrOlaf]

He didn't mention much, at least not the salesmen.  When talking to the paperwork guy (official title? eh?)  That's when they started going through the options of what is covered and what is not and then mentioned that stuff they can spray on.  I got middle of the road warranty, no fancy fabric or paint protections really.  Do you recommend those options??.  I kinda feel like if I did get a mark from bird crap or something that I wouldn't be bothering in making the time to get it "repaired" anyways.  It's been a hassle enough to take it back down to get a new glue pad for the hood protector and now I have to wait for a new side door entry step thingy.  That was a reason I wanted the hood protector / bug guard.  I noticed on my sante fe and my wifes suv that the hood does get a bunch of chips while my 2001 dodge ram with a bug guard has no visible marks on the hood.

 

I traded in my 2007 Sante Fe which had AWD and was awesome in the snow.  I literally only got stuck once in mud as all 4 tires sank into marshy grass in a field.  In fact right before I traded it in I used my tow hooks to pull 3 cars out of snow this year with all the snow storms.

 

Not having 4x4 was one of my major gripes with this vehicle but there isn't much that compares to this vehicle (chevy, ford etc) in terms of look and function.  

It's cool that there is a company out there that can do the aftermarket 4x4. Right now that is out of my price range and to be honest I get nervous screwing around with transmission stuff  now.  

 

The transmission went on my 2001 dodge ram and it has less than 60k.  I got it repaired and it runs and everything but occasionally you hear a weird noise in reverse (that of course the transmission place can figure out what that is)  and it feels a little different when driving.  I don't know, I'm definitely not a motorhead guy so who knows.  Replacing the transmission just didn't feel like brand new, ya know?  

 

I don't travel off road (yet? :-) ) but if i do I will have to take a look into them.  I also figure that if the roads are that bad that I would need 4x4 I should just stay off of them and not endanger all the kids as even if I did have 4x4 not all the other cars on the road do and some people drive like nut bags trying to make up for that fact.  

 

The major purpose for this vehicle was a solution for our summer travels.  We have a trailer on lake Cayuga in NY and we would typically have to take 2 vehicles and my wife can't drive long with out nearly falling asleep at the wheel.  Also summer vacations to the beach will be a lot easier now that we won't be squishing 2 car seats and 2 kids onto a bench seat in the crew cab of the dodge ram.  Not to mention having a car seat behind my driver seat meant that I could literally rest my elbows on the steering wheel as I drove.  

 

Right now we are still tinkering with the seating configurations to see what will be best.  Right now I have 2 seats from the back row removed to allow room for storage of groceries and a stroller and if we have to transport of the dogs.  Since we are not taking the dogs anywhere until summer I think I will reconfigure it so that the 4 seats stay in the back and remove 2nd row entirely and move the 1st row back for more leg room.  That way the girls can all sit in the back where we can't hear them and the car seats can be side by side and still have an extra seat on that row and the last row.

 

I'm also interested in seeing what roof racks are available (ideally for luggage) and I'd also like to get a bambi bumper (brush,grille guard?  there doesn't seem to be a definite name for these)  If I ever do get some type of grille guard I would like a winch to help make up for the lack of 4x4 if I ever did get stuck in heavy mud or snow as I don't expect I can rock this beast back and forth out of a mud hole, lol.