Nissan plays a bold game when it attempts to portray the Pathfinder as a rival to the Land Rover Discovery. I could be wrong here - it would not be for the first time - but I find it difficult to imagine any potential buyer seriously contemplating the merits of one over the other. If you're tempted by the Discovery's brand kudos and its luxury-car interior, you're likely to be seriously disappointed by what the Pathfinder offers in both areas.Remove the Discovery from your consideration, though, and the Pathfinder emerges as a very appealing, if slightly old-school, recent entry to the SUV market. Right from the start of this test the Nissan was already making a strong case for itself, and by the time I handed it back I was feeling exceptionally well-disposed towards it.That distinctly non-luxury interior may not be Nissan's best effort, but it's comfortable and spacious. Practical, too. All Pathfinders other than the entry-level S model have seven seats arranged in three rows, and as long as you're no more than six feet tall you'll have no problem sitting even in the hindmost.Access to the third row is impressively easy once you've found the lever which makes the second-row seats fold in half and then hinge forwards. In fact, the seating arrangement can be altered with very little trouble. After converting the Pathfinder into a two-seat load carrier (in which mode it has a 2091-litre capacity with a completely flat floor) and transporting an enormous amount of luggage in it, two of us then spent little over a minute turning it back into a seven-seater with minimal effort.You can buy a Pathfinder with a four-litre V6 petrol engine, but - as Alan Douglas pointed out in his launch report of that model - this is worth considering only if you are of such means as to be able treat today's fuel prices with scorn. The turbo diesel alternative is far more attractive. This is essentially the same engine as found in the X-Trail, but expanded here from 2.2 to 2.5 litres with a resulting power increase to 172bhp.With this amount of grunt available, the Pathfinder can be made to go pretty quickly, but fast motoring is not its home territory. The true effect of the power is to make medium-speed driving a relaxed process and provide efficient overtaking when required. Although the engine isn't especially quiet - it makes its presence known even when you're simply cruising along - it doesn't sound quite as rattly as other large diesels, though once again it hardly bears comparison with the much more elegant V6 in the diesel Discovery.Similarly, the handling feels fairly agricultural at first, but after a while you realise that the considerable suspension movement is dealt with quite well. Where other SUVs might lurch into corners, the Pathfinder leans into them, and having done so it displays a decent amount of grip, all things considered. The steering is sufficiently assisted to need no more than fingertip touch on the wheel, but not so much as to make you feel you're losing contact with the road surface.The test car's T-Spec trim level is the highest available, and the price tag of £30,660 (£1700 less than you'd pay if you wanted five-speed manual rather than six-speed automatic transmission) takes into uncomfortable psychological territory - this does not really feel like a car that should cost more than £30,000.Still, you get a lot of kit for the money. DVD satellite navigation is standard, as are Xenon headlamps with their own washers and an electric tilt-and-slide sunroof. This is all in addition to the equipment shared with the less expensive SVE, including side steps, leather upholstery, front seat adjustment memory, cruise control, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlamps and interior mirror dimming facility, the Intelligent Key system shared with Nissan's alliance partner Renault and separate air-conditioning controls for rear passengers. Engine 2488cc, 4 cylinders Power 172bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 31.4mpg / 238g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 11.5 seconds Top speed 109mph Price £30,660 Release date 15/05/2010
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