Been there and done that before with the wife. Keeping my X as well. She can do whatever she wants with her 11' Pathfinder.

 

My wife absolutely refuses to drive my 6MT. Anywhere we go in the X I'm the driver. To me, the clutch feels completely comfortable after all these years.

 

Agreed the clutch is so natural, but I have had friends who are very used to driving a clutch (grew up on them like I did, I drove only manual 77' Celica and 84' 300ZX until 1992 first slush box) that thought it was tricky. I think because it is a much more advanced clutch than the old school hydrolic ones that it is more sensitie. Tried to teach my nephew on it no way, he picked up on my 300ZX in a few hours.

 

Hi, just curious..I want to "hugely upgrade" the audio in my 06 as you have. Can I ask what brand components you installed, how happy you are with the sound, and if you redid the audio upgrade again, what would you change, if anything? Just looking for tips before I start my upgrade..TIA!

 

If I may... I'll chip in on this one.

I recently "hugely upgraded" my '05 SE with (first and foremost) an Android head unit. If you do go that route, spend the extra cash for an Atoto, Joying, or a higher end "el cheapo" from Amazon. The first one I got was advertised as an 8-core Android 13, and it was very much NOT that. Be ready to run a diagnostic app on it right out of the box, and if its not what they say it is, get your money back. That said, an Android unit is SO worth it. It's basically a Samsung tablet that you can plug n play into your car audio. No Android Auto or Apple Carplay, you actually run apps like Toque, Chrome, anything from Google Play Store. No limits. Love mine.
For the power, I got a great deal on a Kicker 360 watt (RMS) amp that actually tested at 439 watts. It's perfect in my eyes, but I'm far from a car audio guru. I just went with the best deal for the best mid-range wattage and channel options. Here it is on the Crutchfield site: Kicker 46CXA360.4T
For speakers, I went with Kenwoods for the doors and dash. The sub is an anomaly... I have a Renkus-Heinz CFX-121 that I borrowed from a church to weigh down a sign I was hauling 200 miles back to the shop. They never asked for it back so it sat in my garage for years. Then I found out those things are nearly $4000 new, so I thought I should use it somewhere.

With the 9-speaker system that the SE and Pro-4X has, the wiring in is pretty tricky, but it can be done. On stock systems it should be a piece of cake. I can literally feel the air moving in there when it's full-bore. Amazing.

 

tell the wife to drive the Benz and guilt trip her that she is making you trade in your "economy" vehicle.

I just drove a 5.0 F150 for a few days, and really beat on it. Was impressed how that big truck got up to speed. Got 16+ miles per gallon, 87 octane, chirping the tires everywhere. But, when I got back in the X it certainly felt more "tossable" and concluded a modern truck would not fit on any trails near me. f150 cabin felt like i was in a Humvee.

Wait for the "2025 Xterra" if that ever happens, or check out the new 4Runner.

 

check out the new 4Runner.

I read the new 4 runner has a longer wheelbase and worse approach and departure angles than the old 4-runner, which was also huge. I am not optimistic.

I was going to keep my Xterra forever, but gave it to my daughter to drive. I think I might buy another X if I can find a clean one. There hard to find that aren't either rusted out or molested.

 

Where are you located? I have seen many clean X's around here in Florida that you may be able to get a good deal on. As far as being molested... what are we discussing here? Lifted vs. non-lifted or just some random backyard run of the mill type crap that people usually see on FB marketplace?

 

My wife loves her 2022 Mazda CX-9, but when it was at the dealer for month long warrant repair of cracked cylinder head, she enjoyed my old 4runner and Xterra. Yeah, Xterra sits too high, is too loud and does not have heated seats and 10 speaker audio system, but has not cracked cylinder head yet.

 

@05XTERRA S yeah, that's pretty much how I ended up with 2 - my first, an SE, was supposed to be mine forever, and since we bought it 12 years ago we've cycled through the following:
07 Outback 5 speed, looked a year to find it (my wife wanted to go back to a manual) and after two years fighting with it, realized it had been in an unreported front end collision. Clean carfax, but nothing quite lined up right. After it got hit by a city bus while parked, we gave up and sold it to a mechanic

'14 Rogue with the Platinum package - super nice but I never got used to the CVT and it got stolen

'09 Hyundai Santa fe LTD, bought it in a hurry to replace the stolen Rogue, but if I knew how good these were, I would have bought one new, but we got this one used - oldest daughter is still driving it.

'06 Titan (still miss it, but not the right daily driver for me)

'17 Infiniti QX30 - sold this one at a profit during the Covid car shortage - without question the nicest car I've ever driven, or even been in. Just was a tiny bit too small, but man, I loved this car.

And now that the '10 SE saw both kids through high school, it's my wife's daily driver, and I have the Pro4X. I loved all those other cars, but in the end the Xterras do what we want, how we want it. The SE will probably go to my youngest next year when she moves off campus to finish up college, and my 5'2" wife wouldn't mind having something a bit less tall, so we'll see what the future brings, but until Grenadier money falls into my hands, these are the right rides for us.

 

I LOVE my X - so much so that it was part of my wedding last year. But every time I drive it lately (usually just a couple times a month) it becomes harder to enjoy, at least on the road lol. It's been beat up a ton, rattles literally like a bucket of bolts, has stiff rear leaves, no swaybar, and the wide tires in the normal-tire-sized ruts on the highway make it track all over the place. Worst of all, I'm sick of 12mpg @$5/gallon.

Unfortunately, I feel like you where nothing really piques my interest. The only thing that does is the new Toyota Land Cruiser. It's about the right size and gets 22-25mpg, but it's also pushing $70,000. I also can't imagine selling my X to anyone else - not only because it would be like watching your significant other with another person, but because I feel like I would be handing over an unstable deathtrap so an unsuspecting buyer. So I guess it is Xterra4lyfe

 

I LOVE my X - so much so that it was part of my wedding last year. But every time I drive it lately (usually just a couple times a month) it becomes harder to enjoy, at least on the road lol. It's been beat up a ton, rattles literally like a bucket of bolts, has stiff rear leaves, no swaybar, and the wide tires in the normal-tire-sized ruts on the highway make it track all over the place. Worst of all, I'm sick of 12mpg @$5/gallon.

Hahaha, I've kind of been feeling that and I'm not even close to as modded as you are. I parked next to stock X last weekend and commented to my partner "Aaaah, look how tiny it is! How cute." and he responded "Yeah, but I bet it rides better." lol big ouch.

But... not sure what else I'd want to replace it. 1st gen Sequoia would be sweet, but those are about 1.5 feet longer which is a LOT in the city. I'd probably get something smaller but I need the 5K towing capacity like, one or twice a year. Not sure what to do other than just keep DDing the thing

 

I hear you, it was odd when I went to drive that new Pathfinder Rock Creek I was totally expecting to fall in love with it, I had found a slightly used CPO one for $38k and just was so dissapointed. The sales guy could just see that I was not in love, That totally happpened to me in 2005 at Boardwalk Nissan who at the time was charging $3,500 more on the new X. So the rep suggested the QX60 that he had 2023 model for $11,500 off sticker (leftover). That felt like a minivan!

 

Wheelbase -
Xterra: 106.3
4Runner: 109.8

Length -
Xterra: 178.7
4Runner: 190.2 to 191.3 trim dependent

Width -
Xterra: 72.8
4Runner: 75.8

I see varying figures for track width but the general consensus is that the 5th gen 4Runner is wider.

Just pulled numbers off google. You are right there isn’t much of a wheelbase difference, but 3.5 inches is still noticeable. Otherwise the 4Runner is wider and much longer. Plus in its own skin, the 4Runner is much more bloated. We have a lot of width from our fenders bulging out, the 4Runner has thinner fender bulges from the body. The Xterra isn’t particularly big and I wouldn’t compare a 4Runner to it, at least not a 5th gen. Of course it’s no older 2 door jeep or Suzuki 4x4.

What I had noticed from wheeling with my buddy, same tire size. Granted I’m lifted 4 inches and he’s up 2, plus I got the tire stick out from the tswap. But he tends to be tighter in where I have the wiggle room, it’s noticeable size but nothin too crazy like shoving a full size down the trail

 

any chance that she hates it because of the 6mt? I mean unmodified the factory clutch feel is absolutely horrible - modified and it felt like it completely changed the drivability of it but I 've only had my X for about a year... I bought it lifted and it doesn't feel that high up but it can be a bit twitchy

 

Yes she hates the 6MT that is biggest issue what mod did you do?

 

My wife has taken my 6MT over and is her go to vehicle now.

 

I've had a 06 S lifted MT for about 3years and wouldn't trade it for anything. We have a Camry and a Jeep Wrangler that we have been happily driving for about 5 yrs . !0 for the Jeep. All that changed when we purchased a motorhome and wanted to pull the jeep behind it . We decided to find a replacement and tried a few Jeep Cherokees and nothing really inspired us. My wife was looking at an online market place and seen a 2006 Xterra 6spd MT with 144,000 on it . I never even heard of an Xterra before but it has 4WD and the pic looked good. Called and setup a looksee. Had a check engine light on and idled real high but other than that looked real clean and was pretty solid. Offered him much less than asking price and he accepted. Started working on it almost immediately. Replaced driver side cat, several sensors, and had a timing chain upgrade. And several 0ther upgrades, new speakers and some other minor components. I fell in love with it but have to fight with the wife for it. We both rarely drive any other of the other vehicles. Gets great gas milage and uses no oil between changes. I will probably drive it till it dies or i die.

 

I am looking for another Xterra because my daughter took mine. If it gives you any idea how much I trust that vehicle, I gave it to my 21 YO daughter that lives 100 miles away.

If the zombie apocolypse happens I want her in that thing for sure.