The Detroit News's view

CARMEL, Calif. – In a market saturated with virtually every imaginable type of sport-utility vehicle, is there room for one more player?

In the case of the all-new 2000 Nissan Xterra, I’d vote yes.

A favorite of young consumers on this year’s auto-show circuit, the Xterra has been admired for its honesty and simplicity, not to mention its sub-$20,000 sticker price. The fact that it’s pretty stylish and rugged-looking doesn’t hurt either.

After an extended test drive through the hills and valleys near the coastal spa, the Xterra’s virtues become even more apparent. While its chassis is shared with the Frontier pickup, the four-door Xterra exhibits a more supple ride that isn’t nearly as harsh as its more prosaic counterpart. And the optional 3.3-liter V-6 engine sets the vehicle apart from most of its low-priced counterparts, notably the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V, the Chevrolet Tracker and the Kia Sportage.

In fact, the Xterra is the first Nissan product totally conceived, developed and built in the United States, and its American heritage shows. Think of it as Nissan’s answer to the ever-trendy Jeep Cherokee – a sturdy, attractive and affordable sport-utility, loaded with features and designed to appeal primarily to younger buyers.

Assembled at Nissan’s plant in Smyrna, Tenn., the Xterra began life in late 1995 as the brainchild of planners at Nissan’s U.S. headquarters in southern California. According to project leader Dave Ossenmacher, planners noticed a significant price gap beginning to emerge between compact sport-utilities and mini SUVs. Buyers who couldn’t afford a Toyota 4Runner or Ford Explorer were having to settle for a smaller, less powerful model such as a Tracker or a Sportage.

“We decided to target the sub-$20,000 bracket with an affordable, authentic SUV,” says Ossenmacher. “We wanted it to be rugged and trucklike.”

Ossenmacher, who is corporate manager for product and market strategy for Xterra, Pathfinder, Frontier and Quest, says planners established a target price of $17,000-$18,000 and envisioned the typical buyer (“the Xterra poster boy”) as a single male, age 32, a college graduate with a $45,000 income and an active lifestyle.

The product that evolved from those early brainstorming sessions will reach dealers next month, just 3-1/2 years after the initial concept was laid out.

Slotted below the Nissan Pathfinder in size and price, the Xterra is being offered in two- and four-wheel-drive variants, with a choice of four-cylinder and V-6 engines in two trim levels, XE and SE. The base 2.4-liter four-cylinder can be ordered only on the 4×2 XE.

The workhorse engine will be the SOHC 3.3 V-6, which is rated at 170 horsepower and 200 pounds-feet of torque, and can be mated to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

The V-6 is not as powerful as the optional sixes available in the Cherokee or the Isuzu Rodeo. But the good ne ws is that you can order a nicely equipped Xterra with the V-6 and still pay less than $20,000.

The standard equipment list is comprehensive. In addition to dual front air bags, four-wheel anti-lock brakes are standard, as are engine and fuel-tank skid plates. Other standard features include a split fold-down rear seat, a large center console with arm rest, and an AM-FM stereo system. A CD player is standard on all but the base four-cylinder model.

One of the more distinctive styling features that will add flair to the Xterra is the optional tubular-steel roof rack. Other add-ons include tubular-steel step rails, fog lamps and a flip-up sunroof.

The Xterra joins a raft of new and redesigned Nissan products for the 2000 model year, including a totally revamped Maxima, Frontier Crew Cab and face-lifted Pathfinder. Additional product changes will follow after the first of the year. But the Xterra may prove to be the most popular of the new Nissans.

Observes Ni n Division General Manager Mike Seergy: “The Xterra is a return to the basic concept, size, ruggedness and affordability of the original Nissan Pathfinder – a vehicle that helped popularize SUVs in the first place.”