The World Wide Web can be a great place to learn a lot of useful and random information. One useful piece of information that recently revealed itself was a Flash-based application on the Nissan U.K. Web site titled "Which 4x4 Are You?” Determined to help 4x4ers figure which Nissan offering was best suited for their needs, the app uses four criteria to help with the decision: towing capacity, vehicle use, load capacity, and number of occupants.
Since the application was coded for the U.K. site, the Nissans of choice are the Navara truck and the Pathfinder and X-Trail SUVs. The Navara is the equivalent of the U.S.-spec Frontier midsize truck, while the Pathfinder is similar to its identically named U.S. counterpart. The X-Trail is a compact SUV similar in size to the Nissan Rogue. All three vehicles carry 4x4 credentials, but suit a wide array of needs and wants. Try out the application.
On top of determining which 4x4 is of best fit, the Nissan site also features a series of videos demonstrating the vehicles’ capabilities through a handful of challenges. Hosted by Lisa Rogers of “Scrapheap Challenge,” challenges include sprint races, overtaking tests, hill-climbing competitions, and other trials.
Of course, the 4x4 Web tool isn’t perfect (the filters need to be within defined ranges for a choice to be displayed), but it would be nice to see something similar on the Nissan USA site.