Hello everyone,
Well, I had to say good bye to my 2000 Passport 3.2L V6. She was beginning to show her 7 year life. I wanted to say "Thank you" to everyone in the forum for their advise, experience and know-how. A huge shout out goes to Amigo-2k (Thanks Ryan). I learned more about my Passport than I could of ever imagined. She has been replaced by a 2003 Nissan Xterra 3.3L V6 4x4.

In my humble opinion this is the best forum by far. Keep up the good fight and stay the course.

All the best,
Kevin

Thanks for updating us! Have fun with the X. I hear they are great trucks!

Good luck with the new ride. My brother-in-law loves his except for the mileage, which is worse than my Rodeo. I like the look and utility of it, but I had already purchased the Rodeo some time before the Xterra came out.

Your Rodeo was just getting broke in :p

Mine's 10yrs old and doesn't show her age 1 bit, well ok, a little, namingly the little dent in the bumper from having backed into the boat trailer a year ago.

Those Xterra's are good trucks, done a lot of research on them too, and had purchased an '05 that I turned around and sold to my sister because I wasn't ready to give the Rodeo up & I liked being payment free.

The 1st gen Xterra's are famous for cracking their intake manifold gaskets - same as the 2nd gen Rodeo's, so keep an eye on that; also, the radiators that they put in the 1st gen X's are kind of small and the truck tends to start overheating between 70-100k miles, mainly due to the radiator wearing out.

Make absolute certain that you change that timing belt AT 100K and NO later, many Xterra 3.3L owners are waiting/pushing beyond that, and when the belt breaks on those engines, it takes the valve's with it.

They are good trucks, many reporting only 13-14mpg city though - so hopefully gas isn't an issue; but watch that temp gauge, they're notorious for overheating as the miles come on, mainly due to the smaller radiator.

Ramblin and Fletch,
Thanks for the insight. Unfortunately, the passport was showing it's age and I couldn't afford to keep her running like a fine oiled machine (A/C shot, new shocks & struts needed, electrical work needed to be done, new tires, etc.) Thanks for the tips on the Xterra. I have found that I am getting 20 mpg, so it's doing pretty good so far. Ramblin, glad you made it successfully to New England. I made numerous trips between DC and SC and she held up really well. Hope you guys had a great 4th!!!
KC

Just curious, cause I don't know, do the newer Rodeo's use struts?

Ramblin, are you referring to the new gen's in 2003/2004? I didn't have opp to change out the shocks on the 00' passport and I don't want to assume anything, just going by hunch, which is a possibility. Ryan, what say you sir?

KC