2006 Nissan Xterra named Motor Trend Sport/Utility of the Year
Motor Trend has announced that the 2006 Nissan Xterra is its Sport/Utility of the Year for 2006. Angus MacKenzie,
editor-in-chief of MT, said that the Xterra stood out in the categories of superiority, significance and value, which
it earned it this year's honor. There were 12 contenders this year including the Ford Explorer, Hummer H3, Hyundai
Tucson, Jeep Commander, Kia Sportage, Mercedes-Benz ML, Mercury Mountaineer, Pontiac Torrent, Range Rover Sport, Subaru
Tribeca, and the Suzuki Grand Vitara. The MT staff lauded the Xterra for its "bang for your buck" value and its lack of
compromise in execution. MacKenzie again: "The Xterra is not a truck trying to be a car, or a car trying to be a truck
or a minivan trying to be anything else." True dat.
P.S. Sorry if we spoiled the surprise for you, but we figured most wouldn't mind.
[Source: Nissan]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
orimental 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Kudos for winning it a 2nd time with the same SUV. They won it in 2000 right?
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2Suave 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
To the Bland Box of the Year award winner I say, CONGRATULATIONS for nothing!
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Beagle 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Maybe I'm just too foreign, but isn't it a little bit early to be handing out awards for 2006?
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SmellzFishy 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Why would any of these ugly SUV things be awarded anything other than a commendation for being oversized and annoying to drivers of real cars? All SUVs should roll over and destroy themselves.
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X-man 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
No surprise. My 2000 Xterra has been the best vehicle I've owned in the 120K miles I've had it. It continually gives me reliable service despite being driven and worked hard. I tow cars and boats, haul garbage, haul lumber, 4 wheel, commute, and sleep in mine sometimes. The vehicle does not have a single rattle, it runs better than new, it rides great, it handles well, and it gets decent gas mileage for an SUV. It would take 3 or 4 seperate vehicles to do everything the Xterra does in one package. I am generally not a big fan of SUV's, but the Xterra is superb and I'll have mine until I'm cold and dead! I'm glad MT can still recognize a real SUV in a field of wannabes.
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egg 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
SUVs aren't useless.
The Xterra is a great truck that embodies what an SUV should be. Don't blame the SUVs - blame the retards who don't need them, but buy them regardless.
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Darien 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
One of our vehicles is a 2003 Xterra... we love it.. dependable, rugged, gets decent gas mileage, built on a truck frame... a true SUV and not one of these pansies crossovers car platform wannabe's...
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Doogs 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Is it just me or has the SUV hate gotten pretty stupid around here lately? And...my God...for the Xterra? Save your bitching for the H2s and Tahoes and the Armadas of the world.
At least the Xterra gets purchased and used for its capability. I don't see too many posers driving around in Xterra's blinged out with dubs...they're usually dirty and have a bike rack in the hitch receiver.
And they are rough and tumble enough that they actually manage to turn away those looking for the "tough look", but still want a soft ride, leather, etc.
So please shut the hell up and stop coming down on the Xterra. Nissan actually created it as something of an "anti-SUV" - a protest against the way things were going - an SUV for people who needed and SUV and didn't care about heated seats or dual climate control or whatever else.
Note: I had a 2002 Xterra up until a few months ago (traded it in because I no longer needed the ground clearance/cargo space/towing ability and to save on gas)...and it is the best vehicle I have ever owned, bar none. If I ever buy another SUV...it'll be another Xterra.
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Ken Wu 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Actually the Xterra is pretty much a new model. It is now based on the titan chasis.
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Don L 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
#9 Amen!! Not only shut up about the Xterra, but just shut up! I feel like I need to come to this site and ask everyone's permission if it is OK - ask permission - to purchase a vehicle that I want. I'm sure I won't meet their minimum criteria for NEED, so I will have to choose something else. It's so hypocritical! I'm sure all of these "need vs. want" minimalists on this blog that are "tsk tsk-ing" all SUV drivers for their poor ethical choices, drive their little Priuses to their 5,500 sq.-ft. fully heated and air-conditioned homes, and sit down to watch their 54-inch plasma TV's. It may be an exaggeration, but where do you draw the line? How much do you NEED versus how much you WANT? Do you really NEED the computer you're using right now, or is it a convenience, or even FUN? I'd be willing to bet that I could walk through all of the SUV-haters' homes and pick out thousands of things that they don't need, but that they bought because they wanted them. I'm fine with that. Other people aren't.
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djSyndrome 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
"Is it just me or has the SUV hate gotten pretty stupid around here lately?"
It's a nationwide phenomenon. Maybe if people stopped piloting them like they were bulldozers, the hate would subside.
"At least the Xterra gets purchased and used for its capability."
You mean like the Hummer does? There are three XTerra's here at my work. In talking to their owners not a single one of them has set a wheel off road (hint: they're all 2WD models). Yes, I know that they are sent off the beaten path more than most 'SUVs' are, but you're making an assumption here that is not necessarily true (and unless you work for Nissan's marketing department, you have no factual basis for).
"I feel like I need to come to this site and ask everyone's permission if it is OK - ask permission - to purchase a vehicle that I want."
Your own insecurites are just that - your own.
"I'm sure all of these "need vs. want" minimalists on this blog that are "tsk tsk-ing" all SUV drivers for their poor ethical choices"
It's not a question of need versus want. No-one needs a Prius any more than they need an SUV. They choose to drive those vehicles for their own individual reasons. Now I understand if you have a large family (4 or more children) and live in a wooded area, then a full-size SUV may be a proper choice for you. But where I live such things rarely exist, yet I continue to see the highways dominated by Starbucks-sipping bleached blonde trophy wives driving well over the speed limit with their RAZR planted firmly in their ear, their one nine-year-old kid in the backseat blissfully entranced in whatever PSP game his daddy just bought for him. These folks could get along just fine in a Passat or V70 wagon and receive all the benefits of greater gas mileage, better safety features (active and passive), and not having to build an extention onto their garage. And they still wouldn't be driving one of those hybrids that you apparently detest so much.
"I'd be willing to bet that I could walk through all of the SUV-haters' homes and pick out thousands of things that they don't need, but that they bought because they wanted them."
Again, no-one is buying a Prius (or other hybrid) because they *need* it. It's a choice they make, just like some people choose to buy SUVs, some people choose to buy Lancer Evolutions and STI's, and some people choose to buy luxury cars. If you absolutely need a car - which some of the most liberal would argue even that point - and have no space requirements, anything from a Kia Rio or Scion xA on up will suit your needs. Beyond that every car is a *choice* based on personal values.
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Jason E. Rist 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
I'm not surprised. It's a quality vehicle with gobs of power and a bunch of useful innovations. Kudos, indeed.
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Doogs 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
"You mean like the Hummer does? There are three XTerra's here at my work. In talking to their owners not a single one of them has set a wheel off road (hint: they're all 2WD models). Yes, I know that they are sent off the beaten path more than most 'SUVs' are, but you're making an assumption here that is not necessarily true (and unless you work for Nissan's marketing department, you have no factual basis for)."
djSyndrome - I'm not talking only about offroad driving. Hell, my Xterra was 2WD. I took it off pavement to go mountain biking, camping, to take the dogs hiking, etc, but not offroading.
Maybe it is just Austin, but I see a lot of Xterras with bike racks on the back, or kayaks on the roof. Head down to Town Lake or to the various entrances to the greenbelt trails on the weekends, and one in ten, one in fifteen vehicles parked there are Xterras. The only other vehicles I see with such disproportionate representation are Subarus.
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nastinupe 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
I am not an SUV hater, but I do hate that SUV's are being bought by people who don't really use or need them. I mean, why buy an SUV for taking your 2 year old to the grocery store and buying 3 bags of groceries? Kids are smaller than adults so why must your car be so big to carry a 40 lb human around?
SUV's have driven up the price of gas and I believe that the madness needs to stop. I see more SUV's than cars where I live and 80% of them only have one passenger in them!
And to #12, 90% of the things we all have are things that we don't need. But what effect is owning a computer or an extra book shelf really having on the price of gas? I live by myself in a 3000 sf house with a two car garage and I use more natural gas than the average person, but that is only because I bought a house that I can grow into so when I get married and have children I won't have to move right away.
What's the use in buying an SUV when you will NEVER go off road and NEVER tow anything?
I know a girl who had a 4 cylinder Accord and has a 35 mile commute to work everyday. She got rid of the 1998 Accord to buy a 1999 Montero Sport. She lives alone and doesn't even cut her own grass or do anything that involves nature. She never car pools and doesn't have a lot of friends. She isn't even dating anyone and has no children. So why did this girl, who has to drive at least 70 miles to and from work buy an SUV? It makes no damn sense???
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djSyndrome 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
"So why did this girl, who has to drive at least 70 miles to and from work buy an SUV?"
The same reason men still buy the archaic Mustang GT : to pick up members of the opposite sex! Guys apparently dig chicks in SUV's ^.^
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Stephen J 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Men buy the "archaic" Mustang GT to pick up the opposite sex?
Don't you think that item is on the long list AFTER things like: 300HP, killer good looks, fun to drive, affordable, etc.?
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nastinupe 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
#16: I nor any of my friends have ever liked a girl more because she drives an SUV? That has never even crossed my mind. As a man, the only superficial thing that makes me like a girl is HER looks. Not what she drives, or how much money she has or how she dresses.
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djSyndrome 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
Apparently my use of ^.^ to convey a joke was not well understood.
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Bob Dannon 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
dSyndeome, why be so negative? And if you are, why post here and annoy everyone? Of course you can post here, just like anyone can buy the vehicle of their choice. All of your thoughts have been narrow-minded and shallow. You've managed to take the discussion away from the vehicle and focus it on you, which is sad. People like you are the reason I rarely read these comments, but I thought this one might be different. You might find you enjoy these comments more if you post constructive thoughts and pose questions that are not tired, overused, unoriginal, and negative. Give it a try!
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Bob Dannon 11:05PM (12/18/2005)
dSyndeome, why be so negative? And if you are, why post here and annoy everyone? Of course you can post here, just like anyone can buy the vehicle of their choice. All of your thoughts have been narrow-minded and shallow. You've managed to take the discussion away from the vehicle and focus it on you, which is sad. People like you are the reason I rarely read these comments, but I thought this one might be different. You might find you enjoy these comments more if you post constructive thoughts and pose questions that are not tired, overused, unoriginal, and negative. Give it a try!
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