Nissan Quest – one "Haul" of a Vehicle
By Jim Bray
In the epic quest to create the perfect minivan, Nissan's entry offers a lot,
from a great engine to plenty of room for people and/or stuff.
And for 2007, Nissan has tweaked the Quest in numerous ways the company thinks
will make the van even more attractive to customers.
I drove the 2006 Quest and found it a decent vehicle that performed well and
offered a lot of standard features. It still drove like a minivan, but what
minivan doesn't? And what's wrong with that anyway? You want a sports car,
buy a sports car. Just don't expect to haul an armoire in it.
But recently I had a chance to put the 2007 model through its paces in a real
world test that was perfect for gauging the Quest's mettle as a transporter,
thanks to an intercity trip hauling enough tech gear to choke a horse, except
we didn't leave room for the horse.
The Quest passed with flying colors, despite center seats that don't quite
fold flat to the floor.
For the '07 model year, Nissan has redesigned the Quest's grille, front bumper,
door handles, aluminum alloy wheels and roof rails. Inside, the interior has
been tweaked considerably, including second and third row seats that work better
than last year's, an updated instrument panel and even an available SkyView
glass-paneled roof that, unfortunately, my test unit didn't have.
Stowing the rear bench seat of the '06 model was difficult for me to fathom,
requiring a trip through the owner's manual before I could accomplish it. This
year, Nissan has made it a lot easier and I managed to fold the bench flat
into the floor on my first attempt just from checking out the labels on the
seat itself. The seat folds nicely into a depression just inside the tailgate,
the headrests flipping down to facilitate the folding without having to remove
them.
And while the second row of captain's chairs doesn't fold completely flat,
which may affect the buying decision of some potential owners, our hauling
test showed them to be flat enough for applications such as hauling large boxes
of electronic equipment, tools and the like. As with the rear seat, you don't
have to remove the headrests to fold the seats floor ward, but in this case
it helps.
One area that doesn't appear to have been upgraded is the front seats. They're
okay, but I found the driver's seat rather narrow and tippy, making it feel
as if was going to get thrown against the door during cornering. The cushion
is comfortable, though, and the cloth seats on my tester also included bun
warmers that came in really, really handy during the extreme cold snap we endured
when I had the Quest.
The central dash pod is smaller than last year's, protruding less into the
cabin, and that's a good thing. And the instrument panel is now in front of
the driver, where it belongs, rather than in the middle.
In Quest of power….
The heart of the Quest’s performance is Nissan’s excellent V6
engine, a fine power plant that’s shared across the corporate line in
various versions that include the Nissan 350Z and the Infinitis G and M (35).
The power plant features four valves per cylinder, sequential multipoint electronic
fuel injection and variable valve timing and is rated at 235 horses @ 5800
rpm with 240 lb. ft of torque @ 4400. This is more than adequate.
The front drive Quest features a five speed automatic transmission with overdrive
you can shut off via a button on the shift lever. There's no manual setting,
but this is after all a minivan. Shifting is smooth. My only real quibble about
the transmission isn't even about the transmission per se: the placement of
the shift lever on the dash caused some angst when I knocked it accidentally
when reaching for the windshield wiper controls, slipping it into neutral.
It also blocked the fan controls a bit.
Suspension is independent with struts up front and an advanced multi-link
rear, with stabilizer bars at both ends. This helps make the Quest fairly nimble
for a minivan.
Brakes are vented discs with ABS all around, and you also get brake assist
and electronic brake force distribution. Stopping power is good, with good
pedal feel.
The Quest’s steering is power-assisted rack and pinion and the steering
wheel of my tester contained audio and cruise control buttons.
The traction control works well, as I discovered on our snowy and icy roads.
The Quest was as stable and predictable on slippery city streets as it was
on blustery and drifting highways, making for a pleasant driving experience
over all.
The outside rear view mirrors are big, and heated, and provide a good view
behind. I complained last year that the dashboard reflects in the windshield
under bright sunlight, but, since we had no bright sunlight in my blizzardy
time with the '07, can't comment about whether or not that has been addressed.
Other handy features include a power right hand passenger door (though I don't
know why they wouldn't offer power for both sides, other than the space the
extra button would take on the key fob) and a power rear liftgate, both of
which are marvelous when you approach the vehicle with arms laden with stuff
(as long as you have the key fob out of your pocket!) My tester also had rear
sonar parking assist, which is always a nice touch and which is actually more
practical than a rear back up camera.
Another thing I like about the Quest is its nifty radio preset system. With
most vehicles I've tried, you can store radio stations in memory organized
by AM or FM (and you often get multiple "banks" of AM and/or FM
presents). Nissan gives you the best of both worlds: any button can store any
station from either band, and you can use multiple banks as well. There isn't
a lot of quality radio where I live, so I stored my three favorite AM and three
favorite FM stations in the six buttons. From then on, I could surf my favorite
stations without having to change bands.
Nissan has also included such thoughtful touches as "dual zone HVAC," which
in this case means front and rear rather than the more often seen side-to-side
control. This is nice, though during my test it was so cold (we broke a 100
year old record) that no amount of HVAC was going to provide a shirt sleeves
atmosphere. This obviously wasn't the Nissan's fault, but God's – or
maybe Man's if you believe the enviro crowd.
Or maybe it was George W. Bush's fault.
Another thing I found quite interesting was the lights mounted on the Quest's
front corners that come on and shoot sideways when you activate the signal
lights. I'm not sure they do as good as job as rotating headlights, but they
do light up the side reasonably well and may be good for freaking out pedestrians.
Nissan says the Quest achieved a 5 star safety rating, and as one might expect
it includes the usual assortment of bags, belts and tethers, and active head
restraints. It also has a tire pressure monitoring system I wanted to rip out
of the vehicle, since during our extreme cold it whined that I had a low tire
(by one PSI) for days on end. Weird things happen to machinery when things
get that cold, though, and last year's tester gave me no trouble at all, so
perhaps the real blame should be aimed at Person Nature. Or George W. Bush.
The Quest turned out to be an excellent choice for hauling all our accoutrements
and paraphernalia to another city. It was roomy and comfortable and very nice
to drive. And for what more can one ask of a minivan?
The Nissan Quest starts at $ 24,350 U.S./$32,498 Canadian for the base model;
the top of the line SE starts at $33,900 U.S./$46,998 Canadian.
