# First 1000Km Road Trip



## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

My family and I took our X-Trail on it's first road trip out to Calgary (630km one way) to visit my buddy. It was a good trip and the X-trail was very comfortable to drive in. The roads were clear and dry for the trip there, however coming back the roads from Kindersley to Saskatoon (200 km) were pure ice. The 4WD, Traction control and VDC came in very handy as i could see the slip light now and then around corners :thumbup: 

The few things I noticed was:

The XTy could use a few more horses for passing. I was driving at about 120 kmH and when I went to pass, I found it required more long range planning. Most times it would kick down a notch in gear, however it was not like if I was at 100kmH and trying to pass, then it would really kick down, however even passing at 100 kmH still requires a bit more lead time and distance to on coming cars... No way around that pushing a box with a 165hp, 4cyl  

The Windsheild is a magnet for rocks and other debris....  So many times I would be driving waiting to pass with a semi truck in front, with a constant peppering of small debris and what not at our new truck, and I was keeping a long way back. I also noticed while driving the Trails in Calgary at speed (~120 kmH) that crap was always hitting the widsheild and truck, even though the road looked to be very clean and clear while I maintained a good distance back from the car ahead of me. 

The Windsheild wipers and Washers at highway speed suck :thumbdwn: The washers require more pressure as they barely leak out at slow speed, and at highway speed they just fan all over the place. The wipers will require a blade on the wing arm to maintain constant pressure and contact to the windsheild as well, often times they were always lifting at highway speed.

Other than that, not much else to say except it was great and the XTy performed flawlessly. It was very comfortable and roomy for the 3 of us. At times I did have to close the Sunshade on the sun roof as my daughter watched a DVD movie on the lap top, or when she slept. However the big sun roof also extened day light to allow her to read a book on the way home, even though it was getting dark :thumbup: I do find I have to always wear sunglasses even on cloudy days. With the Sunshade open, the amount of light in the cabin of the XTy is huge   I like it!

My XTy now has ~1300 km on it :cheers:


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## manuelga (Dec 14, 2003)

ViperZ said:


> The XTy could use a few more horses for passing. I was driving at about 120 kmH and when I went to pass, I found it required more long range planning. Most times it would kick down a notch in gear, however it was not like if I was at 100kmH and trying to pass, then it would really kick down, however even passing at 100 kmH still requires a bit more lead time and distance to on coming cars... No way around that pushing a box with a 165hp, 4cyl


I'm looking for a candidate of Header change, let's wait for Valboo experience. Consider Nismo or Hotshot,

As long as Spec V's got 175hps & they gain ~10hps for a total of 185hps, with the same engine & my X-Ty with stock manifold got 180hps, I guess you could go from 165 to 185 with that bolt-on.
________________________________________________________________

I've traveled at December a ~2500kms round trip to USA, & didn't experience the debris problem & our roads are not the cleanest ones.


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## SCHESBH (May 25, 2004)

*Washer and Wiper*

Two things.... go and get the Reflex blades from Canuck Tire.. if you can find them and also.. adjust your spray jets! I did thanks to Valboo telling me how and at highway speed.. it is great now. Juts take a push pin and direct each of the spray jets where you want them!

Stephen





ViperZ said:


> My family and I took our X-Trail on it's first road trip out to Calgary (630km one way) to visit my buddy. It was a good trip and the X-trail was very comfortable to drive in. The roads were clear and dry for the trip there, however coming back the roads from Kindersley to Saskatoon (200 km) were pure ice. The 4WD, Traction control and VDC came in very handy as i could see the slip light now and then around corners :thumbup:
> 
> The few things I noticed was:
> 
> ...


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## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

SCHESBH said:


> Two things.... go and get the Reflex blades from Canuck Tire.. if you can find them and also.. adjust your spray jets! I did thanks to Valboo telling me how and at highway speed.. it is great now. Juts take a push pin and direct each of the spray jets where you want them!
> 
> Stephen


Hey Stephen, I have looked at the Reflex blades however was suspect of their overall quality  I may try them though. About the Washer jets, I don't think adjusting them is going to help, infact I'm thinking of going back to Nissan about them. They are very under pressured even when the vehicle is sitting still. The fluid does not come blasting out, rather it arcs out like a water fountain, barely making it to the windshield. Once there was a bit of snow in front of one jet and it did not have the power to even clear that out of the way. The aiming right now it rather low, so aiming any higher would only make the stream arc more. It's as if I got a weak pump


Manuelga, the header would be nice, and may help somewhat, however it's probably still not enough. I just have to resign to the fact that it's not really made to be a highway passing champ, not with out a turbo charger or something. 


Oh, one more more thing we noticed is the passenger seat belt tends to lock-up every so often. It the retract reel does not allow the occupant the freedom to move dynamically. We have to unfasten the seat belt to reset it and then its good. It happend to me once and to my wife 3 times now.


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## SCHESBH (May 25, 2004)

*Pump Problem?*

I was also suspect at the quality but just going through winter on two cars with them.. I will not change to others... they have been great. As for the washer spray... I adjusted mine and they have worked fine.. but I do get a lot of spray... it could be that your pump needs to be replaced.

Stephen






ViperZ said:


> Hey Stephen, I have looked at the Reflex blades however was suspect of their overall quality  I may try them though. About the Washer jets, I don't think adjusting them is going to help, infact I'm thinking of going back to Nissan about them. They are very under pressured even when the vehicle is sitting still. The fluid does not come blasting out, rather it arcs out like a water fountain, barely making it to the windshield. Once there was a bit of snow in front of one jet and it did not have the power to even clear that out of the way. The aiming right now it rather low, so aiming any higher would only make the stream arc more. It's as if I got a weak pump
> 
> 
> Manuelga, the header would be nice, and may help somewhat, however it's probably still not enough. I just have to resign to the fact that it's not really made to be a highway passing champ, not with out a turbo charger or something.
> ...


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## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

SCHESBH said:


> I was also suspect at the quality but just going through winter on two cars with them.. I will not change to others... they have been great. As for the washer spray... I adjusted mine and they have worked fine.. but I do get a lot of spray... it could be that your pump needs to be replaced.
> 
> Stephen


Stephen, do you remember the lengths you bought them in? I remember something in that huge thread where changing the blade length also helped somebody.


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## Canuck (Mar 19, 2005)

Hi,

Did a search on the forum for Valboo's fix on the washer spray and couldn't find it....Stephen could you share it with us, or Valboo if you are reading this it would be great to see your solution.

Thanks,

Brian

QUOTE=SCHESBH]Two things.... go and get the Reflex blades from Canuck Tire.. if you can find them and also.. adjust your spray jets! I did thanks to Valboo telling me how and at highway speed.. it is great now. Juts take a push pin and direct each of the spray jets where you want them!

Stephen[/QUOTE]


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## SCHESBH (May 25, 2004)

*He told me about it.*

When I was speaking with Marc, he told me it was easy to fix.. adjust the spray.. all you need is a kneedle or push pin and you gently insert it into each of the spray holes (two per side) and move them into the position you like. you have to waste some spray but it was worth it as both my boss (who has an X-Tral as well and myself found the spray to low.

What I did was adjust all of them (4) two on each side but I left one jet high and one jet low to cover all the blade and shield... made a huge difference especially while driving.

Stephen





Canuck said:


> Hi,
> 
> Did a search on the forum for Valboo's fix on the washer spray and couldn't find it....Stephen could you share it with us, or Valboo if you are reading this it would be great to see your solution.
> 
> ...


[/QUOTE]


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## Avery Slickride (Jan 6, 2005)

Viper: Thanks for the report.
A couple of my observations:
My spray jets are fine. Just like any other car I've had, and better than some.
OE wiper blades suck in winter. I put mine away and replaced them with cheapie booted winter blades from Wally Mart -- they work great.
I've never had to pass anyone who was doing 120 on a 2-lane road (I don't think I'd want to), but the X-Trail has lots of passing power to safely get past the 80-km/h dawdlers. I was actually startled the first time I kicked it down to passing gear. But I've been driving rather gutless manual-shifting small 4's recently, so I wasn't expecting much. At those speeds, passing power in the X-Trail is comparable to the 5-litre I had in my old Ford F150.
The back window is a dirt magnet, no doubt about it.
As for being bombarded by rocks, how can that be the fault of the vehicle? It should suffer exactly the same number of stone dings as any vehicle of similar size and frontal area. A Miata should be hit less often, an Armada more often.
I'm eagerly looking forward to my X-Trail's first 1,000-mile run.


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## manuelga (Dec 14, 2003)

I got doubts about passing issues, maybe the combination of breakin-in & weather affect performance (just an issue)

As Stephen, my X-Ty got intense sprays, blades are not an issue here because mild weather.

(Mexican Speeding Laws are very weak)

When I went to McAllen, Texas at December I've pushed the X-Ty at up to 180kmph It run really fast, we were 2 adults (I'm not a light person) & a lot of things, including springs & struts for my Sentra & many other things.

A history: When I return many "paisanos" (mexicans working at USA) return to Mexico for the Christmas Holidays with the family, so I've to deal with the really impressive "rush hour", the main problem with those people are that they tend to keep driving their Trokas (The largest the better: Pick-Ups, Vans, Etc. pulling trailers) at the high speed lane at the 120-130 range & I'm used to drive at more spicy speeds: I were the evil (red X-Ty) of the road, pushing those guys via lights & horn (I already changed that bip bip sound) & many times passing them at the right line (I know it's a bad thing but it's annoying going at 110 behind sombody that doesn't want to change to the slow lane)

In a few words, despite the weight I'm carrying, the height above sea (almost all Mexican central area is above 1000mts above sea level & affects a lot) I got enough power to pass cars.


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## Terranismo (Aug 31, 2004)

manuelga said:


> I'm looking for a candidate of Header change, let's wait for Valboo experience. Consider Nismo or Hotshot,
> 
> As long as Spec V's got 175hps & they gain ~10hps for a total of 185hps, with the same engine & my X-Ty with stock manifold got 180hps, I guess you could go from 165 to 185 with that bolt-on.
> ________________________________________________________________
> ...


What about me? I get no recognition :fluffy: I have had my header on for more than 6 months without any trouble. I definitely recommend it but only if you "uncork" the rest of the exhaust. The noise will get louder but the power will have a really noticeable increase.

I recently got a digital camcorder so I'll probably film some 0-100km/h runs for you guys so you can check out the noise for yourselves. Remember though, I'm running no cats, bigger exhaust piping (and straighter), and a 4 to 1 header so it will sound different to a stock X.


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## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

Canuck, my problem is not the aiming of the jets, rather that they don't have a lot of pressure, and just arc out of the washers like a drinking fountain rather than blast out in a strong stream. Even my 12 year old daughter stated the washers don't seem to have a lot of pressure, today while we were waiting at a red light. I'm sure I need a different pump, or need to check to see if the hose is kinked. I have the same type of Jets on my BMW 325i and Honda Accord, and they have never given me a problem at any speed with a stong stream.


Avery, that is my point exactly, due to the higher profile of the XTy, it just seems to catch more debris from the vehicle ahead than my 2 sedans. So while there maybe nothing I can do about it, it is the characteristic of the XTy, it was more a observation  The wiper issue is not a case of snow freezing, rather that they are lifting off the windshield at highway speeds, leaving voids of areas unwiperd or washed. The truck passes adequate if traveling at 100 kmH, however if traveling at 120 kmH, there is not a lot of headroom left, thats just another observation. Personally I always cruise at about 120 kmH.


Manuelga, the XTy is not a passing machine, while it can do it with longer range planning, it's just not as powerfull as I had hoped. To be truthful, I didn't expect much more anyway, for when I tested it during the test drive, I was kinda un-impressed with the acceleration, however it was the best of the bunch I had tested and my wife said it was enough for her.  I suppose in the end you have to give something up for fuel economy.

Terranissmo, I would love to install an header and free flow exhaust, however it may affect the VDC system adversly. In the manual it indicates if an aftermarket exhaust is installed or if the original exhaust is worn, it will cause the VDC light to illuminate as if the VDC system is "OFF". Not sure how this may affect it.


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## manuelga (Dec 14, 2003)

Terranismo & ViperZ, that's the mayor advantage of the Nismo header, it doesn't void waranty (mayor issue for many of us) & can be choosen with the pre-cat or without, depending on the particular local law.

VipZ, I guess you're comparing with the Bimmer, that's not fair HEHEHEHEHE


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## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

Doesn't void warranty ehhh? I like that  

I suppose there is some comparison to the BMW, but only as reference... The XT doesn't totally suck in passing, it's just not overly powerful either for my likes


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## manuelga (Dec 14, 2003)

I'm not shure but you could take a look at Nissan-USA website, stealerships there are selling Nismo Stuff, I know they install the things & honor waranty.

Of course they put many things at Internet but worth a trip to dealership:

Take a look of Nismo Pre-Cat Header



ViperZ said:


> Doesn't void warranty ehhh? I like that
> 
> I suppose there is some comparison to the BMW, but only as reference... The XT doesn't totally suck in passing, it's just not overly powerful either for my likes


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## ViperZ (Feb 9, 2005)

Manuelga, Thanks for the encouragement, however this is primaraly my Wife's truck, so I don't want to do to much that will have her all angry at me. I just want to improve it somewaht for our needs, and then let it be


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## Terranismo (Aug 31, 2004)

manuelga said:


> Terranismo & ViperZ, that's the mayor advantage of the Nismo header, it doesn't void waranty (mayor issue for many of us) & can be choosen with the pre-cat or without, depending on the particular local law.
> 
> VipZ, I guess you're comparing with the Bimmer, that's not fair HEHEHEHEHE


The Nismo headers (both the one with and without a cat) are not covered by warranty as they are R-Tune Nismo items.


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## manuelga (Dec 14, 2003)

Terranismo said:


> The Nismo headers (both the one with and without a cat) are not covered by warranty as they are R-Tune Nismo items.


They say the same about wheel studs, It's some way to say, they are within legal issues, but it that would be the real situation, there's no reason for the pre-cat header.


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