NO RETREAT; Pioneering Pathfinder stakes a new claim in the midsize SUV segment.(News)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: CARRIE ROCA

Nissan says its new Pathfinder is a more rugged, athletic SUV that has returned to its roots as a true off-road machine. So it somehow seemed fitting that our first drive of this third-generation Pathfinder would involve a backwoods challenge of sorts. Not a driving challenge, mind you, but one that had us calling upon some old survival instincts.

After a morning of driving the 2005 Pathfinder around Seattle, impressed with how strong its 4.0-liter V6 felt underfoot, we stopped for lunch at a nice wooded spot on Bainbridge Island. Jumping down from our test truck, though, our hunger took a back seat as we found ourselves surrounded. Hundreds, no, thousands of mad bees were up in arms, indignant at this smug band of trespassers.

There was no retreat, and so everybody just did the first thing that came to mind. Guest journalists and Nissan reps alike either froze, hoping to trick the bees into thinking they were already dead, or began to swat away, flail about, shout, stomp and just plain curse the little mothers, which is what we did.

Nissan says it aims the new Pathfinder at those who seek to "reclaim their own space.'' The bees would surely protest that the chosen picnic area was never ours to reclaim, but hostilities ceased and it wasn't the people who backed down. If the Pathfinder is a decathlete, a modern-day Bruce Jenner in sheetmetal, as Nissan calls it (note to Nissan: Jenner won Olympic gold in 1976, before many in this target audience were born), then we were Braveheart and retreat was not an option. We finished our lunch in relative peace then hopped into a 4wd model for the off-road part of the test, thinking to ourselves, "You can bring it on now.''

In a segment that now includes nearly 40 sport/utility vehicles as opposed to seven when the Pathfinder bowed in 1985, the 2005 model is the genuine off-road article its maker claims it to be. As we lurched up and down the bumpy wooded ruts following our close encounter with nature, the new off-road aids performed well. Hill Descent Control does just what its name implies. It can be activated with 4Hi or 4Lo engaged, allowing you to proceed downhill without riding the brakes, and it can be used in either forward or reverse gear. With the new Hill Start Assist feature, you can stop while going uphill, release the brake, and not roll back for two seconds. Given that all Pathfinders are automatics and most of us have two feet, this might seem an unnecessary fillip, but it does have its uses in off-road extremes.

Pathfinder rides on the new body-on-frame F-Alpha platform developed to underpin all Nissan trucks. That gives the beefed-up SUV independent double-wishbone suspension, speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and EBD. With its integrated tow hitch, it's rated to pull 6000 pounds.