Also I found the engine to be lacking in power as well. Sadly lacking in power. Perhaps with smaller stock tires this would have helped.
The Supercharged gets it up to 210 HP, but it sucks Premium gas to do it.

I did like the skid plates on the xterra, they were a little bit wussy for my offroading side, but compared to most protective skid plates they were fairly stout and well located to do some good protecting.
I must have missed something. The front skid plates I looked at were described in the brochure as cosmetic and were made of plastic when I looked at them.

They are measuring to the rear axle, which is the lowest point on any solid axle vehicle.
Not true. On the Jeep Liberty, the low point is the U-joint connecting the driveshaft to the shaft running into the differential. Bad design.

One thing I did miss was the tube steps that you need for smaller people to get in easily / to reach the roof. One good rock hit an the 10" of metal hanger that connects them to the frame will curl up and pin your doors shut.

I would *LOVE* to see a picture of that.

All in all I liked the xterra, and I beleive with a few generations they will find their niche and I beleive it has the capability of becoming a great reliable vehicle like the Toyota 4runner, mostly the development of the interior and an engine change are what is needed for this vehicle.
Will not happen. Their plans are to drop the "Pathfinder" from the name of "Pathfinder Armada" and make it the premium monster. The regular Pathfinder goes away, and the XTerra is moving into that niche. We'll have to wait and see if they introduce something at the "low end" to replace the XTerra.

A bad deal, as they had a pretty decent low-price 4x4 that sold well--why change what works?

Thanks for the additional input.