[mikester]

I had a 2001 4x4 SE with a manual tranny for about 5 years (bought in '00 sold it in 10/05).

It was 100% reliable, with the exception of the expected poor gas mileage and expensive tires.

I enjoyed driving it, it was comfortable and I took many road trips on it. When I started having children I found it difficult to get in the back and put in the car seats. The rear of that particular model had 'stadium seating' and the back seats were not particularly roomy. Also to fold the rear seats down flat you had to take the butt of the passenger seats out.

I replaced it with...brace yourselves...a prius. At the time the Xterra had become my wife's primary car as we had turned in her leased passat about 18 months prior to the xterra trade in. I was driving the Porsche 100% (weee!!!).

The comparison of these apples to oranges is that the cargo room in the prius was slightly more in that to fold the rear seats down flat I did not have to take the passenger seats apart. I could fit more in the rear of the prius that I could in the Xterra unless the 'more' was tall like a mountain bike or something. Of course I won't even mention the mileage difference as that really isn't fair to the 4x4 xterra.

Do I miss it?

A bit - it was nice having a 4x4 for a while. Originally when I bought it I was just looking for a truck. The dealer had had it on the lot for a while and offered it to me for a deal - I got it for less than $22k.