5 recalls for your 2000 model? Bullshit, there have only been 4 and one of those was just to update the owner's manual. The first recall was for the automatic transmission to replace a metal piece in the shifter linkage that wasn't produced to spec (by a third-party vendor) for a period. The second was for some of the alloy wheels that had a casting or metallurgical problem and were at risk of developing cracks. The fuel sending unit inside the gas tank was the most recent (also built by a third party).
The Xterra and 99 Pathfinder have shocks, Xterra all around, Pathfinder in the rear. The Xterra has no coil springs, it has leaf springs in the rear and torsion bars in the front. The Pathfinder has coil springs in the rear and McPherson struts up front (combining a coil spring and shock as well as being part of the load-bearing and suspension-locating duty), has a Unibody construction instead of a body-on-frame construction, and was Nissan's "luxury" SUV at the time (besides the Infiniti QX4, same vehicle for the most part). Yeah, it would ride smoother for a few reasons, but more due to how the suspension was tuned to be softer/smoother in the first place than to any fundamental design differences. The Xterra wasn't built to be "cush" it was built to be tough, and even then I find the ride to be quite good.
The redesigned Quest is built in Nissan's new plant in Canton, Mississippi along with the Armada and Titan, and yes, Nissan has had some issues with quality from that plant mainly because it's brand new, building all-new vehicles, with some brand-new suppliers, using a brand new workforce. The Xterra, current and upcoming 05, are built at Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant that has been operating for over 20 years and has an established work force and has been noted for overall quality.
Brent