I loved it. Never had any problems with controls, exploration was fun, combat as well. OP has a point about pathfinding - there almost always was a path you could take to reach a destination easily, without bouncing over pointy rocks. Many people however couldn't be bothered to look for it.
Replacing it with Hammerhead was a stupid, stupid decision, simply because HH doesn't measure up to Mako. Sure, it's fun to drive and explore with it, but in combat it's unusable. Combat vehicle that can't take five seconds of small arms fire? Please.