Quantcast

Nissan Frontier?

sstalder5

Turbo Monkey
Aug 20, 2008
1,942
20
Beech Mtn Definitely NOT Boulder
So my Subaru is on its last legs, and I need to buy a truck for practical reasons. I know there is a ton of hype in the mountain biking community and elsewhere over the Toyota Tacoma, and I get it, but a Nissan Frontier seems like it's more or less the same truck, but for wayyy less money. Has anyone on here owned one or have any input? I'm looking for a newer one (2010+), and Tacomas with the same specs and mileage are running about $10k more than Frontiers. Why?

Also, for anyone who remembers me/cares, here's some life updates since I haven't posted here in a couple years:
-graduated college (finally)
-Just started a job as a professional aquarist
-still ride bikes
That's about it.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,855
9,559
AK
Go SUV with an NSR.

Not as bro, but moar practicalerz.

Unless you like moving shit for your friends.
I picked up a 2003 Honda Pilot a few weeks ago to use in the winter. Thing is big inside, can fit my fatbike in there by putting all of the (3 row) seats down. I've also noticed that like every 3rd car or so is a Honda Pilot. Found a guy with some nearly new studded winter tires for $200. Hauling gear on the cheap.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
Welcome back! This place hasn't gotten any smarter.


I don't have any personal experience, but I know a couple people with some variation of the Frontier. They seem pretty happy with them. It's Japanese, so pretty high on the reliability scale, pretty low on the "fun" scale. Pretty sure the price difference is a reflection solely of the toyota mythos.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,036
7,554
They're really French, though. Nissan-Renault. That said, Tacomas are crude, too, and are ridiculously overvalued.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
Taco's are CRAZY spendy. @gonefirefightin had a NISMO Frontier he had dismantled to build a rock crawler out of. He seemed to really like the powertrain (it was mid 2000's I think). If they are cheaper than the Taco's, I would look at one. I've only ever owned Toyota (pre-taco, 4 trucks, 1 4runner) small trucks, but Nissan was the only other ones I considered.
 

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
SUV.
i drive a xterra which is on the frontier chasis & prolly shares other bits & pieces. great truck.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
The frontier power train is great, truck is pretty solid. If you are in the dirt a lot the sensitivity of the abs will piss you off until you learn to nutt up and put it in 4x4 when in loose anything at any time. My parents put 280k on theirs before they finally retired it. Was still going at that point but needed more time than they had to give.
 

Wingnut

Turbo Monkey
Nov 12, 2003
1,664
179
Sorry, I'm Canadian ..sorry...
Frontier is a great truck. Insider info: I haven't had to do any MAJOR repair on one in the months I've been with Nissan.. Few minor reprogramming recalls, but no hardware failure. Turning radius is big, but super solid drive train.

Tacoma is a great truck too, but has a $10k name premium...

EDIT: I've ha d a few with ecm failures... 3, 6 Xterra's though..
 

sstalder5

Turbo Monkey
Aug 20, 2008
1,942
20
Beech Mtn Definitely NOT Boulder
I definitely want a truck over an SUV. My Subaru has a decent amount of space in it with the seats folded down, but I'm always worried about messing up the interior when I haul stuff in it and I'd only be more worried about it in a newer vehicle. Basically I'd rather use a truck for it's intended purpose than buy an SUV just to use as a makeshift truck.

That said, I went to a dealership for the first time as a serious buyer today and absolutely hated it. I made an appointment to see a specific truck they had listed online, and when I got there they said it was at another one of their dealerships and proceeded to show me online listings of other trucks that were also at other dealerships that were $5-10k more than I told them I wanted to spend. Buying beaters is so much easier.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I have a 2004 DC Tundra. 10/10 would buy again. Paid $10.5 with 100K on it. Has 200K on it now and haven't really done shit to it besides maintenance. I had the rear end rebuilt, but that's because I'm mean to it. Frontiers are supposedly decent too, but I have quite a few friends with Toyotas and nobody ever has problems that aren't self inflicted.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
We bought my wife’s Highlander through Costco. No games. Prices were set. And i shopped around and called some personal contacts. Right in there with the best prices. It was very easy and I would do it again.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
We bought my wife’s Highlander through Costco. No games. Prices were set. And i shopped around and called some personal contacts. Right in there with the best prices. It was very easy and I would do it again.
We bought my wife's Mazda this way, and pre-approved our loan online with Mazda at .9%. We got a really good price through Costco, but it was still a major hassle. We drove up to Denver to pick up the car and got "Oh, we forgot the car had some extras" that they tried to dick us around on, to the tune of an extra 2000. What these extras were I'm still not sure, since we were buying the top tier model already. We were all loading back up into the jeep when the gal and the manager came running out to offer us "we'll let it go for just an extra 1000!". I said "fuck off, we're going back to a local dealer" and the manger said "300!". Since I had already actually sold the wife's head gasket dead Subaru, we took it. They then proceeded to spend 45 minutes trying to get us to sign on to other financing at a much higher rate, without ever actually disclosing the terms, despite the fact that I kept responding with "We already have Mazda financing!"

Got a phone call from the Costco Concierge a couple days later, wanting to know how our experience was, and I let her know under no uncertain terms. She assured me that the experience we had was not the one we were supposed to have, so YMMV. That said, I'd probably do it again, it was less hassle then I've had buying other cars despite all the grief we got.

Another thing I learned that day, is go late. 90-60 minutes before closing time. By the time we'd driven the car, finished up the price and financing fuckery, the final guy who tries to push all the "extra warranty, gap insurance" crap was well past closing time. I've never signed papers so fast in my life, he clearly was done for the day and gave zero push back when we said "no" on everything.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I literally filled out the inquiry on Costco. I had the dealer call us in a few minutes. He said they had a similar one to the one we wanted there but it was already sold. He said we couldn’t drive it but offered to come let us take a look at it to check out the color combo. We went down and looked at it (the dealer is less than 5 minutes from our house). He said he had the exact car we wanted coming in for delivery in the next week or so and would let us know when it got there.

He said he would hold it for us until we took a look and if we liked it we could arrange a deal. We sat down right there and he gave us a pricing sheet from Costco showing X amount for each model and that’s exactly what we ended up paying. Car showed up like a week later, we already had financing through our credit union, went in, checked out the car and my wife was happy with it, so finished it out right there. Took maybe 30 min to sign papers and go over some stuff, they spent another 30 min letting my wife check it out and helping her with how to use the nav and set up her phone and use everything.

When I buy a new Tundra I’m hoping I’ll do it the same exact way.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
That's how I thought it was supposed to work, and that's what concierge lady told me. I guess we just got a shady dealer. I hope Costco switched dealers. I guess it's by region, which is why we had to drive up to Denver.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,036
7,554
My latest vehicle purchase was super easy:

- contacted their salesperson via email
- negotiated all-in price via email (TrueCar price but not through TrueCar, per se), and ensured that they'd put no stickers/badges or push for extra crap
- preapproved by credit union ~2 weeks before delivery, once I got a delivery date range from the manufacturer
- vehicle arrived on a Wednesday, got Buyer's Order with exact amount, uploaded to credit union
- FedExed check from credit union arrived Friday made out to me and dealer alike with VIN of vehicle on it
- took bus to dealer on Saturday, verified that their paperwork had that same pre-agreed dollar amount
- signed about 10 pieces of paper, including no extra crap thrown in (e.g. VIN etching)
- drove away
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
If you ain't got kids and ain't planning on kids... Go with a full size reg cab long bed. Hold out for a fleet truck cause manual transmission and rubber floors. Then buy an ARE commercial canopy and never look back. Most versatile mtb truck ever. If I was single with no kid I'd have a reg cab f250 with an 8 ft bed and a canopy. As it is, I have a 14' extended cab f150 with 6.5ft bed. It works but that extended cab is only a kid seat and then a giant fucking garbage can.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I prefer my double cab. Four full size doors and inside space are way more useful to me than a little extra bed. Even before I had kids. Different strokes for different folks, but I’ve done more bike trips than I can count with 4 guys, bikes and gear in my truck. It’s a little tight but works out perfectly.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
For sure, different strokes for different folks! An 8ft bed is clutch. Extra seats, not so much. Easier for me to keep a reg cab clean. Plus we dont have to use my truck on the bro trips. Haha
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
My latest vehicle purchase was super easy:

- contacted their salesperson via email
- negotiated all-in price via email (TrueCar price but not through TrueCar, per se), and ensured that they'd put no stickers/badges or push for extra crap
- preapproved by credit union ~2 weeks before delivery, once I got a delivery date range from the manufacturer
- vehicle arrived on a Wednesday, got Buyer's Order with exact amount, uploaded to credit union
- FedExed check from credit union arrived Friday made out to me and dealer alike with VIN of vehicle on it
- took bus to dealer on Saturday, verified that their paperwork had that same pre-agreed dollar amount
- signed about 10 pieces of paper, including no extra crap thrown in (e.g. VIN etching)
- drove away
And Thai food!
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
If you ain't got kids and ain't planning on kids... Go with a full size reg cab long bed. Hold out for a fleet truck cause manual transmission and rubber floors. Then buy an ARE commercial canopy and never look back. Most versatile mtb truck ever. If I was single with no kid I'd have a reg cab f250 with an 8 ft bed and a canopy. As it is, I have a 14' extended cab f150 with 6.5ft bed. It works but that extended cab is only a kid seat and then a giant fucking garbage can.
This man Trucks. Anything else is a desperate attempt to not buy a minivan.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
If you ain't got kids and ain't planning on kids... Go with a full size reg cab long bed. Hold out for a fleet truck cause manual transmission and rubber floors. Then buy an ARE commercial canopy and never look back. Most versatile mtb truck ever. If I was single with no kid I'd have a reg cab f250 with an 8 ft bed and a canopy. As it is, I have a 14' extended cab f150 with 6.5ft bed. It works but that extended cab is only a kid seat and then a giant fucking garbage can.
I must ask..... Why do you prefer a manual transmission?
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,855
9,559
AK
I literally filled out the inquiry on Costco. I had the dealer call us in a few minutes. He said they had a similar one to the one we wanted there but it was already sold. He said we couldn’t drive it but offered to come let us take a look at it to check out the color combo. We went down and looked at it (the dealer is less than 5 minutes from our house). He said he had the exact car we wanted coming in for delivery in the next week or so and would let us know when it got there.

He said he would hold it for us until we took a look and if we liked it we could arrange a deal. We sat down right there and he gave us a pricing sheet from Costco showing X amount for each model and that’s exactly what we ended up paying. Car showed up like a week later, we already had financing through our credit union, went in, checked out the car and my wife was happy with it, so finished it out right there. Took maybe 30 min to sign papers and go over some stuff, they spent another 30 min letting my wife check it out and helping her with how to use the nav and set up her phone and use everything.

When I buy a new Tundra I’m hoping I’ll do it the same exact way.
I'm using the costco process right now. May take a few months to get car delivered, but maybe a month and a half until I "pay" for it. Will let you know how it goes. So far, what you said is roughly the process for me (build on costco site and price is what's marked there, which is basically true-invoice).
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
I must ask..... Why do you prefer a manual transmission?
Funner to drive, cheaper, slows down when I take my foot off the gas. Can take it out of gear and coast too. I pay better attention to road conditions in sticks. Starts on a dead battery. Limits who can borrow it! My f150 will find itself in 6th gear while we are cruising 35 mph... I've spent too much time in trucks like this... auto's drive me batty.

20171030_122129.jpg
 

boogenman

Turbo Monkey
Nov 3, 2004
4,290
973
BUFFALO
I have sold a handful of Frontier's, its a good vehicle. They never need a ton of work when we get them in from trade ins. FYI is sell automobiles for money.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,573
24,191
media blackout
I prefer my double cab. Four full size doors and inside space are way more useful to me than a little extra bed. Even before I had kids. Different strokes for different folks, but I’ve done more bike trips than I can count with 4 guys, bikes and gear in my truck. It’s a little tight but works out perfectly.
BRO DOZER
 

Da Peach

Outwitted by a rodent
Jul 2, 2002
13,681
4,904
North Van
I dunno. SUVs are comfy, can carry your pals and their shit, and unless you go with a suburban/sequoia/armada, they are easier to find parking for.

Soccer mom mobile FTW