Why the FRONTIER is inferior to TACOMA;

The other ones on this forum are not nice either, i'm suprised this one is so civil.

 

Having recently been shoping the Nissan Frontier offers far more options on the interior, better compartment storage, far more usable accessibility as far as conveniences (cup holders, steering wheel controls for a few), the pop up gps compartment, leather interior option, the the bed system seems to offer a good amount of flexibility.)
I just didn't like the way the truck (more like crossover) felt.
Interior - Frontier (color wise biege interior with a red truck, horrible)
Convenieince/option - Frontier
Price - Frontier
Style and looks - Tacoma ( Frontier - I can not drive a vehicle and make payments on something I can not stand to look at!)

Off road - not a big concern for me

 

I had a 2000 Xterra SE 4x4 (I know not actually a Froniter) but the frame engine alot of the body and front of the interior was pretty much a frontier. It was very reliable, and great off road. but at 125K it had lots of items starting to fail and litterally fall off (actually started about 105K). I was the original owner and while i belive I may have been able to get another 30 - 50K with out a major issue (unless the timming belt went out). I needed the abilty to haul the wife, the kids around and still be able to get haul stuff that I would not want inside the cab with me. Basicly I needed a truck, drove a frontier it was a nice truck, drove a tacoma same thing nice truck.

Stated to compare. Lurked on several forums, spoke to people at the gas pumps, and while the frontier owners were very happy, the tacoma owners were ecstatically so.

Both vehicles are electronic 4x4, which is the way things are now days.
Price and initial build quality were pretty much the same.

But the more I looked into it the more I was leaning to the tacoma. The frontier is a good truck. The tacoma is a good truck.

I bought the tacoma mainly because I could get more of the stuff I wanted with less of the stuff I did not really care to have.

I hope it last at least as long and is as trouble free as the xterra was.

 

Nissan does however have a fully boxed frame which makes for a much more solid platform that will handle better.

 

More balls with less horsepower!

Though I'm not sure on the differences in weight between the two

 

I think that's why they call it a frontier.

 

I think some of the people defending the Frontier secretly own one or they are just buying into Nissan's marketing hype. i know some of you actually have owned the frontier like myself and can vouch that there is no comparison, sure the frontier offers a few additional options, woohoo lets talk about what counts; QUALITY. I think the engineers who designed the frontier were asleep. The Tacoma is way easier to service, the oil filter is right on top, easy access, no upside down oil filter that drips oil down my arm!! How about storage, does the frontier have as much, don't think so.
How about the appearance, the front end of the frontier looks like A$$ and thats putting it nicely. How about the interior, Tacoma wins again. Toyota uses multiple textured plastics/shades not one boring shade in the same boring texture. How about trade in Value, The frontier can't compare again!! The sales data doesn't lie, consumers have spoken with their wallets. Every truckmaker wants to emulate the success of the Tacoma, ford is jumping on the midsize truck bandwagon next year with the F100 but who wants to Fix Or Repair Daily?

 

I just noticed it also has rear disc breaks..!

 

tundra raped a frontier and shit this cupcake out

 

from the evidence i have - the tacoma will exceed the nissan on pure longevity of the drivetrain, etc. that is a significant deciding factor to me.

 

where can i get some power power for my tacoma

 

I have some I can sell you, just send a certified cheque to....

 

Frontiers don't have frame rust or bumper rust issues. And no perceived quality outweighs that simple fact. Another simple fact is I made it less than 2 months before this was an issue. So short or long term the Taco looks like a loser.

 

i just recently bought my tacoma but did drive the frontier and actually liked the frontier really well...the power that nissan gets out of thier 4.0 is amazing! hands down the frontier would smoke the tacoma! i like nissans utilitrack much better and it is much beffier than the tacoma tracks...nissan does have a fully boxed frame which makes it stronger but does effect the ride....i drive my truck for work and drive 50-100 miles daily and sometimes more....what really sold me on the tacoma was the comfort of the seat and the seating position.....i drove the tacoma first and liked it really well but wanted to drive the frontier as well cause i was spending 28,000 dollars and just wanted to compare. the tacoma had really comfortable seats and the key thing for me was the seat went back far enough for me to be comfortable...im 6'2 250 and i like to be able to stretch my legs out and the tacoma allowed me to do that. overall i like the styling of the tacoma a little better but i think the frontier looks good also...looks are subjective so everyone has there favorite. when i went to drive the frontier the first thing i noticed is nissan limits the travel of the front seat so the rear passenger has room no matter what! i felt a bit uncomfortable and cramped because my legs couldnt extend.. second thing was the actual seat comfort... although it was a decent seat it was a little firm and to me felt overall smaller than the tacoma seat. those two things really pushed me to get the tacoma. One more good thing for tacoma is the trd supercharger which can be installed at dealer and covered under warranty with no bs! After driving the nissan though there were several things that i thought toyota could do better on. The frontier was absolutely amazing power wise...i mean it felt like it had 50 horsepower more and the brakes seemed better, like less pedal travel, and great intial bite. Overall they both are good trucks! I really wanted the frontier because i have a nissan titan that i absolutely love...and the frontier is really a baby titan, i think the interior in the frontier could learn a few things from the tacoma....overall interior quality seemed better in the tacoma....the frontier was overall cheaper, almost 2000 cheaper at the time. also toyota was doing the three years free maitenance....i must say i was dissappointed in the tacoma power after i drove the nissan and has to buy the trd charger!!

 

Isthatahemi ;

^Here is a nissan boxed frame, just to show you how much better it is[/quote]

 

Except that it never has in any independent testing...which is to say CR, JD Power, all the car mags, etc. - Tacoma wins the acceleration battle every time.

The VQ is a great engine, but the real world testing doesn't support your "butt dyno".

 

I was doing the frontier vs. tacoma vs. everything else comparisons about six weeks ago while shopping for my new truck.

My situation was coming from a 99 dodge dakota that had served me quite well. I had a loan set up through my credit union, so to the dealers the sale was essentially cash. I wanted to spend under 19k on a brand new truck and all makes had models that fit into that box. I expected to be in another base model 5 spd but as long as it had some get up and go, A/C, and a decent radio I would be happy.

This is my experience/observations shopping -

Foreign trucks (compact and midsize) are simply built better than domestic trucks of the same class. The Nissans and Toyotas are far superior in almost every way to the Ranger, Colorado, etc.

The "foreign" trucks are more American than most domestic trucks. Having been either produced or assembled in America by Americans. The frontiers and equators are made in Smyrna, TN and the Tacoma (at least mine) was assembled in California.

The Suzuki Equator had the best factory warranties.

The base models are all similarly priced. The Frontiers average about $1200 more than an equivalent Tacoma, though.

It came down to Tacoma vs. Frontier / Equator. Folks that don't believe, do your research, the Suzuki Equator is a rebadged Frontier. It's literally made side by side with the Frontier at the plant in Smyrna, TN. The Equator is a bit cheaper than the Frontier at any rate. However, Nissan was at it's end of fiscal in April and had some decent rebates making the Frontier the same price as equivalent Tacomas and Equators.

Driving (ass dyno) -

I didn't drive the equator, but it would have been equivalent to the Frontier.

I test drove the Nissan Frontier SE with 2.5L and 5spd. A few mpg's less than the Tacoma but no big deal considering the king cab (access cab) It was very "vanilla". Not fun to drive and somewhat sluggish. I couldn't feel the "mesh" of the clutch in lower gears and stalled out several times during the 10 minute ride. It's accomadations were ok. I agree, very "plastic-y" but it did come with factory tint and all models are king cab or better. When I sat down for numbers the OTD was roughly $19,200. That was $16189 plus tax, dlr fee (laughable), and tag/title. I wasn't impressed for the price.

I went to look at Toyotas. I test drove a reg cab prerunner sr5, which only comes in 5spd and the 2.7L. I had always loved the higher stance of the prerunners so I ran to that first (glad I did). Stated 20/26 mpg's that I didn't believe because it was the same with the non-prerunners. It was much quicker than I thought it'd be, the .2L's apparently make a big difference (dodge and nissan both 2.5L). It was "sexier", so says my wife - with bigger tires, higher stance, better appearing interior (metallic appointments). Though to be fair it didn't have an access/king cab. The molded bed liner seemed to be of higher quality than the Frontier's. All in all, seemed to be a better "truck" and was definitely more responsive and fun to drive.

It did take some internet/email/phone time and some "command presence" to get the best price but I walked out of Central Florida Toyota with a 2010 Reg Cab Prerunner SR5 for $17523.

Overall savings over the Frontier was almost $1800. If the Nissan was OTD for the same price, the Tacoma still would have won out due to the "fun to drive" nature. I went through five years of that sluggish Dodge and wanted no more of the unresponsive throttle that the Nissan seemed to share.

Now I've been driving my Tacoma for about one month, 930 miles today. Filled the tank twice and am averaging 23.67 mpg in mixed driving, though I'm no lead-foot. It's bigger, badder, and more fun than both my Dodge and the Frontier with better gas mileage than both.

For me, the Tacoma was the better buy both in numbers, and in fun.

Note for Orlando area shoppers - I was in contact with dealers from Gainesville to Melbourne. Toyota of Orlando wasted my time with pricing agreed to and in writing, then I come back with a check from the loan officer and the price had jumped $1000 (at the end of the month when they need numbers???). I had the easiest time buying with JT Austin at Central Florida Toyota. He's an internet guy, I guess. I just called up and told him what I wanted and what I was willing to pay OTD. He called me back 45 mins later and said "I've got one Mag Gray left, come pick it up tonight." It was literally that easy.

 

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Before we start acting like the Nissan rust is so bad and the Tacoma never rust, lets remember who did the recall.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/56990-toyota-frame-rust-wow.html

and a tundra.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...&ndsp=18&tbs=isch:1&ei=bVXKS-GAM8OC8gbNua2qBQ

Keep it honest and real superior reasons.

 

My first truck was a Nissan that I had until it was 14 years old. The only rust it had was above the rear wheels. This is anecdotal, yes........ But Nissan has never spent a billion buying back rusty frames either. So lets see, I had rust issues after 2 months on my Taco, and not after 14 years on my Nissan, or my 14 year old Dodge, hmmm. Apples to apples pal....