Any 3rd gen owners come from or now behind the wheel of a Frontier?

A Titan/Patrol suspension converted Frontier running a 5.6L with a 6-speed manual. Now that would be something wild.

 

They're called trail groupies, you can usually find them hanging out at local OHV staging areas willing to trade services for IG hashtags

 

Might as well put a supercharger on it too.

 

I had an 08 that I got in 2016- bought it with super low mileage and had continual issues for over a year with an oil leak. Replaced one side valve cover gaskets and eventually cover multiple times and it never was fixed. That kind of burned me on nissans.

 

It was purchased and all work was done at a Nissan dealership (not to say that dealerships always do the best work, but it went up the chain pretty high due to the lack of remedy) and given the process and progression of fixes, dye tracking, and ultimately it never going away it was starting to look like something more serious...

We ended up moving away from that city/dealership and I traded it off to get rid of the headache.


Considering how many vehicles and how long Nissan has been using that engine, it was something they hadn’t seen.

 

Exactly. This was like 8 years old and 36k miles, I think that it sitting too much in the harsh cold of northern Minnesota did something to it...

 

Its a shame that dealerships are so hit and miss. There was a recall on timing chains on my frontier and the dealer in Lubbock took care of it in a day without a hiccup. And then out of warranty the fuel level sender went - a dealer in Houston said "Well, its out of warranty, but it shouldn't have happened, we'll fix it." Compared to all the dealer horror stories I hear here, I feel like I hit the jackpot.

 

I had a 2015 frontier traded for 2017 Tacoma limited. to me the Tacoma wins not a contest

 

When I was comparing them 11 years ago, it seemed like the Tacoma was the nicer truck, but the increase in price for that extra bit of quality was just more than I wanted to spend.


Oh, and Nissan was building them with a double cab, long bed, a sunroof - and an MT.

 

I mean my tacoma isnt great on gas either.

All in all, the frontier is cheaper and can be had with a rear locker. Imo, if the time comes to buy another truck ot wpuld be the hybrid Tundra after its been on the market for a few years, or even better a hybrid tacoma, but if Toyotas prices are too high I would be getting a frontier. The frontier seems like a much better option than the colorado or ranger. I would definitely be upgrading the head unit unless nissan came out with a nice one.

 

My truck hasn't seen dirt

 

I’m a long time Toyota owner, but in ‘17 I convinced myself that new Tacoma’s were just too expensive and went to look at Frontiers. Didn’t really like the Frontier, except for price. But I did like the Titan, huge power and gets better mileage than a Frontier. So I bought one, and spent many hours in the dealer waiting room while they did warranty repairs. Twice they had to give me a free rental car while they worked on it. Drivers seat (multiple problems), oil leak, transmission TSBs, the third brake light pod flew off at 75 mph and banged around on the back glass connected by the wiring until I could get stopped, and finally an inoperable heater was the last straw. Nissan builds a great motor, the rest of it is just cheap.

I traded it for what I really wanted all along, a Tacoma 4x4.

 

I went from a 2000 Frontier I had for 16 years to a 2019 Tacoma. The frontier was a great truck. Automatic, 4x4, 3.3 v6. Just a little underpowered. Had 200,000 miles when I sold it and everything still worked fine.

 

They ditched the torsion bars around 2004, all 2005+ have coil springs like a tacoma. They have 5100 lift kits like Tacoma.

 

likely oil galley gaskets. Most people, including Nissan techs, don’t know they exist. They can present like valve cover leaks very easily. Again, Nissan doesn’t make replacements. There are one or two aftermarket options, but it took me a decent amount of time and research to find them, and mine was already put back together by the time I did.

 

I just came from a 2013 SV. Great,reliable truck. Had it for 3 years..ironically on the 3rd year anniversary I traded it in for my Taco. I really did love the truck,it taught me a lot..but it is SOOO dated..and basic. I can see the appeal for some people who just wants a truck with no bells and whistles to get the job done..

But good Lord it needs a facelift. Everything looked exactly like what it is..a 15 year old truck that hasn't changed AT ALL. If you're okay with not having all the newest tech..a Frontier is actually a great value for the buck. But for me..I wanted newer,and better.

 

2010. Very good truck. Nothing special, just really good transportation.

 

I had a 2005 I really enjoyed when it was running. I bought it used with about 110k miles on for $12k, put about that much in repairs over the 6 years I kept it. I let the forums scare the crap out me about the SMOD so I did the recomended bypass, cooked the transmission one year later and ended up replacing the trans and updating the radiator. Had the timing chain guides fail. Had to replace all four catalytic converters. Had a handful of sensors fail. When it came time to give it up I tried to consider a newer one mostly because I could have it built up with bumpers and armor off the bat, but nah.

But hey it was a beast offroad and had way more oomf off the line than my 3rd gen Taco. Everyone on this thread commenting on the abysmal turning radius aren't kidding either. No Taco ragrets so far.

 

Nice looking truck. I saw a video where the Titan has a tighter turning radius.

There were a number of V6 Hondas that experienced the Strawberry Milkshake of Death (SMOD) during the same time frame. There was a steel washer that would swell up from rust and destroy the inner fitting. That allowed coolant and and ATF to mix. Many owners found aftermarket radiators that did not have the same fitting and issue. So they would replace radiators before having the SMOD problem.

It was really sad to see people lose the transmission on their 4 year old vehicles that were just out of warranty. Note this is a Honda SMOD picture.

 

I liked my Frontier. The Nissan bed tie down system is hands down better than any other truck on the market. The engine was powerful and the transmission was smooth. Gas mileage wasn’t great but not that far off from what I’m getting currently in my 3rd gen. Only problem I had with the truck was with the filler neck. I couldn’t pump gas real fast or it would piss out of the tube. Never ended up taking it in before I got rid of it. I’ve had several issues with my Tacoma. Overall my frontier was a better truck and I did enjoy driving it better than the Tacoma. The Tacoma feels more capable, when taking it Offroad, minus the powertrain.

The only thing I didn’t like was the turning radius.