Looking at the Frontier . Priced so reasonably. hmmm

Had a brand new well loaded 2014 Frontier as a loaner for a week. It had features you couldn't get in a Taco until now: dual zone climate control, leather and sunroof. And features you still can't get like power front seats and leather in middle tier versions.

My three big issues with it: Turning radius is enormous - it's the same as a full size truck and needed to do 2 point turns to park at work. Throttle tip in; the first inch of gas pedal travel is 100% of the throttle. Feels like huge power until you discover there's nothing left after the initial lunge. Also sucks to drive in stop and go traffic. Gas mileage, I couldn't get more than 16.5mpgs doing 55 on the highway per the trip computer - I'm sure it'll improve after break-in.

 

Test drove one earlier today. Don't have enough experience to compare to the Tacoma but interior felt cheaper than the 15.

 

I've been doing some 'very quick' KBB searches & reviews of various trucks..... lol

Seems the only real competition to the Tacoma is the Frontier (resale, reviews, maintenance, reliability, resale, etc)

Back in 2007, I looked at a Frontier and test drove it. I wasn't impressed ....lacked power... I just didn't like it.
First impressions of the new ones? I still don't like the way they look, shape, size, etc.

When two companies/trucks are similarly rated / price / equipped / etc. - It's very hard to sway against what you're used to. I've owned 1st gen & 2nd gen and I've been happy with them.

My husband just bought an Infinity back in February...... so, maybe ONE Nissan in the family is enough. LOL

 

Don't think he was ever serious about buying a Frontier, since his signature says 2016 on order.

 

Nothing is set in stone. I don't even have a build date yet and if the prices go down I'm taking whomever offers the better deal at the moment. Not married to any particular brand but my preference is the Tacoma. Frontier has the price and extras that the Tacoma should have for its price tag. I had no issues with how it rode. Dealer wasn't about to let me take it offroad. It appears capable but then again I take Subarus offroad so anything above that is a plus.

 

I know that I'll get crucified for saying this, but I've always liked the Frontier. I used to own one of the hardbody trucks back in the mid 90s that I liked a lot. I helped my son buy a Nismo edition when he was in the Navy and it was a nice little truck, and a lot cheaper than a comparable Tacoma. It had the V6 which I think was rated at at 265 hp. It ran really good.

The downside was that the ride was really rough and as mentioned, the seats weren't very comfortable. We drove together from central Texas to Norfolk, Va. and I really felt beat up when we got there. It also had a few reliability issues that were a pain.

When I got ready to buy my truck 2 years ago, I went with the truck that I'd been looking at for the previous 2 years and have had no regrets.

 

The DCSB I drove for a week turned worse than my DCLB Tacoma. It was unbelievable.

I thought the off-the-line power in the Frontier was pretty bad. Supposedly there is a way to fix this because it doesn't allow 100% throttle below a certain MPH. But, it also didn't hold speed as well on highway hills as my Tacoma. I figure this is due to the extra weight, 3.36 gearing, and making a bit less torque to the wheels than the Tacoma.

Mileage was about the same for me, though. I got 19 for the week I had the Frontier. That's about what I do in the same driving in my Tacoma.

 

such an epic comeback!

 

why do people blur the plates online? Do they blur them on the road as well, so thousands of people cant see it everyday?

 

Some license plates aren't very photogenic. Other's seem to do fine. I think it depends on which county / parish you live in. . .

 

Aw man, don't even get me started on the turning radius of my Frontier. It is by far my biggest gripe with the truck.

 

Phew, I was hoping for inside heated mirrors....

 

I've driven my fair share of Frontiers. If I wasn't able to buy a Tacoma for whatever reason the Frontier would be my second choice. The 4.0 in it has a good amount of power and if you get the Pro-4x package the interior is nice even with all the plastic. My only complaints are that they are very noisy engine wise and they ride very stiff and you get bounced around a little bit. That's not such a big deal for me, though.

With that said I believe the Tacoma out performs it in every way and that's why I'm buying a Tacoma and not a Frontier

Edit: Forgot to add that the turning radius is awful. Like full size truck awful

 

7 Cars Buyers Cannot Wait to Trade In


http://247wallst.com/autos/2015/05/15/7-cars-buyers-cannot-wait-to-trade-in/

 

I did this one time with a bottle of wine with a party, I gave to the host and they were like WTF is this? I was like oh its my cup holder from my truck, Ill be taking that! It was a funny moment, had to be there I guess.

 

There was some discussion regarding this in another thread and a lot of people pointed out there areca lot of base Frontiers used as fleet vehicles hence the one year trade on.

 

Methodology

iSeeCars.com analyzed almost 5 million new 2014 model year cars sold between September 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014, and more than 140 thousand used cars from the same model year sold a year later, between September 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014, with 10,000 to 15,000 miles. Fleet vehicles were excluded from analysis.
The number of used cars was divided by the number of new cars for each model to calculate the proportion of new cars sold after one year of ownership. The overall average proportion was then calculated across all models, and the individual proportions were expressed as a multiple of this average. Models with sales greater than 2.5 times the overall average were selected for inclusion on the final list.

 

I stand corrected

 

On a related note, I have never seen a Taco available for rental. But occasionally Frontiers show up in rental fleets.