PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Going back to why I don't care much for 2005-present Frontiers...

Last night, at work, I was tasked with driving a recently traded base model King Cab 2WD with the 4-banger and automatic, specifically a white 2014 model with about 52,000 miles. This was not one of my details, but rather a full detail that was now ready for the used car lot.

This particular truck itself was in excellent condition. The previous owner obviously took care of it; However, the first thing I noticed when I began adjusting things (seat, mirrors, steering wheel, etc) to my preferences, I realized that this truck did not seem to have a tilt column...

It had A/C (believe it or not, A/C was an extra-cost option on base Frontiers until fairly recently, as was a radio), cruise control, and an AM/FM stereo with CD and AUX input (As I said, a radio was an extra-cost option on the bottom-rung model). This truck had crank windows and manual locks, but the fact that it had air and cruise but no tilt wheel came across as weird to me...

What's even weirder is that it appeared to have the cutout for a tilt wheel lever, but not the actual lever; Perhaps it was broken off?

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I do not like the driving position in that era of Frontier unless the steering column is adjustable (The '07 stick
shift was fine because it had tilt).

That said, this Frontier was in good shape and I think it will make a better truck for some lucky person than a lot of new trucks! Just a no-nonsense pickup truck with A/C, heat, a radio, and relatively low miles; What more do you really need?!?!

 

I've driven a 2008 pathfinder, does that count?

 

Comparing my best friends 2016 frontier SV to my 2016 tacoma, there is no way in hell I would own a frontier. It looks boring and cheap inside

 

@ALI3N_123
@ChadsPride
@El Duderino
@Jamesboy2233
@Plain Jane Taco

Despite not being as refined (in my opinion) as a Tacoma of
the same era, the 2nd Gen Frontier has two features standard across the board the Tacoma does not!

The first one is intermittent wipers, which was standard even on the no-frills Frontier with no A/C and radio delete!

The second one is 4-wheel disc brakes, which even the 2009-2011 Ford Rangers had, but even the 3rd Gen Taco does not!

That's right, the last "original" Rangers came standard with 4-wheel disc brakes!

 

The first generation (1998-2004) were a bit unrefined, but wayyy better than the 2nd Gens!

My uncle bought a brand new 2002 Frontier XE DCSB 2WD in October or November of 2002. It has a V6 (I believe a 3.3L making a little under 200hp), and a 5-speed handshaker. The truck is yellow with beautiful gray painted wheels. The reason it is yellow is because my aunt didn't want my uncle to buy a truck, and told him that he could only buy a yellow truck, thinking he would not want a yellow truck and just buy another sedan...

That was an EPIC FAIL!

Turns out my uncle had no problem with a yellow truck; 16 years about 130,000 miles later, he is still driving the damn thing! Just last year, my uncle had to replace a hose of some sort when the A/C stopped blowing cold in the middle of summer (after about 15 years of trouble-free service), but other than that, "Old Yeller" has been a great truck!

 

I like the older frontiers. The current gen of them are just old

 

They look cool... If it were 2005.

 

My dad's 1998 was pretty cool. They thought they were filing paperwork for a brown Frontier, but the sales guy made a mistake and gave them paperwork for a blue Frontier. My parents didn't say anything because it probably would've gotten him fired.

 

And took 50k miles off the life of the clutch on all 3 vehicles.

 

@El Duderino

My uncle is the type of person who takes the saying "drive it until it dies" to an extreme level...

My uncle, an Army vet, bought a brand new 1985 Mazda GLC with the mid-level "Deluxe" trim; The car had air-conditioning and a cassette player, but very little else. He even paid cash at a time when the economy was in a slump and even people with perfect credit were paying 10% APR or more on car loans. He had and my aunt (mom's sister) had their first son in 1986 and their second in 1988, buying a new 1986 Plymouth Voyager LE as a family vehicle just after the first kid arrived...

My uncle bought the Mazda in Georgia I believe, and during the 16 years he owned it, he and his family lived in Maryland and then Virginia. When the younger of my two cousins was a teething infant, he took a few bites out of the upholstery when he was strapped into his car seat in the back. Specifically, my cuz took bites out of the gray vinyl stuff on the door panel closest to him, leaving the yellow foam expose and giving the car an undeserved "run-down appearance.

My uncle is a lot like Warren Buffett, far from being a billionaire, but frugal. Despite being worth billions, Warren Buffett was a driving a $50,000 Cadillac last I checked. My aunt and uncle moved to Virginia in late 1994, and they bought a house in a specific part of Fairfax County (DC suburbs) because it had such a good school district (the entire Fairfax County School District consistently ranks among the best in the country, but this particular part of it was especially good).

To give you an example of what I'm getting at, these houses were going for well over $400K in 1994! In about 1996, my aunt and uncle had a 1985 Mazda and a 1986 Plymouth minivan. The neighbors had a couple of early 1990s Volvo sedans, and the neighbors next door to the Volvo family had a late model (at the time) Chevy Suburban.

Don't get me wrong, the Mazda was in great condition and was kept for a full 5 years longer than the minivan, despite being a year older. It was about the same age at the time as my Taco. However, safety and tech features have kind of evened out between 2009 and the present. Between 1985 and 1996, however, passenger vehicles had come a long way. By 1996, just about everything had dual airbags, most vehicles had antilock brakes, and every vehicle had fuel injection.

My uncle's '85 Mazda had a carbureted engine, no airbags, and no ABS. As far as I know, however, the A/C only needed a charge or two of R-12 (if that) and was still blowing cold when my uncle retired the car...

As I said, they live in Virginia, which is one of several obnoxious nanny states in the Northeast that require annual or bi-annual safety inspections. Virginia is bi-annual (every 2 years), and requires emissions testing in the DC suburbs; My uncle's Mazda failed an emissions test in 2001 or 2002 and he just donated it to Purple Heart for a tax writeoff; He drove the car he bought from his parents for his oldest son who was about to get his license, a 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, until he bought the Frontier...

 

The Jeep's clutch was confirmed by another coworker as already being bad, the Frontier maybe, and Sonic no...

 

You're dad's had a couple of issues with that frontier...

Is that the same one the police thought was stolen?!?!

 

Bill, don't doubt my ability to drive a stick shift...

Most of my coworkers at the detail shop can't do it all! I have trouble at extraordinarily low speeds and when stopped or getting going from a dead stop...

 

@ALI3N_123

You may be more at ease around cops, but after my little experience with them back in 2013, I will always be bit nervous...

Always complying with police no matter how full of shit they are is a matter of common sense, and while I will always comply with police, I would have been contacting my lawyer if I'd been put in the same scenario as your dad.

My record will always come back clean, and my truck is registered to me. If after running my license plate they still pulled out of my truck and handcuffed me and put me in the back of a squad car IN PUBLIC, I'd sue them.

 

Yep.

 

I've been stopped at a DUI checkpoint and pulled over twice in my truck, all in the same year. The DUI checkpoint is pretty self-explanatory, as I was driving home from work at 11pm on St. Patrick's Day.

I was pulled over for 43 in a 25 in May 2017, which I fought and got knocked down to 5 over.

I was pulled over in September 2017 for making a left on a red light at a confusing intersection, and got off with a warning.

I drive one of the most distinctive Tacomas in my area, and a cop would have to be pretty damn stupid to mistake it for a stolen vehicle...

 

That's where 99% of all clutch wear is under the best circumstances. Factor in slippage from inexperience....lots of life burned away in a matter of seconds.

 

I had a 99 frontier for a year, 2015-16. I bought it with 76k miles, and it kept breaking down every month with one thing or another. I got rid of it with 87k on it and bought my new tacoma. Buying parts was a nightmare, because a lot are not made anymore, and junkyard searches were difficult because Nissan kept making so many changes in the 98-00 Frontiers, before settling down for the 01-04 years.

 

@PennSilverTaco, my dad's was a blue 1998 Frontier Access Cab with a manual transmission. He bought it new along with a pre owned 1997 pathfinder back in Glendale. He traded in his 1993 Mazda Miata after my mom told him he was too old for a Miata.

 

You got pics of your Cruiser?