I am a new driver, and I am trying to decide what to purchase for a new SUV/Truck. I have been driving a 1995 pathfinder SE for the last 4 years, and I am looking for something new. THere are links all over the place for what is good and/or bad about the frontier. I am hoping people can write back letting me know their honest opinions, as it comes to :
1. Gas milage
2. Comfort
3. Durability
4. Maintenance
5. ease of fitting other people in
(ie. I have seen sites stating all different kinds of Gas milages. I was hoping people had some real world experience to share).
I am not necessarily looking for a 2007 model truck/suv, as I hear buying a year or two old is usually a good idea, as it gets all the kinks out.
Again, as a pretty new driver, and not knowing anything about cars/trucks/suvs, your opinions would be greatly appreciated.
My wife drives a 96' Pathfinder SE and I traded my POS 03' Dodge in on a new Frontier. I love it, it is twice the truck that the Dodge was and I feel like it will be running alot longer. I consistently get between 19.5 and 21 mpg on the interstate and around 16 in town. I always compare the gas mileage that the truck says im getting and what it really is and the truck is always with .1 mpg. I have the NISMO edition 4x4 simply because I felt like I was getting the things that I wanted on a truck rather than just getting a truck. I love the skid plates, locking differential, and bigger tires. The truck has plenty of power to go around also. I haul a John Deere 4120 around from time to time and the truck does really good. I do have second thoughts though about not getting a crew cab. The king cab has more bed space but it is nice having 4 real seats. I am a big outdoorsman and I haul my 4-wheeler around alot too so that is why I opted for the king cab. I would definitely buy another one or recommend one to a friend.
I am a new driver, and I am trying to decide what to purchase for a new SUV/Truck. I have been driving a 1995 pathfinder SE for the last 4 years, and I am looking for something new. THere are links all over the place for what is good and/or bad about the frontier. I am hoping people can write back letting me know their honest opinions, as it comes to :
1. Gas milage
2. Comfort
3. Durability
4. Maintenance
5. ease of fitting other people in
I bought my '05 Frontier close to a year ago when my second kid came along. With 2 kids, it was time to dump the '94 Ranger supercab for something more roomy with 4 full doors. Wife has a CR-V, and we've always used the open bed so I basically narrowed it down to the SportTrac, Tacoma, Ridgeline, and Frontier. Trucks like the Dakota and Canyon sucked so bad in comparison that it wasn't even funny. And while I loved my last 2 Rangers, the lack of a crew cab mode killed that idea.
1 - Gas mileage. Any decent sized truck (especially 4x4) is going to somewhat suck, but in pure city driving I'm getting around 15. The few times I've gone on longer trips I've seen 19.5, so I suspect the 15/20 rating is dead on.
2 - Comfort. The Frontier was IMHO the most comfortable vehicle I test drove. The Ridgeline was close, but it was much more of a car ride and had a horribly bland interior. Tacoma was good too, but I'm not a fan of all that space age silver crap all over the dash.
3 - Durability. I'd say that for the most part the Frontier will be as durable as any product out there. I'd possibly give the Tacoma a slight edge, but it seems that in recent years Toyota's famed quality has been slipping. And when I was researching the Tacoma, I saw a lot of people complaining about them. Especially things like crushing the uber weak tailgates.
4 - Maintenance. I pretty much suspect that for the first 100k miles all I'll really need are oil changes and a few other various filters. Then again, this is true for most new vehicles today.
5 - Ease of fitting other people in. Very comfortable truck, I was suprised that I fit fine in the backseat even after adjusting the drive seat to where I'd normall have it at (I'm 6'). Easy to get in and out the back, and I have 2 kids car seats back there currently with plenty of room.
When I researched everything for a mid sized truck, I basically came down to the Tacoma and Frontier. The Frontier won me over with a nicer interior, more comfortable seats, better utili-track system, much stronger tailgate, and the fact that it was $4k cheaper than a similar Tacoma. If I planned on selling the truck in a few years, I'd probably have gone with the Tacoma since I'd think that it would have better resale. But I plan on driving this thing for 10 years, and leaving that extra $4k in a investment account will more than make up for a slighly lower resale in the future. Heck, I could probably throw away the Frontier in a decade and still come out ahead. haha
I have had my '05 Frontier LE KC for about 15 monmths now. I am very satisfied with it
so far.
1-Gas mileage. I get between 18 and 19.5 around town and 21 and 23.4 on the road.
Your mileage is going to depend on which model you buy, how you drive, where you
drive, and what modifications you add. This is why you see so much variance in the
mileage posted on the forums.
2-Comfort. MY truck is fairly comfortable for a truck, but my wife's Toyota Solara is
easier on my back. I am 68 years old and have a bad back from a motorcycle mis-
hap many years ago so my observation may not be valid.
3.-Durability. I have only done a few small things from the TSB's and one recall. These
were all minor things and were paid for by Nissan. I have not had it long enough to tell
if it will be as durable as my 1977 Datsun KC. It lasted 24 years and 175,000 miles
with only minor replacements of starter and generator. It did rust though.
4-Maintenance. So far only oil changes other than the items I mentioned in #3.
5-Ease getting others in. I have a KC so it is pretty much 3 is a crowd. I cannot speak
for the CC's.
As stated above, I would buy another one. It is the nicest truck I have ever owned.
I have an '05 and it's just fantastic -- I couldn't be any happier (well unless they offered a supercharger...). I get 18MPG,the seats are very comfortable but the ride is unpleasantly jiggley for my tastes (I can live with it), my Sentra has close to 200K trouble-free miles so I'm counting on this Nissan to be reliable.
I am pretty much spot on for the gas mialage. I did some mods so I get a little better mpg on the highway. The Frontier is the easiest truck I have owned that you can mod to get some better gas mialage. I had a Toyota SR-5 before this and thought about the Tacoma but the Frontier was over 3K cheaper and it had more features, more for less, cant say no to that. I have not done anything hardcore with it but what I have done, it has taken with ease. Pulling trees out of the ground, pulling a friends car out of the mud, pop this baby in low 4x4 and feel the power. I have the 05, the dealer had a $1500 discount becuase they were getting rid of them to make room for the 06's, so I went with the 05. Best decision I have made.
__________________ 2005 Radiant Silver Crew Cab LE 4x4 Frontier Mods : (visual) Manik Brush/Grill guard, Manik tail light guards, weathertech window vents, Tweety and Scooby Doo window decals, Pathfinder window switch covers, (audio) new 6disk in dash cd changer, (performance) Extang Blackmax cover Car Domain : http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2183325 Website : http://www.moonsofneptune.com
I just bought a used 2005 Nismo 4x4 and love it. I've been driving a 1994 Nissan Hardbody 4x4 for 5 years and just sold it. It had 200,000 miles on it and still ran great. Needed to upgrade and found this Nismo for a great deal. It was 1 year old with 19,000 miles on it. I've been driving it for a week and love it.
Would highly recommend it!!!!!
__________________
2005 Nissan Nismo Extracab 4X4 and 2003 Ford Lightning P/U
Oh yeah - I also forgot that I did have one problem with my truck, about 1 month after owning it I noticed that when I'd start it the guages would seem to go through a self test and the display would default to the Trip A setting (vs. the last setting, which was always MPG). Explained the problem to the dealer and made an appointment to drop off the truck at 8:00am. When I got there, they had all the info on my truck, along with electrical schematics, and possible solutions. They even had a driver waiting to drop me off at work. Great service!
Turned out it was a loose wire where they cluster wasn't getting constant power and thus resetting.
I think my blower motor might be a bit louder than normal, but I've been waiting for something else to go wrong to take it in.....but haven't had any problems since then. Which, I guess is good.
yeah my blower is also loud. It gets quiter when the car is at idle then when i get on the gas it gets louder. I only notice it when my GF is in the car cause she does not like music in the morning.
As your RPM go up, the alternator puts out more voltage so the blower goes higher in rpm too.
after reading the blower comments there is one issue I have. In my old truck, I could open the vents (blower off) and get air through them. This was nice if I am driving on the high way and dont want the windows open or the blower going. Becuase with my toyota, if the vents were open and your doing 65, its about as strong as the low setting is. I wish we could do the same with the frontier. I dont like having to run the blower all the time when i dont feel like having the windows open (like when I am trying to talk to the other people in the car).
__________________ 2005 Radiant Silver Crew Cab LE 4x4 Frontier Mods : (visual) Manik Brush/Grill guard, Manik tail light guards, weathertech window vents, Tweety and Scooby Doo window decals, Pathfinder window switch covers, (audio) new 6disk in dash cd changer, (performance) Extang Blackmax cover Car Domain : http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2183325 Website : http://www.moonsofneptune.com
5-Ease getting others in. I have a KC so it is pretty much 3 is a crowd. I cannot speak
for the CC's.
You would be surprised at the room in the crew cab. I am 6'3 and I can still fit a friend behind me whose 6'. I have gotten 5 grown adults in there (me and 4 others) and while the back is a little cramped, its more comfortable than I have been in some other trucks.
__________________ 2005 Radiant Silver Crew Cab LE 4x4 Frontier Mods : (visual) Manik Brush/Grill guard, Manik tail light guards, weathertech window vents, Tweety and Scooby Doo window decals, Pathfinder window switch covers, (audio) new 6disk in dash cd changer, (performance) Extang Blackmax cover Car Domain : http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2183325 Website : http://www.moonsofneptune.com
YES. Buy one now. Buy one and become one of us muahahahahaha....
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1999 Nissan Frontier XE KC 4X2-K&N,Customized body damage,Pace setter headers,
1982 El camino-350 swap,Lunati voodoo cam,Holley 4130 carb,Race built TH350,MSD distributor,four bolt main caps,Dry sump oil system,Hole from floorboard from improper jack use,Straight Dual system,Exhaust cutouts (located at the header.)
Should I purchase a Fronier ?
Linear Mode
