I’m expecting tear gas to seep through the vents. Mid-size pickups like this 2013 Nissan Frontier must do a good job at turning off customers like visits to the dentist. Where’s the “remove my gall bladder with a spoon” button in here?
Something, and I mean something, has to have soured Americans from mid-size or compact pickups (anything other than full size) in the last decade. We used to have at least six options for mid-size and compact pickups. Now we’re essentially left with two. “Land of opportunity” my foot.
The 2013 Nissan Frontier is one of those choices. Alongside the Toyota Tacoma, the two models are left to fight over what’s left of the shoppers looking for a pickup — but not quite a country western song — of which, I hear there are few.
This year’s Frontier is well traveled in the Nissan lineup. This generation, which is nearly 10 years old now, received few upgrades this year, none as important as its $1,200 price drop from last year. The bottom line is, after all, the bottom line.
For $17,990 of your hard-earned money, Nissan offers the Frontier in a 4×2 King cab, inline-4, manual configuration. My estimate is that Nissan sells around five such models in the United States this year. The better choice for consumers looking for a primary vehicle is the crew cab with Nissan’s potent V6 and four-wheel drive that ranges around $27,000.
A word about that V6: when it comes to buyers between the Tacoma and Frontier, often the scrap between the two comes down to engines and mileage. Nissan’s 4-liter six-cylinder, which is fantastically mighty in its growl, bests Toyota’s version by 25 horsepower. Both return roughly the same mileage depending on cab configuration and powertrain, around 16/22 mpg city/highway. If it were a tale of the tape, Nissan would have Toyota by a nose, but only just.
Nissan thoughtfully offered a PRO-4X model for our weeklong test, an off-road version with many stickers that let you know it means business. Bilstein off-road shocks, skid plates everywhere and a locking rear differential separate the Frontier PRO-4X from the rest of the chaff and is built to appeal to one of the segments that still have traction for small truck makers: guys with really good tans who spend more time in Moab than they do with their mothers.
Outside — stickers included — the Frontier plays the part of scrappy, diminutive brother to larger pickups. With roof racks, lights everywhere and its throaty V6, the Frontier looks very much the part of the small guy you just don’t want to push around. I like that.
Inside, the Frontier begins to show its age. As a rule, truck makers say capability comes first before comfort. I agree. But the same could be said for iron maidens. The Frontier’s cloth seats, dash materials and instrument cluster are perfectly suited for work trucks or something you’d like to hose off after a long weekend in the mountains, but for everyday driving, it’s lacks a certain refinement. Our PRO-4X, which runs past $30,000 didn’t exactly feel palatial, but it’s rugged charm made it at least palatable. Among the highlights: a leather-wrapped steering wheel (PRO-4X model) and Nissan’s navigation and Rockford Fosgate audio system, which is among the best in the business at the moment. I know I’m a snob.
Although I can appreciate the brute force feeling one gets behind the wheel of one of these things. The Frontier, like the XTerra and Titan, is constructed as a body-on-frame truck, which sacrifices a little comfort for a lot of capability. The ride isn’t silky smooth, but I didn’t want it to be. The V6 under the hood always felt confident everywhere I went off-road, and it was helpful to know that there were very few places I couldn’t travel with a truck built for a zombie apocalypse.
Maybe mid-size is the wrong segment to shoehorn the Frontier in. The capability and powertrain rival its bigger-brother Titan in many respects (towing capacity is over 6,000 lbs.) and the Frontier is plenty big to haul what most people would ask of it. And no, there’s no tear gas button in here either.
Aaron Cole is a syndicated auto columnist. Reach him at aaron.m.cole@gmail.com