Jump to content
Create New...
  • Drew Dowdell
    Drew Dowdell

    Nissan, and the Next Frontier

      ...the oldest small truck on the market is about to get a redesign...

    The Jeep Gladiator is new. While it is based on older underpinnings and a somewhat dated interior, the Ford Ranger is the second newest truck in the U.S. market.  Behind that is the just-refreshed but still on an older chassis Toyota Tacoma, that is getting a new platform in a few years. Behind that is the Honda Ridgeline.  Behind that are the GM twins of Colorado and Canyon which came out in 2012. And finally, behind those two, the oldest small/midsize truck is the Nissan Frontier, trucking on since 2004 without a major redesign.   Put into some perspective, the current Nissan Frontier is only one year younger than the previous generation of Colorado and Canyon.  As far as the automotive industry goes, that is ancient, but Frontier buyers don't seem to mind. Nissan sold nearly 79,646 Frontier trucks in 2018, a 7.1% increase over 2017.  That's with all the new competition coming on the market and without any major incentives.  That makes it the brands third best seller in the crossover/truck segment after Rogue and Murano. 

    People wanting something a bit fresher from Nissan still have about 18 months to wait. The next Frontier, sold as a 2021 model, should arrive in dealerships in the Fall of 2020. People who have seen previews of the truck describe it as "futuristic" and "Modern, but still looks like a truck".  It will get a new 300 horsepower V6 engine replacing the current 4.0 V6 and the 5-speed automatic will be upgraded to a 7-speed. 

    However, unlike the Tacoma, which is moving to an all new platform in a few years. The Frontier will get a heavily revised version of its current frame.  Nissan opted not to go with their global Navara truck platform primarily because it is too small to compete with the likes of the Ranger and Gladiator.  It also uses a more expensive coil spring rear suspension instead of the traditional leaf springs. 

    With the Ford Ranger and Jeep Gladiator now entering the market, Nissan wants to catch up and be the newest kid on the block, if only for a little while.

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • google-news-icon.png



  • google-news-icon.png

  • Subscribe to Cheers & Gears

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001 we've brought you real content and honest opinions, not AI-generated stuff with no feeling or opinions influenced by the manufacturers.

    Please consider subscribing. Subscriptions can be as little as $1.75 a month, and a paid subscription drops most ads.*
     

    You can view subscription options here.

    *a very limited number of ads contain special coupon deals for our members and will show

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • I hate to say stuff like this, but you can profile people fairly easily.  A certain emboldened member with a smaller view of the world used to get on my case about this ... go see the world and learn to make inferences.  At any rate, I was boarding a plane in Jacksonville and, in front of me, was a guy with a baseball cap and all I could see was the rear camo effect.  When he got up, I saw Trump 2024.  I felt like saying something to him, along the lines of how is it that the most conservative people support the most depraved individual.  I thought I should skip it since I didn't want to end up in an argument and on a "do not fly" list for some airline.  He was white with salt and pepper hair but had that Charles Bronson brow.  So, you know ... ex-military, high paying trades, utilities, government job ... or alligator trapper.  For all these so-called conservative people, we've never had a first lady (lower case in her case) where you're a "k**t hair" away from seeing the R/X rated stuff.  I'm originally from SoCal and NOTHING shocks me, but that and the whole circus of everyone involved - extended family, loyal friends - is over the line for me for the job at hand. Houston is not my favorite place.  However, I handle it much better than Dallas or San Antonio, which don't interest me.  I don't like their interior location and the brushy looking mesquite.  Houston has a distinct and attractive downtown.  There's the Space Center.  There are the museums, of which MFAH is free one day of the week.  There's Galveston, and even if the not the nicest beach, water can be so therapeutic, just watching the cruise ships or freight ships come and go.  Lastly, there are some beautiful neighborhoods, with newer homes in the darker red brick, completely hidden under a pine canopy, which is never the case in other big Texas cities.  It reminds of Atlanta, which I very much liked.  So, between that, and the welcoming and freewheeling people, I can hang in H-town for a while and find new indie coffeehouses and eateries.  There's so much food and it's easy to gain weight there.  I agree ... I hate Orlando FL ... a bad knock-off of Las Vegas and Las Vegas is already bad. I've never been to Hawai'i and Alaska.  I'm not so sure I'm interested.  If I have to fly that far, I'll just cross a pond.  I also have an issue with Hawaiians since some of the locals of Samoan stock have issues with "haolis," having heard this from white folks I knew who moved there and then came back because of the passive-aggressive discrimination.  The only states I have never set foot in are a cluster in the middle and they're not that pressing for me - ND, SD, Nebraska, and Montana.  So, I'm at 44 of them and that's good enough for now.
    • Watching "The Hunger Games" why do I feel we are going down a dark path?
    • The question I am hearing from more and more Americans: "Can we RECALL the President and VP?" Sadly, NO is the answer. It would take a motion to add to our constitution to allow a recall of the folks as even the Senate and House members are protected with no way to recall them either.  Interesting is that most states have in their constitution the ability to recall state politicians including the Governor that has happened in a few states over the last Century. Most recent was California.
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search