Speaker 1: You guys, the 2022 Nissan frontier is finally here. It's been like 17 years now. I've been driving it all day today. I've had a really good day and I wanna show you how my day went. So let's go way back in the way back machine. And I'll show you what happened. Think about the world in 2005, we didn't have iPhones or, and we had to book hotels instead of just grabbing an Airbnb from then, until now the truck world has been living with the same old Nissan frontier. Why? Well, cuz [00:00:30] it was cheap to make and people still bought it. But tech has moved on and Nissan really needed to get with the program. If it wanted to go up against the venerable Toyota Tacoma, the revamped Ford ranger and the Chevy Colorado. So I I've got the same 126 inch wheel base as the outgoing model, but you can get a long wheel base if that's your thing.
Speaker 1: Overall, the truck is about five inches longer. But what I really like are the design cues that they took from the old school Nissan hard body truck, cuz that truck is so dope. So up here in front, I've got a lot of personality, right? I got these chunky L E [00:01:00] D headlamps, the grill it into two, I've got frontier just lazed across the front. This is the top trim, the pro four X, which means I've got these red badges, which with this color of truck, there's not a really, a lot of contrast. It's not my favorite thing. And also you guys look at this fake fence. Why just make 'em real. It's not that hard, but overall this truck looks really, really tough. You'll be able to get the frontier in a few different trim levels, including the pro four X that you see here. And the two wheel drive prox. Plus you can snag a crew [00:01:30] or a king cab with a five or a six foot bed.
Speaker 1: Now you only get one engine option here. That is a 3.8 liter naturally aspirated V6 push. Now 310 horsepower and 281 pound feet of torque. Now for those of you keeping track, yep. That is more power overall than both the Toyota Tacoma and the Chevy Colorado. But it's only more horsepower than the Ford ranger. The ranger actually has more torque and all of that is made it to a nine speed automatic [00:02:00] transmission. And you guys like it's really good. I mean, especially if you're coming from a Tacoma with that janky six feet automatic, the way everything works in this frontier is just so much more refined. I mean, I've got plenty of power on tap. The transmission is always in the right gear. Everything is just working as it should. I mean, yeah, like it's a little slower down shift sometimes, but I really enjoy the driving experience of this now as for handling, I mean, it's gotten a lot better than last year.
Speaker 1: There's a bigger stabilizer [00:02:30] bar in the front. There's a new stabilizer bar in the rear there's new cab mounts. So there's just less vibration and harshness. It's also much more quiet, both wind noise and road noise as well as engine noise. But what I like the most about the new frontier is that it still has old school, hydraulic power steering. Now, if you're coming from a truck, that's got electric power steering. It's probably gonna feel a little heavy, but you guys, I love it so much because it just feels much more direct. You feel every little thing that's happening on the road. And personally, I like a [00:03:00] little bit of extra Hef in my steering. What can I say? I like to show with my muscles, But if you need a truck, you like need a truck, right? The frontier has a maximum payload rating of 1,610 pounds beating out the Colorado and the ranger. However, max two rating is 6,720 pounds, which is less than those two only the Tacoma can beat the frontier in both payload and towing.
Speaker 1: [00:03:30] All right, I'm finally back in my happy place and I am talking about off road. So I'm in the pro four X of course that means four-wheel drive, but there is a two-wheel drive version. And that is just the prox. If that is your jam. So four wheel drive, of course I've got a two speed transfer case, got a locking rear diff got bill steam shocks and I've got skid plates all the way around, but you know what? I don't have, you know what I don't have, I don't have drive modes and it makes me so happy because I am the one that's in control. I am the one that is controlling the car. The truck [00:04:00] is working for me. It's doing what I want now. Sure. I can shift from the fly from the stick, which is nice. And I can also turn off the track control, but I really enjoy just having like this pure offroad experience, the pro four X boths, a best in class approach, angle of 32.3 degrees and it's wearing 31 and a half inch hand cook altering hires. Now those aren't really my favorite, but it's scratching up this just fine and got me through a nine day offroad rally in Morocco without any flats. So you know, they're working, [00:04:30] but if I were to buy this truck, I think I'd wait till these were out. And then I would just throw on a set of BFGs or maybe a set of Falcons
Speaker 1: Inside what? Well, I mean, it's a truck that's to say that just like the rest of the class, there's nothing too fancy here. There is a lot of places for small storage, but overall, everything here is pretty utilitarian,
Speaker 1: But possibly the biggest improvement that we've got here in the new frontier [00:05:00] is the payment and the technology. Now, before I had this tiny little five inch screen and no smartphone integration, now I've got a standard eight inch screen, but in this top pro four X, we're going a little bit bigger. And apple CarPlay and Android auto are here. I know those are like little things that have been in other trucks forever, but for the frontier, it's a big deal. And the frontier has come into this century with advanced. Driver's a like blind spot monitor, lane departure, warning and front and rear emergency breaking. But here's the kicker. You guys they're optional. Like what? I gotta pay $990 [00:05:30] for these things. I mean, most of that stuff is standard on the ranger in the Tacoma. Plus if you want adaptive cruise control, that's more money on top of that. And before you ask a Nissan's hands on pro pilot assist is not available, which is okay, cuz I really like to drive my own truck.
Speaker 1: All right. When we're looking at pricing, the Toyota Tacoma with the V6, it's close to $30,000, the Ford ranger starts at about $26,000. While the Chevy Colorado is right around $28,000 with its [00:06:00] V6. The Nissan frontier starts at $28,990. And that includes $1,150 for destination. Our pro four X tester here, including destination goes for 38,390 American dollars. So a 20, 22 Nissan frontier, the new king of mid-size trucks. Well, I mean you guys, I can't tell you that I've only driven it for a day, but I can tell you that it is now very, very competitive with the rest of the class. Now I can't wait to get this truck for a whole week and really put [00:06:30] it through its paces, but on first impressions, the new frontier is very, very good.
