Nissan Frontier: 1.6 Million Kilometres and a Brand New V6
The current Nissan Frontier is one of the oldest vehicles on the market—it originally debuted in 2004 as a 2005 model—but it’s also a tough and durable truck.
Need evidence? Brian Murphy, a Chicagoland delivery driver, has now travelled one million miles (over 1.6 million kilometres) with his 2007 Frontier. And he never had to replace the engine or transmission!
- Also: At Long Last, Nissan Frontier to be Redesigned… for 2021
- Also: 2018 Nissan Frontier: What the Heck is Instagram?
We’re talking about the 2.5-litre four-cylinder rated at 152 horsepower and 171 pound-feet of torque along with the five-speed manual gearbox. The clutch was replaced after more than 1.2 million kilometres; the timing chain after 1.1 million kilometres; and the radiator and alternator after about 725,000 kilometres.
Murphy drove approximately 50,000 hours to accomplish the feat, which is slightly longer than two roundtrips to the Moon.
"I had no doubt this truck would hit a million miles. It's tough and gets great fuel economy, exactly what I need to get the job done," he says. "I change my own oil every 10,000 miles and drive carefully. Nothing major has been replaced on this truck, it's really something."
New V6 for 2020… and the Next Frontier!
A 2020 Nissan Frontier will go on sale in Canada this spring and the big news is that the venerable 4.0-litre V6 engine (261 horsepower, 281 pound-feet of torque) will be replaced with a brand new 3.8-litre V6 featuring direct injection.
In fact, the latter will become the standard engine from now on, the four-cylinder attracting too few customers for Nissan to keep it going. Expect a class-leasing 310 horsepower—more than in the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Honda Ridgeline, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator and Toyota Tacoma. Maximum torque is still rated at 281 pound-feet.
Furthermore, the new V6 will team up with a nine-speed automatic transmission similar to the redesigned 2020 TITAN. Fuel economy has not been announced yet, but it won’t be hard to beat the numbers posted by the old five-speed transmissions.
Built in Tennessee alongside the TITAN’s 5.6-litre Endurance V8, the 3.8-litre V6 will later find a home in the next-generation 2021 Nissan Frontier, which is going to be revealed at some point in 2020.
The aforementioned midsize pickups will need to take the Frontier a lot more seriously.