The new Frontier looks a whole lot better.
NissanAfter 17 years of faithful service, it's time to say goodbye to the old Nissan Frontier. Making its debut Thursday, the brand-new 2022 Frontier is a midsize pickup that should still appeal to folks who appreciated the old model's basic trucksportation while offering enough modern conveniences to satisfy all you techies.
First off, this truck looks great. Nissan looked to its Hardbody truck of the 1980s to give the new Frontier some personality and, we've got to say, it totally works. The new Frontier is a bit longer overall than the outgoing model, adding about 5 inches, most of which is ahead of the dashboard. Even so, the old Frontier's 126-inch wheelbase remains the same. We're totally here for the new front fascia with its blocky LED headlamps, and we like how the bumper cuts away to reveal more of the tires. The sculpted and dampened tailgate has a place to stamp "Frontier" into the sheetmetal, and the nameplate stretches across the width of the truck.
The 2022 Frontier will be available in S, SV, Pro-4X and Pro-X trims -- more on that last one in a minute. Both Crew and King Cab body styles will be available with a choice of 5- and 6-foot bed lengths. Do note that the Pro-4X model is the one with the Lava Red accents, LED front lighting and black-painted grille. The rest of the Frontier lineup won't have such niceties.
Nissan launched the new Frontier's engine in the old truck, so we already know what we're in for here. The 2022 Frontier has a 3.8-liter V6 with 310 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque. Power gets to the ground through a nine-speed automatic transmission. And no, a manual transmission isn't offered.
Power-wise, the Frontier bests a lot of its key competitors. The Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins offer 308 hp and 275 lb-ft from their 3.6-liter V6, and the Toyota Tacoma makes do with 278 hp and 265 lb-ft from its 3.5-liter V6. The Ford Ranger's 2.3-liter turbo I4 has 270 hp, but it bests the other trucks with torque, offering a healthy 310 lb-ft.
The new Frontier has a maximum payload rating of 1,610 pounds and max tow rating of 6,720 pounds. That payload number beats the Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger, but the Frontier can't compete with the two in terms of towing. The Tacoma has a few configurations that can both tow and haul more than the Nissan, but by and large the Frontier stacks up competitively within the class. Trailer sway control comes standard.
The Frontier should be a bit more pleasant to drive for 2022 thanks to new hydraulic cab mounts to the frame, which Nissan says reduces road vibration by 80% compared to the old truck. The Frontier has a larger front stabilizer bar and a new rear stabilizer bar for better handling, and the hydraulic-assist power steering ratio is increased by 16%. Overall, these look to be some tidy upgrades that should improve the Frontier's on-road manners.
As for off-roading, Nissan doesn't have full engineering specs yet, so we don't have key information like ground clearance or approach and departure angles. What we do know is that the Pro-4X will only be offered with four-wheel drive, Bilstein shocks, skid plates on the front, a two-speed transfer case and, of course, a rear locking differential. Hankook all-terrain 265/70-series tires wrap around 17-inch wheels. A new off-road mode in the 360-degree camera works at slow speeds while in four-wheel-drive low range to give drivers a view of rocks and other obstacles around them.
The Frontier's 3.8-liter V6 produces 310 horsepower.
NissanThe aforementioned Pro-X trim, meanwhile, only comes with two-wheel drive. Nissan says this is for the customer that wants the rugged look of the Pro-4X but doesn't need the off-road capability. The Bilstein shocks and front skid plate are part of the package, but that's it.
Hill-start assist is standard on every Frontier and hill-descent control comes on all four-wheel-drive models. If you want to improve your rig, Nissan's Nismo division will offer a whole slew of parts for the 2022 Frontier, including suspension upgrades, lighting, step rails and rooftop racks and tents.
As for the interior, it seems about par for the class. As you'd expect, the new Frontier is leaps ahead of its predecessor, but the design still favors function over form. Sure, the Pro-4X has plenty of Lava Red accents, and that's nice and all, but don't expect anything luxurious. Honestly, though, the same can be said of pretty much any midsize truck. The car-based Honda Ridgeline is really the only one with a swanky cabin.
The interior isn't what we'd call swanky, but at least it has Nissan's newer infotainment tech.
NissanStorage, at least, is plentiful, with 4 liters of volume in the center console, 5.7 liters in the rear door pockets and 6.5 liters in the front door pockets. Plus, there's a little cubby on top of the dash and storage under the rear seats. Nissan's uber-comfy Zero Gravity seats are standard on all trims, too. The Pro-4X features an embossed pattern on the seats that reminds us of a Navajo blanket and honestly, we hope it doesn't carry over to the rest of the line up. It's just a little too much.
The Frontier finally gets with the times with a standard 8-inch touchscreen running the NissanConnect infotainment system supplemented by Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Drivers can opt for a larger 9-inch touchscreen, and wireless charging is available on the Pro-4X and Pro-X. As for other charging options, the front seats get one USB-A and one USB-C port along with two 12-volt outlets. The rear of the King Cab doesn't have any outlets, save for a 110-volt, 400-watt plug, but the Crew Cab has two additional USBs. There is a second outlet in the bed for powering tools, blenders, what have you.
Nissan's Safety Shield 360 suite offers an impressive amount of safety tech, with things like blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking and rear cross-traffic alert with automatic rear braking. Thing is, it's all optional. A lot of these features are standard on the Honda Ridgeline, Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma. Adaptive cruise control is available on the Frontier, too, but's an extra add-on on top of the Safety Shield package.
The Frontier looks well-equipped to battle the Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma and other midsize trucks.
NissanIf you're looking for Nissan's hands-on ProPilot traffic assist system, keep on looking. Nissan says its Frontier buyers aren't really interested in having the truck control the steering, throttle and braking in stop-and-go traffic, but it wouldn't matter anyway, since ProPilot requires electric power steering, which the Frontier doesn't have.
We're still waiting for official pricing and fuel economy data, but Nissan says the Frontier should average somewhere around 20 miles per gallon with two-wheel drive and 19 mpg with four-wheel drive, just like the current Frontier. We'll have the final MSRP details closer to when the Frontier hits dealers this summer.