The 2022-23 Nissan Frontier Shows How An ‘Old Fashioned’ Truck Falls Short in The Modern Market
I’m a big fan of the old fashioned. Heck, my daily driver is 1988. But I know from experience that, and I certainly wouldn’t pay new truck prices for one. But thousands of drivers pulled off the 2022 Nissan Frontier before reviewers discovered it was just an old Frontier with a facelift.
The 2022 and 2023 Nissan Frontier are very handsome
Let’s get the positives out. I love how the new Nissan Frontier looks, as do many of the other critics. It has a blocked grille and a chunky front end. But this front end is broken by its high skid plate and slick tow hooks.
This new truck suffers from a bouncy ride, sluggish transmission, heavy steering, excessive engine noise, and a poorly organized cabin. Even the Pro-4X only has a locking differential in the rear and struggles to keep up with its top-tier competitors.
Reviewer Alex Kierstein said: “It looks more like a 15-year-old truck.” But most buyers disagreed.
Nissan doubled its sales figures in 2022
In 2021, Nissan was selling just 10,000 Frontiers a quarter. Then Nissan gave its midsize truck a complete visual makeover and in the first quarter of 2022 sold 22,406 Frontiers. This made it more popular than the Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger, trailing only the Toyota Tacoma.
What’s interesting is that Nissan clearly targeted the Toyota Tacoma’s performance numbers when it redesigned its limits, and the Tacoma itself lags behind its midsize rivals on most performance metrics with the Tacoma not receiving a complete redesign since 2015.
Does the market happen? Is a midsize truck’s reputation and styling far more important than the latest and greatest in technology? Are automakers like Chevy and Ford, who have really advanced powertrains in their midsize and compact trucks, doing it all wrong? I think there is a big problem with Nissan’s approach.
What’s wrong with a good old fashioned truck?
One of the reasons the Tacoma has such a solid reputation for reliability is that Toyota has historically not thrown any experimental technology into its pickup trucks. Some would even say that the Tacoma was consistently a few years “outdated.” But as a result, the automaker rarely deals with unexpected mechanical failures. There are benefits to an “old-fashioned” pickup truck.
Another interesting example is. When the automaker redesigned its half-ton pickup truck in 2019, it ditched the two-door “regular” cab configuration and upgraded all of its interior materials. But she knew that some buyers, like fleet owners, would need an entry-level pickup truck. So Ram continued to build and sell its fourth generation half-ton, badged as the Ram 1500 Classic. This pickup is currently the cheapest full-size option on the market, and buyers will probably consider it a bargain.
This brings me to the only real problem with the Nissan Frontier. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with relying on outdated technology and offering a reliable, no-frills truck at a bargain price. But Nissan doesn’t make a budget midsize truck: The Frontier is the most expensive option on the market.
MotorTrend reviewer Scott Evans came to a well-researched conclusion after testing the 2022 Nissan Frontier:
“The new Frontier is a rough-and-tumble pickup truck, and I’d be interested in half the price. By the time you’re sitting there, it’s a lot of money for not much improvement over the 17-year-old model it replaced.”
Scott Evans
Then, find out or watch a review of MotorTrend’s Frontier in the video below:
