Taco vs Frontier: Your Thoughts, Please

[ZERO THEORY]

ALSO remember that the Tacoma's of that vintage are all plastic after the cab.

Hmmm...duly noted.

I own a 2012 Frontier SV Crew Cab 4x4 and I love it. My only complaint is that the turning radius sucks. I'd recommend driving both because they are fairly different aside from the Taco being grossly overpriced for what you get, new or used. I bought my Frontier new for less than I'd get a comparable used Tacoma for.

Frontier Pros
- Fully Boxed frame vs C-channel for the Taco.
- Metal bed vs plastic for the Taco.
- More powerful than Taco.
- Truck like seating position vs car like in Taco.
- More affordable

Taco Pros
- Better aftermarket
- Slightly better fuel economy

The Frontier has a decent aftermarket though, even if it is smaller than the Tacoma. Nisstec Lifts and Hefty Fabworks are both Colorado companies and two of the larger aftermarket vendors. Boulder Nissan is also one of the biggest proponents of the platform, to include the Xterra, in the off road community.

The only real issue with the X and Frontier was called the strawberry milkshake of death. It was radiator and transmission cross contamination but that issue was fixed for the 2009 model year.

I'm deadset on a manual, so any radiator/ATF mixture is a non-issue. Thanks for the heads-up, though. I will say that the Nissan was far more comfortable and naturally truck-feeling. However, the cab storage options in the Taco were awesome.

OP is looking to buy an 05-11 so I'm assuming a new vehicle is not an option.

if I thought you were irresponsible enough to buy something new.

Never understood the appeal of buying something new off the lot. My old man told me it was a no-no when I was younger and I have stuck to it.

I don't know anything about Nissan, but I bought my 07 DC TRD Taco used back in 07 and so far all I've done is change fluids as scheduled, including anti-freeze and hoses and did belt at the same time. And I had one rear wheel seal go out that I changed. Still on original brake pads. About 166,000 miles and I can't find anything bad to say about it. One wish I have is that they would put a larger gas tank on. In the winter I run mud tires and they do cut mileage down considerably, but that really only bothers me when I take a road trip through multiple states.
I don't use mine to tow, and quite frankly don't think it would do very good if I did. If I put four full grown men and about 10 dead coyotes in the back, it don't take much of a bump to bottom out.

Thanks for the insight. Bump stomps would definitely be part of the lift.