Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Nissan Frontier
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
The only issue that I can tell you about on the 2000 is the drive shaft. They have a two piece drive shaft with a carrier bearing in the center. There has been a few failures of this bearing. If it is going bad it will probably shake or vibrate at highway speeds. You can crawl under and check it out. Grab the driveshaft on both sides of the brearing and see if you can move move it up and down. Also I think I remember someone saying if it is going bad you can see the rubber around it squishing out.
Thanks for the reply and any others that come along...
Now, anyone know of someone in the ATL area in need of a 95 Acura Integra in excellent condition...?
Thanks,
Mike
Brakes! I've had mine in 5 times since I bought it last year in Oct. They told me that the rotors are glazing because of excessive braking. I will be talking to the service manager soon, but wanted to find out what anyone has heard/experienced with theirs. I also have researched the lemon law, and found that I have a pretty good case if it comes down to that.
Other than the brakes, I love the truck...
While the smell may be common if say for example you ran the truck hard (going uphill with a load), there should be no reason why it should smell on a continuing basis.
For me there was no choice. No other truck compares in the look to me and it was the only truck in its class that had a crew cab and a decent size long bed. Gas mileage sucks out the waazoo but other than that, I love it. On Sunday's it gets decked out with Buccaneers stuff and off to the game we go, Rockford Fosgate blaring all the way. :-)
Meade
Had a '93 Sentra that was the best car I've ever owned. My daughter is now on her third Nissan car and has had excellent service from them all (including a '83 Sentra that went 270,000 miles).
I would've preferred to buy a Nissan truck since most everyone I've known has had very good service from them and I've developed a lot of confidence in the Nissan product. But not everybody. I have a fellow working for me now that is not pleased with his new Frontier.
I did purchase a 2003 Dakota Club Cab and I have been surprised with the high level of component and assembly quality. I have not discovered one flaw so far and it has not been back to the dealer for anything. I talked to a couple of dozen Dakota owners before I bought and was equally surprised with the good reports of reliability. If you read the posts here at Edmund's you see a lot of complaints about Dakota brake rotors. I think this was a problem a few years ago, but I know that Chrysler has changed vendors on that part and I haven't heard complaints from newer owners. I also think that Dakota's from 2001 up are much better assembled and more reliable.
The Dakota, in my opinion, beats the Nissan Frontier in most aspects. Comfort, handling, and especially performance. Please don't get me wrong, I think Nissan builds a good product. Very good. But I also think that Nissan pick-ups are not quite as competitive, especially to the Dakota. I would bet that in 200,000 miles the Nissan would be overall more reliable for the majority of owners. Unfortunately, for my requirements the short bed and very cramped rear seating was an imposing negative.
Reliability wise you're rolling the dice on any make or model. However, anybody in the know would not be taking as much of a chance on a Nissan. If the Frontier meets your requirements, I'd say you can't find a better truck. You'll hear dissatified Dakota owners on the web, but talk to a few people face-to-face. I think you'll get a different picture. People on the web have a tendency to have strong opinions -- both ways. Test drive both vehicles. It won't cost you anything.
Best of luck,
Dusty
It really is the only one that fits my needs. So I am screwed at this point. Nissan wont help in any way shape or form.
The dealers were getting any price and still sell them. They are 'now' about $6000 lower than they had been in this area. Toyotas are very reliable but always much more expensive than the competition.
I reluctantly bought a Chevy and wondered how long I would enjoy it vs my previous nissans.
I must add to this discussion that the
Chevy S-10 has really won me over. I know too many "new" nissan owners who are not happy. The nissan has dropped below Chevy in terms of owner satisfaction for the first time in years..from 4rth to 5th place.
I, for one, am very pleased that the dealers of nissan have made me a Chevy owner. This Chevy is great in the snow and much more comfortable inside..and although none in this class but the V8 Dodge has power, you don't need to buy a super charged one to get a little bit of horsepower.
Maybe future nissans will be able to compete with the diesels and hybrids that are just down the road but so far I haven't seen any in the trade magazines.
The ride is good for a truck. The passenger room in the back seat is plenty for my 7 year old and works OK for the few times I have adults. The long bed too is a great asset. Denver to Santa Fe and back I got 21 mpg. The hieght, visually is better than the sedan I got rid of. I have had it in 4X twice and it came through like a champ.
LOVE IT.
like it fine, except for the roof vibration, at around 25-30 mph, when going over rough city streets
anyone else experience same?
it really drives me nuts- last two PU's were '80 Toyota and '87 Toyota, and I never had so much noise
I took the service manager of the dealership for a ride, and couldn't quite get the roof to vibrate (of course as soon as I got home, there it was again)
the service manager suggested it might be the bedliner making the noise, but I don't think so
i can actually feel the vibration if I hold my hand to the roof liner
Pit
Support our Troops
What model do you have and i must say you are scaring me lol i ordered a 4x4 se model yikes.. you say your happy but unhappy with nissan? what do ya mean i have to nissans a pathfinder and quest and all has bee super... let me know!
PIT
Thanks, Beck
In 8 years I had to replace the electronic speedometer at 55 K miles, fan clutch at 72K miles, light/turn signal switch at 75K miles, and the driveshaft center bearing at 76K miles. The cost of all parts was about $ 500 and I diagnosed all the problems correctly and installed the parts by myself (the driveshaft bearing required a hydraulic press to remove and install.) The only warranty work on the truck was replacement of the rear axle differential, which made strange whining noise when under load.
The truck has held up very well over the years, the original paint is still in showroom condition after 8 years in the Florida sun. I had good luck with Michelin LTX M/S tires on this truck - I have 72K miles on them now and they still have tread left. I know several people who have these trucks with almost 300K miles on them, still running strong on the original engine. Mine has only 76K miles so I am thinking about keeping this vehicle for a long time. The truck has never left me stranded, never had any engine problem, except for the fan clutch that needed replacement. I believe that older Nissan trucks were actually built better than the Frontiers. I would say that the A/C system in this truck is phenomenal - in eight years I have not done anything to it and it still blows air as cold as on the day I bought the truck new in '95. And I use the A/C year round in Florida, even in January due to humidity.
We're up to 56k miles now, and the truck has held up better than I thought it would. I am sorry to hear the reports of other owners that have lemons. I bought a Nissan because I didn't have the time or money to be constantly making trips to the dealer for repairs, even if they are under warranty. So far, I haven't had to make many. The vehicle is still tight after moderate 4x4ing and a lot of around town driving. We hope to keep it for 10 years / 200k miles. If this vehicle holds up as well as my '89 Nissan Pickup with 197k on it, we'll probably buy another Nissan. If not, we'll look at Toyota.
Are there any major issues with the supercharged Nissan trucks? From my perspective, if one wants a fully loaded Nissan truck, not buying an SVE is a mistake, as SE will cost you the same or more and will not have the same power.
after reading some of these posts I have an impression that quality of Nissan products is decreasing. As with all vehicles you can always get a lemon, but with Japanese vehicles, the probability of getting a lemon was much lower than for American cars, for example. Now I am not so sure. The fact that Renault now partly owns Nissan does not make me feel too good. If you ever owned a Renault, you would know what I mean at once. This is the company that had to shut down its US auto manufacturing plant because of horrible quality of its vehicles (Renault Alliance). One of the ways to make a good car unreliable and impossible to live with is procurement of cheap parts from questionable suppliers (e.g. defective window regulators). Other manufacturers are also guilty of this; read about the ignition coil recall on Audi and VW vehicles.
I am looking at the crew cab long bed SVE model which has a supercharged engine and 4X4, but fewer bells and whistles than the S/C. I wonder how well will this truck tow a 5000 lb boat/trailer?
I ordered the SE4x4 but i am not to happy waiting for it to come in... the books says you can get the bed extender(long bed) and dynamic control package with the SE but when i placed the order the factory said that is a no no.. any one know why?? the dealer was confused also?
Pit
Why did I buy this truck or any other truck for this matter?? Because I wanted a "combo"....... a real truck bed to haul things w/o borrowing a friends truck AND the ability to travel with my wife and two kids. I have the best of both worlds! With small kids, no way would I've settled for anything but a crew cab!
Another great thing was the dealer I went through. They were small, but not a lot of overhead and no BS whatsoever! When I 1st visited, I saw the truck I wanted in the show room. It was a SC/CC/4x4 LB (red). It was loaded with leather, fog something or another sound system, sunroof,. bed liner, extender etc., etc. Just for the hell of it, I wrote all the specs down and submitted to CR ($15.00)for a report. Based on what CR gave me for dealer costs, plus what I figured in for min. dealer profit, trade-in and a 2.9% rate I went into the dealer the 2nd time, armed and ready!
Without me pulling out any of my "information", the dealer gave me a price of about $8 a month less than what I was ready to pay! No haggling, no BS, no crap......... we signed the deal in 15 minutes. To top it off, I came in a week later to pick it up and the dealer told me that my application was approved but it wasn't processed until the 1st of September. (the special finance rates advertised were thru 8/31/02). I said to myself "oh crap, what is it now?" Turned out that on September, Nissan dropped the rate by another point... saved myself a few more dollars!
I'm 42 yrs old and this has been the only time I've ever purchased a vehicle, new or used, that I felt I wasn't screwed on!! It pays to do your homework and maybe find a small town (low overhead) dealer.
One other thing.....almost 10 months later, I'm still getting weekly compliments on the truck, especially from owners of some very nicely equipped Dodges's and Toyota's.
ALL in All, a very good experience!! Good Luck!
David
David
My new truck came in and i have one ? for all with the windows down on the crew cab and driving around 40+, does any one have seat belt rattles, what i mean is the seat belt shaking against it's holder?
Tks
Pit
I just made the same trip in a new dodge van and averaged 21 mpg. Do the math if you want, but were only talking a few more bucks.
I guess it just depends on how much you drive. I usually only put on 9 or 10k per year, so a little better gas mileage don't mean much to me
I have a SE crew cab 4X4 and with the windows down and driving at 30 the seat belt noise is un bearable, does any one hae this problem?
Happy 4th to all!
pit
27,000 miles on it. It was delivered with
BF Goodrich Rugged Trail T/A , P265/65R17 110S
tires. Owner's manual service schedule strictly
followed with regards to tire rotation , alligment
always checked etc. All 4 tires have worn evenly,
BUT they are worn to the point of, they MUST be replaced ( nothing left )@ 27k miles !
Michelin and Bridgestone are the only other
manufacturers making this size. Any recomendations
on what brand I should purchase ? George