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2nd Trip To A New Frontier

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#1 · (Edited)
2nd Journey To A New Frontier

Hello. My name is Tim, and I just purchased my second Frontier(feels like I'm introducing myself to a support group lol). My first Frontier was a 2006, purchased new in May, 2006. My 06 fit me so well and was such an excellent vehicle, that when it came time for a new truck, I decided to get another one. So last week I purchased my second Frontier, a new 2015.

I thought I was already a member of these forums, but when I tried to login, the website didn't recognize me. Even when I registered, it accepted me without a prompt stating that there was already a member with my username. Has something changed recently? Anyway, here I am again, and here are my long stories...

My 06 was flawless for 9 years and 300,000 miles(that's not a typo, it's really a 3; odometer pic in post 5), surpassing that milestone earlier this year in March during a drive from Los Angeles(my home) to Tampa, FL and back. And even at 300,000(309,000 as of this posting date), it was probably more original than most people's 100,000 mile vehicles. It was a fairly basic model, with a 4 cylinder/5-speed, very nice, but more like a sport SUV than a truck. It suited me perfectly, but there were times when I needed a truck that could perform like a real truck. My only complaint was Nissan's engine design: you had to take apart the entire top of the engine just to change the plugs and coils. Really Nissan? I refused to pay a ridiculous sum of money for a job that I've always been able to do in 15 minutes, so I decided to see how far the original plugs and coils would take me lol. I would even tease the service rep at my local dealer: "XXX,XXX on the original plugs and still going strong!" How long did I leave them in? 300,000 miles! And the truck was still running very well, continuing to pass CA emissions tests cleanly and easily. For real. All accessories too, for that matter, 300,000+, as well as all of the original fluids(except engine oil, of course), and its suspension is still all-original too, including the factory alignment(still getting 50,000 miles of even wear on tires).

At 230,000 miles, on my way to work one morning through the local mountains, one of Bambi's great aunts made some cosmetic changes to my Frontier's front bumper. At that point I figured, I had certainly gotten my money's worth out of this truck, so as long as it continued to run flawlessly, I would see how far it would go, all-original.

The few items I did change were: clutch at 200,000 miles(just because... and turned-out that the original was still good), drive belt at the same time as the clutch, front brake pads at 180,000 miles(they still had about 30% left), rear brake pads at 260,000 miles, and tires, of course(a new set about every 50,000 miles). The only original parts that ever failed were the two front wheel hubs. And the dealer took care of three recalls. But throughout 300,000 miles, my Frontier never missed a beat, so I began shopping for a new Frontier this spring, 2015, but this time, the Frontier I wanted would prove to be nearly impossible to find.

For my new truck, I needed something more useful as a truck. So after looking at the competitors' "all-new" models, and not really liking the images of the all-new 2016 Frontier, only the 2015 Frontier offered ALL of the features I wanted. But finding my perfect 2015 Frontier proved to be a major challenge, so much so, that I had given up and had my Nissan dealer searching for a replacement engine for my 300,000 miler. I even shopped for a small car, just to fill the void for now, and I would continue saving for an ideal truck in a couple of years. But those would only be temporary solutions, so I did one last nationwide search for my perfect 2015 Frontier, and I found it! It was in Tampa, FL, where I had visited in my 06 Frontier two months earlier; I even shopped for something new while I was there.

Why was such a Frontier so difficult to find? Here's why: SV V6/6-speed manual, King Cab(comes with a Dana 44 limited-slip rear axle and provides the maximum towing capacity of 6,500#). A Crew Cab loses 200# of capacity, a 4x4 loses 200# of capacity, and a Crew Cab 4x4 loses 400# of capacity. But there it was in Tampa now, exactly like I wanted it, even in the color I wanted, Night Armor, as well as the price range I was hoping to find, my perfect truck, ONE in the entire country, AND it was equipped with California 50-state emissions. I was not going to let it get away!

First thing in the morning, I phoned the dealer and got an awesome salesman who trusted and believed that I was serious, in spite of the fact that I lived in CA, and by the end of the day we had arrived at a deal. Wow, what a great experience! Unfortunately, it was Memorial Day weekend, and his sales manager wasn't as convinced as my salesman was, and he wanted a substantial down payment to pull the truck off the market during one of the busiest weekends of the year. I provided it and began making plans for the following Tuesday after Memorial Day.

For most people this probably would've been too big of a deal. But for me, I'm a driver by profession, and I love long distance road trips. And I love Florida. So I saw this as an opportunity to enjoy a vacation.

I booked a flight to Tampa over the weekend, and on Tuesday we got all the paperwork done via phone and fax. I flew out of LAX Tuesday night, and I was to arrive in Tampa by mid-morning Wednesday. Everything was going perfectly until my plane flew over Texas! I ended up stuck in Texas all day Wednesday because of the bad weather that passed through in the early morning at the time my plane was supposed to land in Houston, so I wouldn't be get to Tampa and my truck until Thursday morning. Then when finally in Tampa, my salesman picked me up and took me to the Nissan dealer. He was great and had done much more than anyone should ever have to do to sell a car! Everyone at the dealer was nice too, all wanting to meet this crazy guy from CA who flew to Tampa to buy a vehicle. I enjoyed my time there so much that I almost didn't want to leave, but I was on the road by noon in my perfect, new, 2015 SV V6/6-speed manual, Night Armor Frontier.

But as I was driving north on I-75, approaching the I-10 junction that I would take west to CA, I decided to continue north and drive to Indy to surprise my parents. I was this close, so why not, right? I arrived in Indy at 5am Friday, parked in a mall parking lot for a couple of hours, then phoned them to announce my surprise visit. So I spent the day and night in Indy, then headed off to CA around noon Saturday, taking I-70 to I-15, and I arrived home in the LA area at 11:30pm Sunday night. What a wonderful drive for a first trip in my new Frontier: 3,135 miles! Needless to say, I spent Monday morning washing off splattered bugs from the front of the truck lol, but hey, it was worth it. I'm set for, at least, the next 6 years.

What can I say? I want what I want, and I accept no substitutes. And in this case, having "lived" in a same-generation Frontier for 9 years, I already knew the new truck, inside and out, so I wasn't afraid to make a deal for it, sight unseen. So in my mind, there was very little risk on my part, and my convictions paid-off greatly!
 
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#2 ·
Welcome! You sound happy to have found what you found...and were willing to go cross-country to get it...congrats!

What kind of MPGs did you achieve on your voyage back home via Indy?
 
#4 ·
I was very impressed by the mileage I got. I wasn't sure if I could expect numbers that matched its ratings, but the numbers were right on. No doubt thanks to 6th gear, I got, at least, 22 mpg out of each tank, sometimes even 23. Not used to having a 6th gear, though, so sometimes I would stop shifting at 5th gear, realizing at some point later that I was still cruising along in 5th lol.

But the mileage is right in line with what I've been getting for 9 years in my 2006 4 cylinder. The numbers on the trip odometer of each truck, the 06 and the 15, consistently match the same increments on the fuel gauge. It's almost like I'm driving my 06, except the 15's got game! Not to take anything away from my 06 though, because it always ran great, and it still does. It's quick and smooth. But I'm loving having the V6 now!
 
#3 ·
Congratulations to LAfireboyd. I am tracking the 2nd gen 4cylinder reliability on the 4banger forum. Would you mind my copying your post here to that thread over there? Its great to hear of a 4cylinder 2nd gen going 300,000 miles. I hope mine will too.
 
#5 ·
Absolutely, yes, you may copy or link my post. I probably would've done it eventually anyway. And those 300,000 miles were with the original plugs and coils.

I did finally change the plugs shortly after that trip, though, because I wanted to see what they looked like lol. At 300,000 miles they were clean and properly burned, just with a huge gap, the gap probably being responsible for why the engine continued to run better as it aged, while getting even better gas mileage too. That was another reason I left things alone; it kept getting better. No sense tinkering with anything and risk ruining a good thing, so I left well-enough alone.

But taking everything apart to change the plugs wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Most of it stays together and lifts off in one giant piece. I am still running the original coils though. After the change, I had a misfire from one of the new coils. I suspect I just didn't have the spring and resistor inside the boot seated properly into the bottom of the coil, but fearing it might be a bad coil, which would mean a misfire again after doing it for a second time, then having to take it all apart for a third time, I simply put the original coils back in because I knew they worked. 309,000 on them now.

Of course, I didn't let that historic moment pass without a pic. The date is in the title of the pic:
 

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#7 ·
Hi Tony. Good to see you and 1aauto represented here. I purchased a set of 09-15 headlight housings from you a few months ago when, at that time, I thought I would be keeping my 06 and updating the front end to the 09-15 style. I even got you to carry the 09-15 grille, which, I'm sorry to say, I never purchased because, as you've read, I ended-up getting a 2015 instead of updating my 06. The headlight housings I got from you are very nice, every bit as nice as the factory housings in my new 2015, but since I won't be using them on my 06 now, I figure I will use them for a projector retrofit for my 2015, eventually.

I'd guess most of the members here are familiar with Tony and 1aauto. He offers new stock replacement parts for just about any vehicle we might own. So if anyone is ever unfortunate enough to meet one of Bambi's great aunts, like I was a few years ago, 1aauto offers new reproduction grilles and headlight housings for 05-08 and 09-15 models. Or if you just want to update the front of your 05-08 to the 09-15 style, those parts from Tony will make your Frontier look new again, for about half the price of new original parts. Anything we might need, Tony probably offers it. Good people, good business. *shameless plug*

Ok, back to the show...
 
#8 ·
Hello Tim and welcome to the forum! Thanks for sharing your story with us and congratulations on your Frontier. Would be great to see it. Forum like this is the best way to make new friends and learn something new about a passion that runs deep. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions at all, we are always happy to help!
 
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