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!
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!