question about 1stgen/2ndgen

[paris1]

Starting in 1998, Nissan tried to create the illusion of growing their pickup into something resembling mid size. However all Frontiers from '98 through '04 were based on the same 116.1" wheelbase and chassis (in KC form) as the old hardbody trucks. To give you an idea how they grew (extended) the body (mostly with "chunky" bumpers and grills), here are the respective King Cab body lengths for the Hardbody and each of the Gen I Frontier models:
1995: 190"
1998: 196.1"
2001: 202.9"
In 2005 they increased the wheelbase to almost 126" and the KC body went to 205.5". Incidentally, during the course of all this growth, the KC XE 4 cyl. (as a reference example) went from 2900# in 1995 to 3668# in 2008. Many of the posts on MPG threads on this forum seem to disregard this and compare gas mileage on early and late Frontiers as if they were comparing apples to apples.

[Peck]

I'm glad someone corrected the KA24DE and VG33E, those were not found in Hardbodies.

You can take the entire front clip of an '01-'04 and slap it on a '98-'00, then all you'd need are some fender flares for the rear and you the next step.

Generations in vehicles refers to a whole new stage in a vehicle. There was no mechanical or performance (other than the SC model) between the two previous Frontiers. Its like the Silverados, the rounded headlights were the same as the angled headlights in everything but the front clip.

[07Frontier]

I have cleaned up this thread to get rid of the repetitive posts and removed the inflammatory comments. Also, made it a sticky.

[08_Nismo]

cool

[lane.mcpeak]

This is just a dumb opinion, but I think that every time they change the LOOK of the truck, they should change more than that. Changing the look, to the average person, means they've changed the truck. If it's a new truck, with a different look than the older model, then they should upgrade it so. don't fool someone into buying and old model with a new grill.

throw in some more power, slightly change the inside, increase payload or something.

Just sayin..... that could be totally naive of me though.

[igbar]

Originally Posted by lane.mcpeak

This is just a dumb opinion, but I think that every time they change the LOOK of the truck, they should change more than that. Changing the look, to the average person, means they've changed the truck. If it's a new truck, with a different look than the older model, then they should upgrade it so. don't fool someone into buying and old model with a new grill.

throw in some more power, slightly change the inside, increase payload or something.

Just sayin..... that could be totally naive of me though.

That's marketing for ya! If you've already got a design that's selling, make it look new and voila! it's New! I could be wrong, but I think Ford has been doing this with the Ranger for a long time. There has been no significant changes to the Ranger in years.

The term Generations, as it's technically used here, doesn't really concern the lay-person. As far as they know, they've bought a new vehicle. If they wanted to research what they were buying then it would possibly make a difference but then again, the lay-person generally doesn't get into hard specs and exact differences between "generations". and if they actually did do some research, they would no longer be considered a lay-person, IMO.

[ScottXGTR]

Originally Posted by lane.mcpeak

This is just a dumb opinion, but I think that every time they change the LOOK of the truck, they should change more than that. Changing the look, to the average person, means they've changed the truck. If it's a new truck, with a different look than the older model, then they should upgrade it so. don't fool someone into buying and old model with a new grill.

throw in some more power, slightly change the inside, increase payload or something.

Just sayin..... that could be totally naive of me though.

there is a cost involved in redesigning a vehicle. the more they change, the more it costs to make the new model. it is not cost effective for a company to make new vehicles from the ground up every couple years. last i heard, the average lifespan for a "generation" is between 7-8 years.

In business, you learn of the break even model. where is costs you $100,000 to produce the first 100 widgets, and a lesser cost for any extra that you produce. so you have to sell X number of widgets to get back your initial $100,000 and "break even". So until Nissan sells its X number of frontiers, it wont release a newer model. any units sold after the break even point are at a higher profit, thus making you money which can be funneled into further research and development, or a serious habit of hookers and blow.

[Inyourface1650]

Originally Posted by igbar

That's marketing for ya! If you've already got a design that's selling, make it look new and voila! it's New! I could be wrong, but I think Ford has been doing this with the Ranger for a long time. There has been no significant changes to the Ranger in years.

The term Generations, as it's technically used here, doesn't really concern the lay-person. As far as they know, they've bought a new vehicle. If they wanted to research what they were buying then it would possibly make a difference but then again, the lay-person generally doesn't get into hard specs and exact differences between "generations". and if they actually did do some research, they would no longer be considered a lay-person, IMO.

Exactly.

This is what i was getting at earlier, but it got deleted