Whatever your car payment was pretend your loan isn't paid off and put that money into savings each month. Do that until you have enough to pay cash for a new truck or at least make a huge down payment so your new loan is 24 months or less.

Five year car loans (and I've read dealers are now even offering 6 and 7 year car loans!!!!) are just nuts.

If you don't want to do that then I would either buy a 2015 or at least wait a couple years after the new Frontier has been out. I'd never buy the first year of a newly revised model.

On the other hand if the redesign is mostly just body stuff and no substantial mechanical changes maybe the first year wouldn't be so bad potential problems-wise. Who knows.

86,000 miles is nothing. Just now broken in and ready to roll!

 

Whatever your car payment was pretend your loan isn't paid off and put that money into savings each month. Do that until you have enough to pay cash for a new truck or at least make a huge down payment so your new loan is 24 months or less.......

...86,000 miles is nothing. Just now broken in and ready to roll!

That's the best advice I've heard. I bet that truck has another 100K miles of life in it so you aren't more than half way through.

Another point. Better gas mileage never makes up for having a payment when you didn't have one before. Supposing your payment was $400 per month (no idea what it would really be. Compare published MPG numbers for a Colorado and a Frontier (accepting you most likely will not actually get those numbers on either one). The Frontier is rated at 21 Highway while the Colorado is rated at 26 or 5 MPG better. Assume gas is $4.00 per gallon. How many miles do you have to drive at 5 MPG savings to offset the $400 payment? 11,111 miles...per month. (Math: 21 MPG @ $4.00/gal = $.1904 per mile of driving. 26 MPG @ $4.00/gal = $.1538 per mile. Savings = 3.66 cents per mile. @ $.0366 savings per mile you have to drive 11,111 miles to save $400 in gas).

Suppose your payment was only $100. You would still have to drive 2,732 miles per month to save the $100. So buying a Colorado to save gas makes no sense. If you just want one, you don't really need a reason. But doing it for gas makes no sense. When you start talking diesels the same thing applies.

Diesels may get way better mileage but the manufacturers charge a huge premium for them. Do similar math and diesels don't make any sense either unless..1. They are cool and you just want one which is valid enough reason in my book or 2. you tow or haul something that the diesel can do and the gas engine can't.

Maintenance on the existing truck? The existing truck has gone 86 K in five model years or 17.2K per year. So wait three more and its got 137.6K...still enough life left in it to be worth something. That three years would be 36 payments. If you are doing the $400 payment on a new one then that's $14,400 spent in payments. If the payment is only $200 you still spend $7,200 in payments. You could do a lot of maintenance for that. Sure you may get unlucky but you may spend a lot less too.

Throw in the fact that a 2015 is little different than what you already have and where is the value? In fact a 2016 and even 2017 is likely to be about the same as what you already have too. Even if there is a diesel in 16, see the math above.

Now, on the other hand, if you just have "new truck fever" I fully understand and support it:angel:. As I said above, you don't have to justify it in my book as long as your kids are not going hungry as a result.

 

2016 Titan with diesel. That's what I'm waiting for. Nothing else in the mid size market is even remotely interesting, including the Colorado. My 2010 is what I will be driving until something pops at me. Mines only at 45k though. Lol

 

Let's see when the Cummins powered frontier hits the market.
I like the size of my 13, but get annoyed at my diesel buddies beating my fuel mileage.

 

It's all fun and games until you spend $8000 replacing the high pressure fuel pump or an injector sticks and hydrolocks a cylinder.

 

I'll bet new truck payments are higher than "mostly routine stuff like brakes, shocks, tires" on a truck that is paid off.
Remember registration, taxes and insurance are more on a new vehicle. I too am anxiously awaiting a Cummins Frontier. Until then, my '10 runs, drives and looks like new. Only 32,000 miles in mine.

 

I'll bet new truck payments are higher than "mostly routine stuff like brakes, shocks, tires" on a truck that is paid off.
Remember registration, taxes and insurance are more on a new vehicle. I too am anxiously awaiting a Cummins Frontier. Until then, my '10 runs, drives and looks like new. Only 32,000 miles in mine.

In some states, the registration may be more. In Illinois, it doesn't matter if you are driving a 1970s truck or a brand spankin' new truck. The registration costs the same. A B-truck registration/renewal is $101 bucks.

 

Only had my '11 for 5 months, so no. >

 

Yeah it looks like the Frontier will be pretty much the same for 2015.

Seems like the mid truck diesels will be out in 2016 for manufactures.

With the hype of the 2016 models, sales may not be too good for the 2015?

I even thought they might skip 2015 Frontiers and hold up until July and release the 2016 diesels then

 

My 2010 Frontier Pro 4X is paid for
...
my truck only has 86K on it.
...
I also have seen every truck I've ever driven become a money pit around this mileage, mostly routine stuff like brakes, shocks, tires, etc., but things start to add up.

Unless new Frontiers are selling for just a couple thousand dollars, there ain't no way repairs on your current truck are going to add up to even a small fraction of the cost of a brand-new one.

Right now, you're in the sweet spot of vehicle ownership: No monthly payments, and plenty of life still left in truck.

Why would you want to screw that up?

 

Yeah, unless something game changing comes around it would not make sense to me to upgrade if I were in your shoes. If you've taken care of your truck and continue to do so there's no reason it shouldn't go another 100k without any expensive repairs. Brakes, tires, shocks, and springs are cheap. If you aren't capable of the normal maintenance yourself it may be a good idea to find a good independent mechanic to save yourself some money over what the dealer would charge, but even with the most expensive labor rates you aren't going to come close to the cost of a new truck in general maintenance alone even with a few random repairs added in.

 

I have a 2015 SV. Nissan hasn't made any major changes with the Frontier or Xterra in a while. You would basically be buying the same truck with some upgraded tech (NissanConnect). I personally wanted the "older" version because God knows what they are going to do with the new Frontier (think Pathfinder). When I traded in my Ram 1500 CC BigHorn I actually will be saving money after about 6-8 months. Gas mileage 13 Ram vs 16.5 Frontier (same distance traveled, I would spend an average of $26 to fill up the Ram after 100 miles, only cost me $19 to fill up the Frontier after 100 miles), plus vs regular (Ram recommends plus, Frontier runs regular, .30 difference per gallon), insurance cost went down $250 per year with the Frontier, and I only added $3000 (difference in value) to what I already owed on the Ram. AND it fits in my new garage, the Ram was 2 feet longer. That's why I traded.

 

I have a 2015 SV. Nissan hasn't made any major changes with the Frontier or Xterra in a while. You would basically be buying the same truck with some upgraded tech (NissanConnect).

I just picked up a brand new 2014 SV CC 4x4 last week... and I agree: other than the NissanConnect head unit in the 2015, there isn't any difference. I was looking at the '15 models since they were trickling into the dealerships, but instead I went for the '14 since A. it was end of model year, B. the non-NissanConnect head unit was compatible with my iPhone and Spotify (music is important to me), and C. I negotiated them down to a much better deal than if I went for the '15... I just had to research the dealer stock in my surrounding area to find a '14 with the exact color/model/package I was specifically looking for... good thing I found it =)

 

They don't even have the 15 listed on the Nissan Connect site. I guess I will have to go to the dealership and see what the differences are.

 

I was looking at the new '15 but I think I am going to wait for the Cummins Powered titan next year. I am going to need something with pulling power here in the near future.