Is the LT 4x4?

I am really surprised that an older used Frontier is the same price as a newer Colorado...

If you can get a newer Colorado (I'm assuming similar miles or less) that is a 4x4 and has better features then I would get that. Even has a hardcore Nissan fan. The awesomeness about the Frontiers is that they are a proven design and they cost far less, so if you aren't getting a good deal on it and there are better options then...

 

The Colorado is a 4x4 LT. They have dropped a ton in price. But it is a Chevy... 2018, 16000mi, Certified, $26600.

I attach a screen capture, thoughts? Same price as a similar 2016-17 PRO 4X.

 

This is the Frontier I am looking at real hard. Same price as the Colorado but a PRO X4 vs an LT. See attached.

 

I will say that I have no regrets with my 2018 Frontier S. Bluetooth, back up cam, A/C, cruise control, and an ok nice sound system is all I need. My kids are also young. I do see your point, but I think my nissan looks a bit more slick than the colorado. Maybe its just me?




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I suggest you get on Coloradofans and look at all the issues with the trans. I had a 16 Z71 for 3 years and 50k and I find the interior of my PRO-4X roomier and more comfortable. I had rattles in the dash and ride was way stiffer(drove more like an SUV than a truck) and the MPG wasn't all that much better plus I had to run 93 octane just to keep the chugging trans to a minimal. The 3.6 may list a higher HP but at high RPM and the torque in the 4.0 can't be beat. All in all the Frontier may be dated and not have the fancy DIC but it's still the better truck.

 

I think the Nissan is going to shine for long-term reliability but American cars tend to be more comfortable and powerful but like to have issues. I kind of see the frontier as basic but reliable.

 

I am having a hard time between the two. I like the Nissan better but on paper the Colorado is a lot better truck.

Anyone put teenagers or adults in the back seat of the Nissan, how are the seats on an hour or two drive?

 

I only plan to put 6k miles a year on it, but want it to last well over 10 years.

 

Then stay far away from the GM twins. If you plan on owning out of warranty, the Frontier for sure. The newer GM/Toyota use computerized active learning transmissions that claim better MPG's. But in reality, they don't improve it much and rob you of torque with early shift points and can be problematic. GM has had severe issues with shuddering and torque convertor failures. They are currently on another TSB that uses an elaborate Bosch tran flow machine to flush and yet another T-mobile fluid to fix it. If you really want one, buy something that was built after March 2019. Apparently they are finally using the new fluid after those build dates. The dealers won't replace existing trucks unless you can PROVE it has the issue. So yeah, just avoid ANYTHING built before this month. And that goes all the way back to 2015. The 6 speeds were garbage too. As for the tacoma, its performance is a hot mess. A early shifting, hard shifting, gear searching gutless mess. Horrible transmission. The frontier may be old, but the VQ40 5 speed OD is still killing it. Only the new Ranger can give it a run but the MSRP on those are stupid expensive. IMO, the MSRP on a ranger is show stopper. Way too much for mid size. Just by the Frontier. You won't be sorry.

 

Lets compare
(I have a close friend who owns a colorado and this is what I've experienced)
The Colorado has more room, yes but that's because its a much larger truck than the Frontier.
The colorado has no doubt a nicer interior but that's more stuff to worry about when you're dirty
As far as ride goes I feel like the pro4x has the better all-round ride the Colorado has a very street oriented ride it gets rough when you're offroad.
Reliability, the frontier has this beat no question.
Bed space, they are nearly identical 60f vs 61c and 73.2f to 74.4c
Speed! who doesn't love power? the colorado 3.6L v6 gas makes 308hp and 275tq Our beefy 4.0 makes 261hp and 281 rubber burning, mudslinging, and drift-happy. pound-feet of torque
And! The frontier despite having less hp is half a second faster than the 0-60 time of the colorado
The frontier is a call back to when trucks were IMO better. It's small, powerful, fun, reliable, simple and it's just downright honest.
If you want something nicer, bigger, Get the Colorado.
If you want a truck get the frontier.

P.S 2010 pro4x here with 200k miles and Ive had ZERO major problems.
Buddy's Colorado went back to the dealership last week for a tranny rebuild. less than 10k miles

 

I looked at both six months ago when I bought my Frontier SV 4x4 Crew Cab. I have three boys so space was an issue too. It came down to reliability for me, and I’ve had great experience with Nissan, not so much with Chevy.

My growing boys fit fine in my truck. The thing is the PRO 4x is an off road machine, E Locker and shocks, skid plates - is that what you’re after? If not, I’d suggest looking at an SV 4x4, you’ll get a better price than on the PRO.

But ultimately, go with whatever your gut tells you. For me, seeing that JD Power and Consumer reports says the Frontier is the most reliable (along with my own experience with previous Nissan trucks) was the deal maker.

 

Thought I would respond to why getting the Pro 4X has many advantages, even if you don't offroad. Outside the SL, which they hardly make anymore the pro 4X can be ordered with Leather. And since back seat comfort was mentioned this helps. When you get the premium package it gets you leather, sunroof, 8 way power seats in front, heated seats, like you say 31" all terrain tires, locker, bilsteins, etc.. Now IMO, the bilsteins actually improve the ride both on/off road. The leather on seats and also on part of the doors really brings it up a notch. Plus in the back seat, with the leather, you get an arm rest. Just to give you an idea of the sort of deals one can get, I paid 35K out the door which is below dealer invoice and no doc fee's. 35K may seem allot for a Nissan Frontier but in that trim, it stacks up nicely against fully loaded Colorado Z71's, offroad tacos, and Ranger Lariat. And those will generally run 5K-10K more. So in that, 35K gets you allot of truck. And IMO, has the best engine/trans and is by far the most reliable. But don't be thinking the Pro 4X is some stiff suspension offroad machine. It actually their best riding truck for both on/off roading. If you have the means, that is the one to get.

 

You want 10 years out of it reliability-wise? Frontier, period.

 

A new Colorado costs a lot more than a new Frontier. A used frontier, after a few years, is going to be worth more. A frontier is not going to break down as much. Really a design perfected by Nissan for 14 years is going to be as reliable as anything you can get. Also the Nissan does not have the incredibly low chin spoiler that ruins it off road.

 

Long time GM customer here. Owned a Datsun, A ford, and the rest were GMs.

There will never be another GM product that darkens the door of my garage.

When a Company exhibits the kind of behavior GM did when the Ignitions in some of their vehicles were KILLING PEOPLE, I'm out. Never again. I owned one of those cars, I promptly sold it and got a 98 Honda accord with over 150k on it. Put another 60K on it and sold it at a profit when I came into a newer Honda.

Soon after selling the GM I got a letter from the company about how they are going to earn my business back and how they are sorry blahblahblah... I have yet to see anything that compels me to give GM products anything more than a cursory glance.

 

Recently I took a 2019 Colorado all terrain for a drive to see what all the fuss was about and see how my 2014 frontier compares to the new round of North American “compact” trucks.

Some of my observations,
first-reliability is always tough on new models it took Nissan 4-5 years to fix the smod issue. I wouldn’t hold that against the truck.
Second- the Colorado headlights eons better
Third - power honestly I found to be a wash although it has 30 ish more hp when you put your foot into it it doesn’t make me think god my frontier is underpowered now
Fourth- soft suspension, way softer than my Nissan although thats totally personal preference
Fifth- interior and seating position was mint. I really liked the infotainment system Easy to use and well laid out.
Sixth- ride height horrible compared to the frontier that said I’d have that front air dam off in day after owing one just like I did with the frontier air dam
Last but not least fuel mileage, leaps n bound better than the frontier. If Nissan would just put a 8-10 spd trans in the current truck it would be great.


All in all it felt and looked like a really nice ride. however it certainly didn’t leave me begging to drop a bunch of $$$ and upgrade immediately.

 

My last GM truck was a rip off and I will never ever buy any GM products again.

 

My 2018 SV 4x4 CC brand new was $26,600. I don't know much about the Colorado, but you seem to heap praise on it and maybe that's the one you should get?

 

Looking at my local listings I found one that is a great deal, 2018 13,000mi, Pro 4X, only $25,800. But it’s a Canadian truck, brought to the US. Anyone have experience with this? I heard nothing but bad things, like warranty issues, etc.


Also has anyone shipped this against the new Titan? A used 2018 SV Titan is the same price as a Pro 4X Frontier. You get 390hp with the same MPG. Just worried it would be a monster in the city.

 

You can literally buy a brand new SV 4x4 for that amount. If you like the Pro 4x features, go for it, but I would seriously consider a brand new SV for that money

 

the simpler port injected nissan will not need valve cleaning the DI colorado will sooner or later. i had the last generation 08 Colorado which is a real tin can compared to my 11 Fronty. good luck with whatever you choose, i like simplicity + a manual shifter hence my choice. IMO GM is getting poorer by the year as experienced by girlfriends oil burning 2013 2.5L DI malibu bought new!!

 

Two quick things to point out:

1. Someone mentioned bed size being the same. This is not necessarily true if you are using a P4X CC as your baseline, which has a 58.5" long bed as it's only option. Nissan did this to keep the wheelbase short and bed overhang to a minimum for offroading.

2. My truck hauled 4 adult men and all our gear on a ski trip a couple weekends ago. Four hours to the mountain, 7 hours of riding, and 4 hours back in the same day. The two in the back were between 5'10" and 6'1". Front passengers were about 5'10", and had the seats moved to a comfortable but not cramped position. The back passengers didn't complain.

I might be more inclined to get the modern design of the Colorado (which means more modern/hopefully better engineering analysis methods in addition to all the creature comforts), but the Nissan is a proven design with most or all the kinks either worked out or well documented. If you want to go with Nissan and don't plan to go offroading much, I'd suggest looking at the SV CC with a 6' bed.

 

One thing no one has mentioned about the Beds of both trucks is the Pro-4X comes with Utilitrac and the Colorado at best comes with a few extra screw in anchor points. I'll take a 5' bed with a track system tie down over an 8' bed with only 4 corner tie downs. If you ever intend to haul any large or awkward cargo, the Frontier will be head and shoulders the winner.

Have you test driven and actually sat in both trucks, both front and rear seats? Stating leg room or cargo areas doesn't always carry over to real world. the shapes of seats, seat backs, arm rests and roof lines can play in. Maybe bring one of your car seats (If your kids are of that size yet) and see how they actually fit in both.

Also, the Pro-4X has better seats than the lower trim levels (power leather or Multi adjustable cloth) and the 265/75/16 tires combined with what I feel the OEM Bilstein shocks soft valving means it rides quite smooth.

 

funny thing, I'm not sure where the "Colorado CC back seat is bigger" thing comes from. I read the same online, but once I actually went and test drove one, it just wasn't that way in real life. With my 6'3" brother along as a test rider, the frontier CC was far better on backseat comfort, especially leg room.

 

One thing that I don't think anyone mentioned is the front seats on the CC colorado. They are terrible. For some reason they made them too narrow. And until this year, there was no way to adjust the tilt. I believe on the luxury package or Z71 they now have a 6 way power seat which helps. But compared to the front seat on the Frontier or Ranger (which are similar)the Colorado is second rate. Even the Ranger does not offer power recline. Even the 47K dollar one. Not only does the Frontier destroy the Colorado, it does a pretty good job of besting the new Ranger. Let me add why. The Ranger's ergonomics are atrocious. Center stack is cluttered with smallish buttons/knobs and look like they pulled it out of a fusion. Hard to use/read. Gauge cluster on Lariat has 3 sets of smallish rectangular screens that are again, too small. Power window controls are positioned behind hand, making it awkward to use. Back seat won't fold flat and no 60/40. Ride is too mushy with excessive rocking back/forth. Overall, the Ranger is too car like in ride and the interior is not fitting for a truck. Not even remotely so. The Colorado also has no nice stereo upgrades regardless of package. The Pro 4X comes standard with 10 speaker rockford fostgate with sub. That was huge for me and the only way to get sub into the Colorado was with an expensive kicker after market sub which really is not tuned for the system properly.

Again, its easy to pick on the Frontier just because of how old it is. But in Reality, our bodies have not changed. Ergonomics have not changed. And in that, Nissan nailed the basic design back in 04/05. The VQ40 24 valve DOHC with sequential port fuel injection with 5 speed OD is still top of class as far as performance and reliability. In the top trims they did redo the center stack and with the dual climate controls, its the best and easiest to use. Really only thing one can poke jabs at the frontier is the turning radius which is a joke, and no android auto and possible a few less MPG's which I can assure you will still cost the owner less because of the truck not breaking down. Cost of ownership at this point will be less because the longevity is proven and is a given. I won't even go into the chronic issues that GM is having with the 8 speed with shudder and torque convertor failures. And yes they have another new mobile one with bosch transflo machine to fix the issue. But I've heard this latest TSB (up to number 9) is still not working for some owners. In short, for that reason, avoid the GM twins like the plague. Especially if your in a hotter/humid state. They are shuddering even more in the SE part of the country. Several states have class action against GM because the 8 speed was crap in the Corvette, Caddilac CTS, and Camaro 2 YEARS before they dropped it into the twins and before they had a fix. Yes this is called gross negligence. GM is back to their old ways that almost bankrupt them.

The only two decent mid size trucks with adequate engine/transmission tunes are the Frontier and Ranger. Tacos are wacked with the akison cycle 6 speed active learning transmission. Its a gear searching, hard shifting, early shifting gutless mess. So only two to pick and the Ranger will cost you 10K more in top trim. The MSRP for me was a total, complete show stopper.

 

Fronty > Colorado all day

 

The Pro4X is the flagship of the Frontier line. While the SL is the most luxurious/costly, it is not as capable in stock form. Nissan removed the long bed SL option in model year '18, relegating folks to step down to the SV for a CC long bed.

 

Not sure why Nissan even makes the SL anymore. For the most part, dealers quit ordering them. They are extremely rare. And IMO, the pro 4X at about the same price makes a ton more sense. I think that's why there is not much interest in the SL. Plus people really don't go for the chrome look anymore. The SL still has chrome bumpers, handles etc. My guess is they still have plenty of new old stock parts to build enough SL's until the next generation. Which I'm thinking will be 2021.

 

You come to a Frontier forum and everyone is going to say buy the Frontier. Have you test driven both the trucks. The older Colorado were a dud. But I always liked the newer ones. Not enough for me to go buy one, but I thought they did a good job with the V2.

 

Again, I can't stress enough about the issues with the 8 speed shudder/torque convertor failures. Look it up. GM has been struggling with the issue since 2015. Its no joke. IMO, a total showstopper. I don't thing that tranmission will be worth a crap for longevity. It has issues in everything GM puts it into including Corvettes, Cadillac, camaros s and some full size trucks. The observations I had were from actual test drives and a ton of research. When I first started looking at mid size the Nissan was not even in consideration. After almost two months, and even pre ordering a Colorado LT I finally realized that the 8 speed issues weren't worth the risk. Finally took a look at a Ranger and test drove it. The MSRP was shocking to say the least. The taco's transmission is indeed a hot mess and even your taco heads will admit to that. You really have to get the MT on that one. That is if you can find one. But it was odd way around but eventually through the process of elimination from chronic show stopper issues I ended up at the Nissan dealer. And I suggest to anyone looking to definitely test drive and give a the Frontier a look before simply blowing it off as being too old. You may be surprised.

The V2 is a decent truck and GM built it from the ground up. But the 8 speed is truly something I would consider a showstopper issue. And I'm not just saying that because I like Nissan. Its a real problem for GM and I have allot of pause if that transmission will ever be worth a crap.

 

I bought a brand new 2017 Frontier SV 4x4 4 door, towing package, bed liner rail caps, upgraded stereo with bluetooth, sirius xm, remote mirrors, cruise, steering wheel controls etc. for $24,735. I bought it last last March 2018. It was a left over 2017. You might want to look around and see if you can find a left over 2018. Dealers will most likely want to rid themselves of last year models if they still have them.

 

I'm curious. When you say updated stereo on SV is that the 10 speaker rockford fosgate with sub? Or is it just the 6 speaker one. I'm unimpressed with the stock 6 speaker system. Just meh at best. As far as I know you need to get into a SL or Pro 4X before you get the 10 speaker system with SAT and MP3 compatibility. To me that is the only real stereo upgrade that is available on the Frontier. And being the truck is so outdated I wanted to get into the top trim to get it as modern as possible. And that it does. I don't feel the pro 4x with premium package feels dated at all. But I'll cost you allot more up front. On the build it site there is no mention of the SAT on the SV. Wonder if they have not bothered to update it?

 

Refuse to buy another GM product since the early eighties. Nothing but problems! Got rid of it with 13000 miles. Cost me almost half of what I paid for it. Well worth it!

 

For the OP-
Please take my opinions as just that - strictly opinion, as we are all different and certain points might not be as important to each of us.
I had an 06 Crew Cab SE for 10 years. The last couple of years I had nagging noises in front end that could never figure out until it was a bit too late. The last couple of months the front ends was screetching and popping and metal to metal on any sort of imperfect road. As it turned out the entire core support had rotted out. All associated brackets and hardware would need to be replaced as well. The $650 Core Support plus all other pieces and labor quickly pushed me into 2K for the work. It needed other work besides so I had spotted a 2016 Colorado Z71 Ext Cab and drove it. For some reason a good chunk of my noises had settled down, and I figured this was my one chance to get it appraised for trade. With 110K on my truck- they put $8500 into my truck(December 2016) and came down of the Colorado to $28K. It was too good to be true.

I liked the Colorado on the test drive, probably because of the vast differences in feel and the newness.
Going from Crew to Extended Cab SUCKS
The seats on the Colorado are horrible. They do not have the same support or even look as nice.
Yes- there is more room, as the Colorado is wider, taller and longer.
The bed is deeper than the Frontier bed, BUT I REALLY miss the floor and side rails on the fronty!
Gas Mileage is leaps and bounds better than Frontier.
Radio Interface on Colorado is more modern and useable, but sound is horrible.
Power is more noticeable and healthier sounding on Frontier.
Ride is MUCH better on Frontier. My son has a 13 Pro4X with 100K on it and it rides nicer, and much better stability.
Transmission - I have the 6 speed on the 2016, and after the 3rd reflash it finally feels better. The 17 and up 8 speeds are not faring as well.
Steering seems too vague(and light) on the Colorado, not sure if it is due to electric power steering or not.
I bought Colorado at 19K miles... by 30K front suspension was shot with tons of body roll. Replaced Springs and shocks with the adjustable Eibach kit to bring up the front end at the same time. Yes it has made the ride better, but there is still more body roll than I would prefer.
My Goodyear Wrangler Authority AT tires were gone at 30K as well.

Best of luck in your decision-
Chris