Tacoma vs. Frontier

I have a friend who got a Frontier Crew Cab short bed a few months ago. It's a nice truck, but I prefer the looks of the Tacoma over it. The new tacomas are coming in a month or two, and they are going to have a 4x4 long bed crew cab that looks pretty sweet. They also have an all new 4.0l engine and 5 speed auto trans that will probably smoke the nissan. As far as looks I prefer the Tacoma, especially the front clip. At this point I would wait for the 05. It will be a good bit more $$$ than an equilivant Nissan, but the Toyota gives me a warm fuzzy where a nissan seems like a comprimise between price and looks. I'm sure the Nissans are very reliable just as the Toyotas are.

A couple of friends at work have 2-wheel-drive Frontiers. Nice trucks but a lot of plastic on the body. One guy ran over something that slashed a tire. He went to a tire store and was told that the exact replacement tire was nearly $150.00. He got a tire that was "close" for under $100.00 and put it on as the spare. When it comes time for new tires, he said he'll go for the "close" ones, not the original size. I think he said the original are "P" metric sized, whatever that means.

This isn't meant as a Frontier-negative comment, I imagine that other manufacturers use "special" tires, maybe because they present the "image" they're trying to project.

By the way, he drove other makes and models and kept coming back to the Nissan. He said he loves his truck and wouldn't trade it for anything else on the road.

Personally, I'll stick with Toyota since I've had such good luck with mine...

Actually - I just made that decision. I considered a 2004 Frontier and

2004 Tacoma, and also a 2004 Dodge Dakota - extended cabs, auto.

I rejected the Frontier mostly because it is cramped (I weigh 260) but also because of looks. (Those 'tacked on' fender flairs look like something from J.C. Whitney.)

I rejected the Dodge because it just doesn't seem to be very well made.

I expect the Toyota to be well made. I had a 1989 Toyota pickup,

4 cyl. extended cab, that I put 207,000 miles on and then sold to a co-worker 2-1/2 years ago. He still drives it daily.

I decided that since I'm not in a hurry, I'll wait for the 2005 Tacoma.

By the way - I never got mileage much better than 22 mpg with that 4-banger Toyota.

Tony S.

I just went through it and bought an '04 Tacoma. I looked for a cou;ple of months and kept coming back to the Toyota dealer where I finally got a pretty good deal. It was still a couple of thousand more than an equivalent Frontier though. I've been driving a Toyota Xtracab

4x4 since '84 and wanted another one before they get bigger in '05. I liked some of the little extras on the Frontier but was not wild about the styling. The Tacoma bed capacity is about 500 lbs more. The Nissan had good low end torque but seemed sluggish at highway speed. The Chevy Colorado was intriguing. That in line 5 is powerful. I laid rubber by accident. The mileage is impressive. But the interior. particularly the seats. were cheap. The stereo speakers were junk. thought the '05 plays MP3s. A couple of brake hoses hung down almost a foot below the frame, made me think I should stick to Toyota.

I have an '01 Tacoma 4x4 TRD, bought it used. I thought I would get better acceleration out of the 3.4L engine too. My 3.0L Camry will out accelerate it anyday. I know the Tacoma weighs more but geez. Was thinking about putting in the Toyota supercharger but not really sure it's worth it. Other than the lack of acceleration I'm pretty happy with the truck.

"Finally got a good deal"..... I hear dat... It's gonna take me months to recover from this goddamm car-buying experience.... Yeah, I noticed the payload diff. between taco and frontier. I'm hoping some gas shocks or sumpn could fix that. Or maybe toyota is just over-estimating theirs, because across the board that taco 1500-1600 payload exceeds everyone else's, INCL some full size trucks!! Plus I don't know how careful/serious maker's are about payload, as most seem to think "average" means "maximum" in their data sheets. Saw the Colorado, has a door on its access cab. But Edmund's knocks it, CR has chevy reliability/quality in the toilet, plus the sales guy POUNDED me til I was black and blue... I sort of like the frontier styling, JC Whitney fenders (!) and all, even considering that wild-assed Solar Yellow.... must be a midlife crisis or sumpn.

The first Frontier I drove was the supercharged one. It was nice. Only the supercharged model has the adjustable lumbar seat. Too bad it uses premium gas. The Frontier was the only small pickup I could find stats for online with that small payload issue. My Chevy salesman was heavy duty too. Maybe it's a corporate strategy The Nissan online carfinder is cool.

Did you get the Toyota soft tonneau?

No, cuz I didn't get a truck yet! But I would like the cover, altho I plan on making a reinforced aluminum plate locking "lid" for the bed, in three 2-foot sections, that pin/lock under the bed rail. Could put the cover on top of this, for add'l rainproofing, but am wondering if it wouldn't be sort of redundant--just sumpn else for someone to slice w/ a razor--here in the Big (rotten) Apple.

I looked at the 04 Tacoma, thought the interior was cheap, the seats didn't feel that great, the Frontier has a third world front end look.

Think I will look at the 05 Tacoma, but not that impressed with the wheel housing openings, reminds me of the first Chevy Avalanche's.

Kinda like the Chevy Colorado, but the dependability is crap!

Maybe the 05's will grow on me.

Tom

----- Original Message ----- From: "Proctologically Violated©®" Newsgroups: alt.autos.toyota.trucks Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2004 8:13 AM Subject: Tacoma vs. Frontier