At 15 years old, the Frontier pickup truck may be called ‘geriatric’ by modern standards, but Nissan still feels that it is as fit as ever. At the ongoing Chicago show, the carmaker shows us the truck with a new engine.
To be specific, the new V6 uses the original design, but a whopping 93 percent of its components is new. Despite the displacement volume reduction from 4.0 to 3.8 liters, the unit churns out substantially more horsepower: 314 hp (234 kW), as opposed to 265 hp (198 kW) from before. Curiously enough, the max torque somehow stays at 381 Nm (281 lb-ft). Fuel economy isn’t discussed, but we expect it to be meaningfully more efficient than its predecessor.
Nissan says that the Frontier range will be the first to benefit from the new engine model, but other cars will eventually get it, too.
Another major update concerns the transmission range: the old five-speed manual and auto gearboxes get thrown away in the 2020 spec, replaced by the nine-speed Nissan Titan automatic. It in most basic implementation, the Frontier still comes front-axle driven, but you may opt for AWD with an electronically controlled transfer case.
USA sales of the old-gen Frontier with the new engine and transmission start in spring, and the next generation should be revealed sometime in 2021.