Photo: Nissan
For the time being, the Frontier is both the oldest and the cheapest mid-size pickup truck in the United States. Known as the Navara in other parts of the world, the Nissan starts at a rather affordable $19,090 for the S trim level in King Cab configuration.
Move on up to the PRO-4X with Bilstein off-road performance shock absorbers and underbody protection, and you’ll level up to $33,530 before destination charge. But Nissan can do even better than that for $40,000 as demonstrated by the Destination Frontier one-off overlanding rig.
Modifications include a three-inch lift kit and rooftop tent, lots of auxiliary lights, bed racks, and a good ol’ winch to get yourself out of trouble. "This special Destination Frontier is designed to do two things,” said Tiago Castro, director of Light Commercial Vehicles at Nissan North America, Inc.
“First, demonstrate Frontier's durability, quality, and reliability, even when traveling to remote destinations. And second, to help democratize the overlanding experience by showing a more affordable approach to the sport." Given that a sport implies competition with at least an opponent, it would be better to describe the Destination Frontier as a vehicle for adventure-oriented people.
Nissan started off with the Frontier Crew Cab SV 4x4 Midnight Edition, a truck that retails at $32,925 excluding destination. The mid-size pickup comes standard with a 2.5-liter engine that develops 152 horsepower and 171 pound-feet. More suck-squeeze-bang-blow is available with the 4.0-liter V6, an engine that’s good for 261 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque for a maximum tow rating of 6,720 pounds.
It’s not the latest and the greatest, and the age of the Frontier becomes all too apparent if you remember the automatic transmission has five speeds. In the day and age of 10-speed automatics in the Ford F-150, Nissan is playing second fiddle with the purpose of keeping the price as low as possible.
On that note, there’s an all-new Frontier in the pipeline for the 2021 model year. Expected to arrive no earlier than September 2020, the next generation could borrow a few of the underpinnings and some of the exterior design of the Navara that Nissan sells in Latin America, Europe, and Australia.
Modifications include a three-inch lift kit and rooftop tent, lots of auxiliary lights, bed racks, and a good ol’ winch to get yourself out of trouble. "This special Destination Frontier is designed to do two things,” said Tiago Castro, director of Light Commercial Vehicles at Nissan North America, Inc.
“First, demonstrate Frontier's durability, quality, and reliability, even when traveling to remote destinations. And second, to help democratize the overlanding experience by showing a more affordable approach to the sport." Given that a sport implies competition with at least an opponent, it would be better to describe the Destination Frontier as a vehicle for adventure-oriented people.
Nissan started off with the Frontier Crew Cab SV 4x4 Midnight Edition, a truck that retails at $32,925 excluding destination. The mid-size pickup comes standard with a 2.5-liter engine that develops 152 horsepower and 171 pound-feet. More suck-squeeze-bang-blow is available with the 4.0-liter V6, an engine that’s good for 261 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque for a maximum tow rating of 6,720 pounds.
It’s not the latest and the greatest, and the age of the Frontier becomes all too apparent if you remember the automatic transmission has five speeds. In the day and age of 10-speed automatics in the Ford F-150, Nissan is playing second fiddle with the purpose of keeping the price as low as possible.
On that note, there’s an all-new Frontier in the pipeline for the 2021 model year. Expected to arrive no earlier than September 2020, the next generation could borrow a few of the underpinnings and some of the exterior design of the Navara that Nissan sells in Latin America, Europe, and Australia.
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