Nissan Frontier Workshop Service Repair Manuals The Nissan Frontier is overdue for a replacement now, especially in the face of renewed competition from GM’s trucks and the updated Toyota Tacoma. It may not get an update until 2017, though, since Nissan is hard at work on a 2016 Titan full-size pickup.

The Frontier is the Japanese automaker’s made-in-the-USA mid-size pickup truck. Related to Nissan’s Titan full-size pickup in its underlying design, the Frontier offers good cargo hauling capability as well as off-road ability on certain models.

The little pickup was conceived at a time when compact and mid-size trucks were a larger part of the market. For a while, the mid-size niche waned– but it’s back stronger than ever, with a new Toyota Tacoma arriving this year, and a pair of GM twins– the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon– in their second year, now available with a turbodiesel powerplant.

Nissan Frontier Workshop Service Repair Manuals

MORE: Read our 2016 Nissan Frontier review

The Nissan Frontier is the successor to what was once called the Nissan Hardbody. That pickup brought Nissan out of its Datsun years, and became a staple of the small-pickup market. Introduced for 1998 and lightly updated over the course of a decade, the Frontier started to establish its current style in 2001 when it gained a more rugged appearance that mainly involved clipped-on wheel well flares, plus a chunkier-looking grille and front air dam. These models did quite well with the standard 148-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine; the 168-hp, 3.3-liter V-6 engine was a decent choice for those who towed or hauled heavy loads. Most Frontiers of this vintage are regular or King Cab (extended) body styles, though a Crew Cab model was introduced for 2000.

Nissan introduced a new Frontier for 2005, and that same basic truck continues to be offered today, a decade later. The current Frontier is based on the company’s F-Alpha architecture, which was first introduced for the larger Titan pickup. This Frontier is larger and slightly heavier than the one it replaced. Because of this, Nissan markets its smaller pickup as a mid-sizer. Both the Frontier and Titan are getting on in years, with a new Titan coming very soon and a Frontier replacement likely a short time after.

With its 2005 redesign, the Frontier made some major advances in safety. For a few years, the Frontier was rated “good” in many tests by the IIHS– unlike compact trucks like the Ranger and last-generation Colorado and Canyon. Since then, not much has been done in the way of crash testing, however.

For 2007, a longer-bed Crew Cab model was first offered, which gave the Frontier nearly full-size proportions. In 2009 Nissan gave the Frontier a mid-cycle refresh, with slightly different front-end styling as well as revised interior trim. A more focused PRO-4X off-road model was also released. More recently, the Frontier got a small fuel-economy boost, and a new Desert Runner package. Bluetooth became standard on most models, and Nissan expanded availability of dual-zone climate control, navigation, a rearview camera, and rear parking sensors.

Nissan Frontier Workshop Service Repair Manuals