I drove a $48,000 Nissan Frontier. Here are 12 reasons it’s all the truck most people will ever need.

The 2025 Frontier received a couple of minor styling updates, including revised headlights, grille, and bumper. The Frontier is an attractively designed truck. Its rugged, squared-off looks blend modern styling with design elements like the vents atop the front grille, inspired by Nissan’s iconic Hardbody pickups of the late 1980s.

Most midsize pickups are offered only as a crew cab with a five foot-long bed. The Frontier comes in two different cab types (Crew Cab and King Cab) as well as two different bed lengths (five-feet and six feet), giving shoppers the opportunity to customize the truck to their needs.

My Frontier Crew Cab test truck with the six-foot-long bed is the longest version at nearly 19-feet long.

All Frontiers are powered by a 3.8-liter V6 from Nissan’s award-winning VQ family of engines. The silky smooth, naturally aspirated V6 produces 310 horsepower and a 281 lb-ft of torque.

With the Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, and Canyon all powered by turbocharged four-cylinders, the Frontier is one of the last trucks in the segment to offer a V6.

My 4,900-lb test car boasts EPA fuel economy figures of 17 mpg city, 21 mpg highway, and 19 mpg combined.

The Frontier drives like the modern body-on-frame pickup truck it is. It rides well, coasting over bumps with ease thanks to its large tires, and offers a relatively quiet cabin even at high speeds.

The punchy V6 and nine-speed automatic combined to deliver strong and smooth acceleration on demand.

One negative that stood out to me was its abnormally heavy steering, which can make navigating tight spaces a chore.

While it isn’t as refined as the passenger car-based Honda Ridgeline, the Frontier is more than civilized enough to be a comfortable everyday driver.

The Frontier’s cabin is designed to be durable and easy to use. And that’s exactly what it is. Ergonomics are excellent; all the buttons and switches are where one would expect them to be. The big rotary dials and physical buttons made on-the-fly use a piece of cake, especially during cold weather when the driver wearing gloves.

Although monotone and plasticky, the material quality is solid, and everything feels well put together. No errant squeaks or rattles were detected.

The seats, exclusive to Nissan, are engineered to reduce stress on the driver’s bones and joints by encouraging the occupant to hold a neutral body position like a person in a weightless environment.

The Crew Cab’s rear seats offer a solid 33 inches of legroom, which is on par with the rivals like the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma. Despite the upright seating position, the rear bench was comfortable to sit in. Rear seat passengers also get a power socket and USB plugs, as well as a sliding rear window.

The 60/40 split rear bench folds up to turn rear cabin into a flexible cargo compartment. There’s also a cargo basket on the passenger side that’s perfect for everything from tools to groceries.

The Frontier’s truck bed comes equipped with adjustable aluminum Utili-track cargo tie-downs mounted on rails that are really helpful when you need to secure awkwardly shaped gear.

Infotainment in the midsize truck segment had been pretty neglected until this latest generation of pickups.

The Frontier’s new 12.3-inch screen looks great, and Nissan’s infotainment system, while a step behind some of its rivals, is solid and pretty easy to use. Unfortunately, its split-screen setup means you can only use 2/3s of its real estate.

However, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are standard, do have access to the entire 12.3 inches of screen.

An eight-inch display comes standard on the base S trim.

The Frontier’s four-wheel-drive system defaults to rear-wheel drive but can be switched to four-wheel drive using a rotary dial on the center stack. The two-speed transfer case offers a four-low setting for when the driver needs additional torque and traction when driving off-road or hauling heavy loads at low speeds.

Four-wheel drive equipped Frontiers also come with steel skid plates to protect the key engine component from rough terrain. Off-road-focused PRO-X and PRO-4X models get additional steel skid plates under the transfer case and fuel tank, as well as heavy-duty Bilstein shocks.

The truck’s towing capacity varies by trim, with the highest being 7,150 lbs for the base Frontier S King Cab 4X2.

My SL grade test truck, which is rated for 6,700 lbs, came standard with a class IV receiver hitch member, trailer sway control, and a tow/ haul mode switch.

The Frontier’s overall towing capability is on par with that of the midsize segment and should be sufficient for most consumers. You’ll need to turn to the full-size truck segment.