2000 Frontier King Cab SE V6 4x4 5M
Written: Jun 09 '01 (Updated Jun 19 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Reliability: |
 |
|
| Seat Comfort: |
 |
|
| Build Quality |
|
|
| Ease of Loading: |
|
|
|
Pros: Quality Fit & Finish, ride height, comfort, style, capacity, features, price, warranty.
Cons: rear jump seats
The Bottom Line: This truck begs to be driven, and I am happy to oblige. Awesome Truck! 18 MPG, quiet, comfortable, stylish. Driven Daily! My wife wants another one for herself.
|
|
|
| robcfoster's Full Review: 2000 Nissan Frontier 4WD |
I was singing "Bye Bye Miss American Pie - drove my Chevy to the levy..." and left it there. Now I sing "Cruising along in my automobile; my baby and me behind the wheel..."
I traded my failing 96 Chevy Lumina with (63k miles) for a "Cloud White" 2000 Nissan Frontier King Cab SE V6 4x4 with 10k miles. Can you say "Awesome Truck"? Now I say it daily, with a big grin on my face!
The American-made (in Smyrna Tennessee) Nissan Frontier King Cab SE V6 4x4 is loaded with many creature comforts, such as:
- Power Windows
- Power Locks
- Power Steering
- Power Brakes with ABS (Front Disc / Rear Drum)
- Power Remote Mirrors
- Tilt Steering
- Cruise Control
- 100-Watt 4-Speaker AM/FM/CD/Cassette with subwoofer
- Cloth Bucket Seats
- Center Console
- Factory Fog Lights
- Pop-Up (and removeable) sunroof
- Sliding rear window
- Real Bumpers
- A Real Frame
- Remote Keyless Entry with Alarm System
- Factory Bedliner
- Factory Running Boards
- 16-Inch tires and factory styled wheels
- Shift-On-The-Fly 4-wheel drive (2H-4H under 25mph)
- V6 engine - 3.3-liter, fuel-injected, 170 HP
- Dual 2nd-generation air bags (passenger air bag can be deactivated with the ignition key)
The only options I can think of that are NOT included on our 2000 SE Frontier KC (King Cab) 4x4 are automatic transmission, power seats, and leather seats.
I prefer cloth seats, so no problem there. The 5-speed manual transmission works great for me, and should offer a little better fuel economy than the automatic - so, again - no problem.
REAL-LIFE SAFETY CHECK:
I purchased the truck on a Wednesday. That Friday night, I was rear-ended at a stoplight by a 16-yr old driver in a Chevy S-10. The S-10 suffered damage to the front grill, headlight, turn signal lens and lamp, fender and fender trim, and hood. My Nissan suffered relatively minor bumper damage only.
DAILY DRIVING:
The Nissan Frontier is a dream to drive. Visibility is great due to the ride height of the passenger cabin area. The ride is comfortable on most roads, though washboard surfaces do let their presence be known (it IS a 4x4 truck, after all!). The truck handles superbly, and exudes a sense of competence and complete control on all dry road surfaces. The 4x4 option proves useful for traction on wet and slippery roads. The cabin is surprisingly more quiet than we expected. The bucket seats offer excellent support and good comfort, and rival seats found in many cars.
The clutch action is light, and the 5-speed manual transmission seems to direct you to the correct gear to match the speed and situation of the vehicle.
The fuel-injected 3.3-liter V6 moves the truck along with confidence. Mated to the 5-speed manual, this engine is capable of keeping up with city traffic, and the truck is able to merge easily with highway traffic at cruising speed.
I have noticed that this truck can climb steep hills and accelerate from 60 mph in 5th gear with plenty of pedal left - no need to floor it or downshift. Slower traffic - keep right! (GRIN)
We drove many compact trucks before purchasing the Nissan. All were 1998 - 2000-model year extended-cab 4x4 models. We opted for V6 engine when available.
- The S-10 had the worst ride of the group
- The Ranger (and Mazda B-Series) had less power and less cabin space
- The comparable Toyota cost $7,000.00 more, and offered ride quality between that of the S-10 and the Mazda.
We liked the ride quality of the Frontier over that of all the other compact trucks we drove. The Ford Ranger was second in ride quality in our opinion. The 2000 Chevy S-10 Extended Cab 4x4 V6 w/automatic provided the least comfortable ride of the trucks we tested.
On a feature / price scale, this Nissan was the hands-down winner. The compact truck with the next-closest features (a Toyota) was $7,000 more than what we paid for this decked-out Nissan Frontier.
The 2000 Nissan Frontier KC did not offer an optional third door, as many of its competitors did. However, Nissan introduced the 4-door short-bed truck, the Frontier Crew Cab, to the market in 2000.
We have driven this truck @ 1300 miles in the last 3 weeks; we continue to be extremely satisfied with the vehicle. We have taken 2 "week-end road trips" in the truck, the first was 200 miles one day and 200 the next, the second was 400 miles in one day. My wife (5'8") and I are both quite comfortable in this truck for these "weekend road trips".
Our son is 6'2" @ 210 lbs; he is quite comfortable in the front seats; however, the rear jump seats are nearly unusable for anyone his size on anything but a short hop across town, and should be used only for small children for and short trips only.
FUEL ECONOMY:
We have averaged over 18 MPG so far since we bought the Nissan Frontier.
STYLE:
My wife and I both notice the longing and envious looks we and our truck receive from all sorts of people. We especially enjoy the looks we receive from drivers of full-size Chevy and Ford "gas-hog" pickups. Somehow we try to imagine their chagrin at having paid twice as much for a vehicle with half the warranty that gets 1/3 less fuel economy than our Nissan.
RELIABILITY:
Checking major publications such as Consumer Reports and Consumer Buying Guide, the Nissan is rated "Very Good" to "Excellent" and 4-1/2 stars out of 5. The comparable Toyota gets 5 stars, but costs $7000.00 more.
In the same publications, the Chevy S-10 and Ford Ranger trucks get "Average" or "Below Average" and 2 or 3 stars.
WARRANTY:
The Nissan standard warranty is 3/36 bumper-to-bumper, 5/60 powertrain, and 6/100 corrosion.
The Chevy S-10 and Ford Ranger, though they cost more, offer only the basic 3/36 bumper-to-bumper warranty (and a corrosion warranty - but I do not know what the term is - we never got that far in our pre-purchase investigations, since we didn't care to pay more money for less truck).
Overall, this truck appears to have engineered by people who thought about what they were designing, and was built by people who care about who they were building it for.
Wow - what can I say - the Nissan is the hands-down winner!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 18,000.00
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2000
Model and Options: 2000 Nissan Frontier King Cab 4x4 SE V6
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
robcfoster
|
|
Member: Robert Foster
Location: Springfield Missouri USA
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Professional Geek. A+ Certified by CompTIA. Professionally employed in IT since 1989.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.