2027 Nissan Frontier

This one's hard to believe, but it's a fact: There's only one midsize pickup that even offers a six-cylinder engine -- and it's the one that comes standard with one.

That one is the 2027 Nissan Frontier.

It is also one of the only midsize trucks still available in more than one (crew cab) configuration and that you can get with either a five-foot or six-foot bed (with the crew cab too).

It's also still got an analog (real gauges, not LCD displays) instrument cluster.

That's the good news. There's some not-so-good news too.

What It Is

The Frontier is Nissan's midsize pickup. Like the others in its class -- the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon -- it used to be a compact truck. They are all midsize now, and dimensionally, they are almost as big as the full-size trucks of the early 2000s, before those got supersized.

They all used to come standard with fours -- with sixes optional. Now they all come with fours -- except the Frontier, which comes standard with a V6. Isn't that wild?

The Frontier (per above) is also still available in extended (King Cab) and crew cab body styles. Most of the rest come only in crew cab form. The one thing you can't get in a new Frontier that you can still get in one of its rivals -- the Toyota Tacoma -- is a manual transmission. The Frontier is automatic-only now.

Prices start at $32,4490 for the base S trim King Cab with two-wheel drive and a six-foot bed. Adding the optional four-wheel-drive system bumps the MSRP up to $35,490. The King Cab is only available in S trim, which means if you want the off-road upgrades that come with the Pro-X and Pro-4X trims, you have to buy a crew cab first.

Prices for the crew cab start at $33,890 for the S; the next-up SV lists for $36,490, and for that you get 17-inch wheels (16-inch wheels are otherwise standard) plus a better six-speaker audio system and rear-seat USB ports. Four-wheel-drive-equipped models get a larger (12.3-inch) secondary LCD touch screen.

The Pro-X ($38,890) comes with all-terrain tires and Bilstein shocks; the $42,190 Pro-4X comes with the same plus 4WD and skid plates for the transfer case and fuel tank.

What's New for 2027

You can get some of the off-road gear that comes with the more expensive Pro-X and Pro-4X trims as part of a less pricey Sport Edition package with SV crew cabs.

The trim availability for the King Cab has been winnowed down to just the one.

What's Good

-- V6 is standard.

-- Crew cab is optional.

-- Five- or six-foot bed available with either cab style.

What's Not So Good

-- No lower-cost standard engine. Like the others in this class, the Frontier used to come standard with a four, with the six available as an option for those who wanted the extra power and were OK with paying extra for it.

-- No more manual transmission.

-- King Cab is only available in S trim -- which means that if you want any other trim, you have to buy the crew cab.

Under the Hood

The Frontier -- all trims -- comes standard with a 3.8-liter V6 that makes 310 horsepower (and 281 foot-pounds of torque).

Some of the other trucks in this segment have fours that make more horsepower and torque, but they are fours -- and to make equivalent (or better) horsepower and torque, they rely on turbocharging. Turbos make power via boost, which can be expressed as pressure. More air is forced into the engine, which (along with more fuel sprayed into the cylinders) creates a more powerful explosion inside the cylinders. The downside is that it is necessary to keep the four-cylinder engine under pressure to get six-cylinder horsepower and torque, which may mean shorter engine life. There are also more potential failure points -- because there are more parts (e.g., the turbo itself plus peripherals such as intercoolers and specialized exhaust plumbing and so on).

The others in the class have gone to turbo (and hybrid-augmented) fours to deal with government regs -- both here and in Europe -- that demand ever-lower CO2 "emissions," and fours help with that because when they are not on boost, they are moving less air than a six. Compliance pressures are also why the manual transmission -- which was typically standard in pickups as recently as about a decade ago -- are now all but gone. The Toyota Tacoma is the only truck in the class that even offers one, and it is only available in one (expensive) trim.

The Frontier's V6 does get good gas mileage -- 19 mpg city, 24 mpg highway -- for a nearly full-size truck. To make the point, when the Frontier was last a compact truck (back in 2004) and came standard with a much less powerful 2.4-liter four (no turbo, so just 143 horsepower) and a manual transmission, it only managed 20 mpg city, 23 mpg highway. The '04 Frontier with the four was also only rated to pull up to 3,500 pounds, and even when equipped with its then-optional 3.3-liter V6, it maxed out at just 5,000 pounds.

The current Frontier comes standard with a 7,150 tow rating.

A nine-speed automatic is the standard (and only available) transmission, but you can still go 2WD or 4WD.

On the Road

If you have owned a full-size truck but do not want to drive a supersized truck, you will probably find the Frontier to be the right-sized truck.

It has about the same footprint -- length, width and height -- of an early 2000s full-size pickup, so it's big but not huge. There's still some room on either side of you when you're driving down a windy country road with blind curves, so you don't sweat smacking mirrors with another big truck coming the other way. When you pull into a bank drive-through window, you don't have to reach down awkwardly to grab the vacuum canister thing -- and when you park, you can open the door and get out without having to slide out sideways to avoid denting the side of whatever's parked next to you.

The big V6 is the biggest plus. Not because it's the strongest engine you can get in the class (the Toyota Tacoma's iForce Max turbo-hybrid-augmented four touts 326 horsepower and 465 foot-pounds of torque) but because it fits. This is not a small truck -- and neither are the others in the segment. When they were all still compact, they came with fours as their standard engine, and that fit. The fours don't. Not really. If that weren't true, then why the turbocharging and hybrid-augmenting? Well, because the fours need that to replicate the output of a six, which is what a big truck that weighs 4,466 pounds ought to have under the hood -- and would, were it not for compliance pressures.

Kudos is due to Nissan for resisting those pressures.

The V6 also has the right sound, which is part of the fit. There is something off about starting a big truck's engine and hearing a small truck's engine. To be fair, the competitions' turbo and hybrid-augmented fours feel bigger than they are. They generate great swells of torque at just above idle speed. Light pressure on the accelerator results in bounding leaps forward -- but when you floor the accelerator (and the RPMs rise) their sound isn't right -- in a truck this big. The Frontier's V6 has a deeper below, as you'd expect. This does of course mean you have to push down harder on the accelerator to get it to bellow, and that may not seem like a good thing -- but it is, because you probably won't need to call on it to bellow very often. In contrast, the little turbo-hybrid-augmented fours feel easier-going because of all that torque down low and right there. But inside, they are under a lot of pressure -- and that pressure is constant. These little fours are in fact working harder almost all the time. The V6 is working a lot less hard almost all the time.

Which do you think is more likely to still be tight 150,000 miles from now?

At the Curb

The main point of departure between the current Frontier and its compact ancestor (last made in 2004) is not length but height and width. The current model is 210.2 inches long; the '04 was 202.9 inches long. Eight inches isn't that much difference in terms of fitting in the garage or sliding into a curbside parking spot.

The increase in height is much more pronounced. The current Frontier is 71.5 inches tall. The old, compact Frontier was 63.2 inches tall. That's not far from a foot taller (or shorter) depending on how you look at it. As it happens, I own an old, compact Frontier -- an '02 model. I can easily reach the roof to wash it. I need a stool or bucket to stand on to reach the current Frontier's roof. Also, the bed is higher up, and so are the bed walls. I reach down to get at stuff I put in the bed of my '02, but getting at the stuff I put in the bed of the new one requires tiptoes and a stretch. It is still, however, possible to get at stuff you put in the bed without needing a stepladder -- which all the supersized half-ton trucks now come with.

It's also nice that you can get the five-foot or the six-foot bed with either cab type.

Width is the other big dimensional difference.

The current model is 73 inches wide; the old (compact) Frontier was a much more svelte 63.2 inches through the hips. But it was also much cozier inside. You rubbed shoulders with your passenger. In the current Frontier, you do not. It feels like a full-size truck inside, which it basically is. But from the early 2000s big. Not the current supersized big. To understand the difference, here's a number: 79.9 inches. That's how wide a current Ford F-150 is. That's about half a foot wider than the Frontier -- and when you're on a windy country road with blind curves, that half foot can make all the difference between smacking mirrors and not.

The rear seats in the king cab (extended cab) are tight but not as tight as they used to be (back when the Frontier was a compact), and there are separate (though smaller) doors that facilitate better access than just two doors. Legroom is 26.2 inches, so it's OK for kids and young teenagers, but adults consigned to back there aren't going to be happy. The crew cab fixes that with four full-size doors and 33.2 inches of backseat legroom.

The Rest

The fact that Nissan has winnowed down the king cab's availability to just the base S trim suggests the king cab is on the way out. The fact that it is only available in the base S trim will probably accelerate its retirement because probably many people who'd like a king cab -- because they don't need the bigger cab and might like to not pay extra for it -- would like to get the equipment you can only get in the SV, Pro-X and Pro-4X trims, which you can only get by getting a crew cab.

The Bottom Line

If you're wanting a big (but not huge) pickup that doesn't come only with a small engine, your decision comes down to one.

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Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.