Nissan Frontier Overview

Pickup trucks and country music go together like, well, like pickup trucks and country music. Maybe that's why Nissan chose to introduce its new compact pickup in Nashville last summer. If you want to impress me, just serve dinner on the stage of the Grand Ole Oprey and host a live country music show. Objectivity is sacred, of course, that other stuff is just fun. I swear.

What Nissan revealed in Nashville was a small pickup we predict will find a very receptive market. The two most asked questions at the introduction were: "Why no V6?" and "What's not to like?" To Nissan's credit, there wasn't an answer to the second question. As for the first question, a V6 is planned for next year; the V6 wasn't ready for the 1998 model and, rather than wait another year for the new pickup, the company decided to launch the new pickup this year and add the V6 as soon as it's ready. Besides, Nissan said, most buyers of compact two-wheel-drive pickups opt for four-cylinder engines anyway.

In the past, Nissan didn't name its pickups--though they were often referred to as Hardbodies--but Nissan gave its new truck a name: Frontier.