2025 Nissan Frontier SL Crew Cab Review

This week I’ve got the 2025 Nissan Frontier that was completely redone in 2022, after a long time lapse between re-dos.  This 2025 version had a mild refresh that enhances the changes that occurred three-years ago.  This truck became a lot more relevant to Nissan as soon as it was announced the bigger Titan was being eliminated, so the good folks at Nissan upped the game with this midsized version. 

The thing I’ve always admired about Frontier is its toughness, but even more than that its simplicity.  My tester is the top-of-the-line SL Crew Cab long-wheelbase, but it doesn’t try to compete with the Tacoma TRD Pro. Instead, it comes in at a much cheaper price for those who want capability and toughness.

The Frontier offers an extended cab or a full four door, it comes with either a short or long wheelbase, two or four-wheel drive, and something hard to find these days: a full six-foot bed sitting behind a crew cab.  That is excellent for people who actually work out of their trucks, but need the room of a crew cab.  See?  Simple.

Exterior    

The truck looks great with a new-for-2025 grill and front bumper. 

The lines are crisp and sharp, and while I generally like larger wheels than the 17” alloys on my tester, these look good, especially with color-matched flares built into the fenders.  The Bluestone Pearl paint on this truck looks fantastic.

Powertrain  

There is one simple choice under the hood of all Frontiers and that’s a 3.8-liter naturally-aspirated V6 that is putting out 310-horses and 281-pound feet of torque.  No turbos and no 4-cylinders.  It is mated to a strong-shifting 9-speed automatic transmission.

There are four other trim levels besides the SL I have had this week.  From the bottom, we start with the S, you can move up then to the SV, the Pro-X, the Pro-4X, and then to this one, the SL.

Interior  

Moving to the interior, it was surprisingly nice with soft-touch materials throughout the cabin.  NASA-designed zero-gravity leather seats are super comfortable, heated, and the driver gets power controls, including power lumbar settings.  The seats are stitched, and stitching runs across the dash as well.

As you sit, there is a colorful 7” gauge cluster and a driver info center that works from the heated tilt steering wheel.  A large, round, tachometer sits to the left, and a matching speedometer on the right.  In the middle I chose the digital speedometer for most of the week, and it displays traffic signs, including the speed limit.

High center dash is a large 12.3” infotainment screen that handles the terrific 10-speaker Fender sound system, navigation, Bluetooth, voice recognition, Sirius XM, Siri eyes-free, wireless Apple Car Play, and wireless Android auto.  It will also give you real-time sports scores, traffic, weather, fuel prices, and how the stock market is doing.  The screen is colorful, simple, and fast to understand and operate.

The center console is well done and has a couple of grab handles, cup holders, a wireless charger, the gear shifter, switches for the heated front seats, USB and USB-C ports.  To the right of the steering wheel is the pushbutton start and 4-wheel drive selector, to the left are buttons for various things including tow mode, the outside cargo lamp, hill-descent control, and you can turn off the traction control.

The back seat is OK but not as roomy as some of the competition. You get USB and USB-C ports, an outlet for a 110 plug-in, and there is a fold down armrest with cup holders.  The back seat folds up and has a nice storage area underneath.

Utility

This is the 6-foot bed, has a spray-in bedliner, and Nissan’s terrific Utilatrack cargo management system with 4 adjustable tie-downs, and another 110-power outlet in the bed.

Standard Equip 

Being the top-of-the-line version, it is heavily-equipped with a power moon roof, heated mirrors, LED headlights and fog lights, front tow hooks, a sliding rear window, power passenger seat, a trailer hitch, keyless entry, remote start, and the full leather seats.

Safety

On the safety side, you get lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, rearview camera, rear parking sensors with automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert, forward collision warning, and traffic sign recognition.

Ride and Drive

The Frontier SL is a beast off the road, yet a very good daily driver. The ride is really good, and acceleration is terrific from the V6. Interior quietness is really good.  Visibility is good as well, and I expected the handling to be sub-par, but you can tell this truck will handle a heavy load in the bed and do a good job towing up to 7,150 pounds.

Two things I noted were the steering feels a little heavy in city driving but would be good off-road.  I also think the turning radius could be shorter, but it is a long wheelbase, which will make turning more difficult, but good for stability with a load.

Fuel economy is rated at 17 city and 21 highway, 19 combined, not bad for a 4,850-pound, 4-wheel drive truck.

What You'll Pay

Total MSRP as you see it is $47,750 which gives Frontier a nice edge over the competition, especially with the very aggressive incentives offered by Nissan.