RideLust

2009 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X

A year after Nissan mildy adjusted the styling of its compact truck, the automaker is keeping the changes of its highly-rated Frontier and Titan models to safety equipment and paint for 2010. 

Apparently Nissan also is saving the “Nismo” designation for its cars and sticking with the name change to “PRO-4X” that they implemented last year for their off-road packaged trucks. Although adding a single new paint shade “Night Armor” to the Frontier’s pallette of colors is unremarkable, the addition of standard side curtain airbags to all models, and stability control on V6 models is a welcome adjustment from previous years. Nissan is sticking with the redesigned grille and wheel styles updated last year; a smart move in light of the postive reception the trucks received in automotive reviews.

Nissan is also ramping up availability of the Frontier’s five-speed automatic transmission for XE models, making standard Active Brake Limited Slip for all SE and LE V-6 models, and hill start assist and hill descent control for all SE and LE models with four-wheel drive and an automatic transmission.

Nissan Titan

Emphasis on a new Value Truck Package for its midlevel SE trim will hopefully jump start slacking Titan sales. The SE Value Truck Package includes cloth captain’s chairs, a tow hitch, a Bluetooth hands-free phone system, an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, fog lights and trailer brake pre-wiring. Similar to the Frontier, the Titan receives no exterior styling changes outside of two new paint colors: Blue Steel and Navy Blue. (We’re waiting for them to unleash “Magnum” on us, but they said they need to “tame the beast first”).