Midsize pickups can do plenty of work, but they can’t match the capability of their larger, more expensive full-size brothers. When that much capability isn’t needed, midsizers provide a more maneuverable, more affordable alternative.
The smaller trucks have plenty of fans, as evidenced by the popularity of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma. Toyota’s midsize truck has a wide range of models, too, including several off-roaders and a hybrid powertrain.
The 2025 Nissan Frontier, on the other hand, offers a smaller lineup with just a single powertrain. It also offers an off-roader, but just one. It appeals as a more affordable choice, though, and it offers more towing capacity.
Both trucks go up against competitors that include the Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger. Up against each other, though, which is the better choice, the Frontier or Tacoma?
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
Frontier vs. Tacoma prices and features
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Base Frontier costs about $31,000
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Base Tacoma costs about $33,000
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Best picks: Frontier SV, Frontier Pro-4X, Tacoma SR5, Tacoma TRD Pro
How much is a Nissan Frontier?
Nissan sells the Frontier in S, SV, SL, and Pro-X/Pro-4X trim levels. The base Frontier S King Cab (extended cab) starts at about $32,000, and comes standard with basic necessities that include cloth upholstery, a manually adjustable front seats, an 8.0-inch touchscreen, wired Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, power features, a urethane steering wheel, a four-speaker audio system, a sliding rear window, a composite front skid plate, and 16-inch steel wheels.
The Crew Cab body style adds $1,300 and four-wheel drive adds $3,200.
The 4×4 SV model with the crew cab seems worth the money at about $39,000. It adds a 12.3-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, power-adjustable exterior mirrors, an eight-way power driver’s seat with two-way lumbar adjustments, a six-speaker audio system, a satellite radio trial, a steel front skid plate, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
We’d also be interested in the crew cab Pro-4X at more than $41,000. It’s built to go off-road with Bilstein shock absorbers, an aluminum front skid plate, skid plates for the transfer case and fuel tank, and all-terrain tires.
At the top of the lineup, the 4×4 crew cab SL model runs about $45,000. It comes with leather upholstery, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, navigation, a wireless smartphone charger, a 120-volt outlet, a 10-speaker Fender audio system, remote start, a Class IV tow hitch, under-rail LED cargo bed lights, a bed tie-down system with two adjustable cleats, a sunroof, and a surround-view camera system.
The Frontier carries a basic 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.
How much is a Toyota Tacoma?
Toyota’s range of Tacoma models is far more expansive than the Frontier’s. It includes the SR, SR5, TRD PreRunner, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited, Trailhunter, and TRD Pro.
The base Tacoma SR model runs about $33,000 and comes standard with cloth upholstery, manually adjustable seats, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, power features, and 17-inch steel wheels. Toyota offers four-wheel drive for $3,200 and the crew cab body style (with the short bed combo) costs another $2,200.
We recommend spending $39,195 for a 4×4 SR5 crew cab with the long bed. It gets LED fog lights, alloy wheels, a deck rail system, a coil-spring rear suspension, and blind-spot monitors with rear cross-traffic alerts.
We’d also be tempted by the TRD Sport for $48,800. For that money, you get the hybrid drivetrain and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, LED bed lighting, and 18-inch wheels, plus access to the optional cooled synthetic leather seats, a sunroof, and a towing package.
The Tacoma lineup stretches up much higher than the Frontier’s. The TRD Pro runs $65,985, and adds a 14.0-inch touchscreen, heated and cooled front seats, premium audio, and lots of off-road hardware.
The Tacoma also has a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty, but Toyota adds 2 years/24,000 miles of free scheduled maintenance.
Advantage: Toyota Tacoma for features, lineup, and options, but the Frontier for price.
2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter
2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter
2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter
2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter
Frontier vs. Tacoma performance
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The Tacoma offers hybrid performance
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The Frontier comes only with a strong V-6
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Towing and hauling are a draw
The Tacoma has a weaker base engine. It’s a 2.4-liter turbo-4 that makes 228 hp, which is decent for a midsize truck. Toyota teams it with a responsive 8-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual. A step-up version gets 270 or 278 hp in higher-line models. It has some diesel-like clatter, but it offers the power most buyers will want, works well with the automatic transmission, and has a responsive throttle pedal.
Toyota also offers a hybrid version of the uprated turbo-4 that spins out 326 hp and a strong 465 lb-ft of torque. It improves the power and towing confidence, but it only gets 23 mpg combined.
The Frontier features only a 3.8-liter V-6 that makes 310 hp and 281 lb-ft. It’s teamed with a 9-speed automatic transmission. It delivers strong, consistent power that makes passing a no-fuss proposition, and the transmission has smooth shifts.
Towing capacity for the Frontier rises to a maximum of 7,150 pounds for 2025, 500 more than it had been. Payload tops out at 1,620 pounds. The Tacoma can tow 6,500 pounds and haul 1,710 pounds. That means the Frontier wins for towing capacity, but the Tacoma is the winner for payload.
The Frontier has a leaf-spring rear suspension and front double wishbones. The Tacoma also has rear leaf springs and a solid rear axle in its base models, and both get the resulting choppy ride. However, the Toyota has a multi-link rear suspension and rear coil springs on all crew cab models to smooth out the ride. Both also offer off-road suspensions, but Toyota has far more off-road choices.
Advantage: Tacoma for advanced powertrain and suspension options.
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
Frontier vs. Tacoma off-road and 4×4 systems
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The Tacoma offers more off-road models
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The Frontier has just the Pro-X and Pro-4X
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Both offer part-time four-wheel-drive systems
Rear-wheel drive comes standard on both trucks, and both offer a part-time four-wheel-drive system with a 2-speed transfer case. The Frontier’s four-wheel-drive system is controlled by a knob on the center console. For best off-roading, go for the Pro-4X model, which gets a locking rear differential, all-terrain tires, and a 9.5-inch ground clearance versus 8.9 inches for a rear-drive base model.
The Tacoma has more off-road choices, and its hybrid Limited model gets a full-time four-wheel-drive system. Also available are a variety of off-road modes, an electronic locking rear differential, and a crawl feature.
The TRD Off-Road rises 11.0 inches off the ground, sits on 32-inch all-terrain tires, and offers an optional disconnecting front sway bar. The TRD Pro adds stronger skid plates, Fox shocks, and a raised ground clearance. The Trailhunter is outfitted as the slow rock crawler versus the TRD Pro’s high-speed desert runner.
Advantage: Toyota Tacoma for more capability, options.
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
Frontier vs. Tacoma size, space, and seating capacity, and bed space
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Frontier’s extended cab has small rear seat
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Tacoma’s extended cab has no rear seat
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Tacoma is slightly longer
How big is the Nissan Frontier?
Nissan offers the Frontier in four-passenger extended cab form with a 6-foot bed, or a five-passenger crew cab body style with a 5-foot or 6-foot bed. It rides a wheelbase of 126.0 or 139.8 inches, stretches 210.2 or 224.1 inches long, and the bed floor is either 59.5 or 73.3 inches long.
The Frontier’s bed comes standard with four tie-down hooks, and it offers a spray-in liner, a 120-volt power outlet, under-rail lighting, and a track system with two cleats.
In the cab, the Frontier is less than dressy, with numerous hard-plastic surfaces. While the front seats have good space, both cab styles have tight rear-seat space. With 33.2 inches of rear legroom, the crew cab will fit a pair of adults for short trips, but the double cab’s 26.8 inches of legroom means it’s best used for packages.
How big is the Toyota Tacoma?
The Tacoma comes as a two-passenger extended-cab with a 6-foot bed or a five-passenger crew cab with a 5- or 6-foot bed.
Front-seat space is plentiful, and the bucket seats are comfortable. It also has good small-items storage, including Molle pockets on the doors and center console. The extended-cab, which Toyota calls a Xtracab, substitutes small storage compartments for rear seats. The crew cab, or Double Cab in Toyota-speak, has 33.7 inches of rear legroom, slightly more than the Frontier. Those rear seats sit rather upright, and the seat bottoms fold up for more storage space.
The Tacoma’s long bed has a 73.5-inch floor, and the short bed is 60.3 inches long, both slightly longer than the Frontier’s bed. The extended cab body style is 213.0 inches long and rides a 131.9-inch wheelbase. The crew cab with the short bed has the same dimensions, but the crew cab with the long bed is 226.2 inches long and has a 145.1-inch wheelbase. All those figures are more than the Frontier’s.
Every Tacoma but the base model comes standard with a rail system with four tie-down cleats. Also available are LED bed lighting and a bed storage box. Toyota also offers numerous bed accessories, including bed liners, a bed extender, and tie downs.
Advantage: Tacoma for more space inside and in the bed.
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
2025 Nissan Frontier
Frontier vs. Tacoma styling
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Frontier has a blocker exterior
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Tacoma has a chunkier interior design
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Both incorporate screens well inside
The Frontier and Tacoma represent two takes on the same theme. Both are influenced by their full-size counterparts. In both cases, these trucks have styling that’s clearly inspired by full-size trucks.
The Frontier is slightly blockier, with pronounced upper character lines that read as extensions of the fender flares below them. A lower character line on the doors teams with the flares to suggest a Coke-bottle shape. A high, upright grille leads into rectangular headlights that add more shape with their available flourishing LED light signatures. Pro models get their own grille and a taller ground clearance, and Nissan offers exterior packages including a take on the 1980s Hardbody look.
The Frontier’s interior is all business with the modern convenience of a sizable center screen. The controls are large and easy to reach. Nissan offers any interior color as long as it’s black (well, charcoal).
Over at Toyota, the grille is similarly bold but it doesn’t rise up as high into the hood. The flanks feature more angular wheel flares, and a lower character line rises from each front wheel well then falls toward the rear. The look is similarly upright and purposeful.
Inside, the Tacoma has a chunky look, with big dials, and blocky details. It’s also mostly black, though body color trim is also available. It sports two digital screens, and the center screen pops out of the center stack rather than being more integrated. Toyota’s big screen is 14.0 inches while the Frontier’s is 12.3 inches. Plastic surfaces abound here, too.
Advantage: Draw.
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
2024 Toyota Tacoma
Frontier vs. Tacoma safety
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The IIHS named the Tacoma a Top Safety Pick award
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Frontier has mixed crash-test scores
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Both have a good set of standard safety features
How safe is the Nissan Frontier?
The Frontier has middling crash-test scores, with four out of five stars from the NHTSA, and a mix of “Good” and “Acceptable” IIHS scores that don’t earn it an award from that organization. However, Nissan outfits it with lots of standard safety features, including automatic emergency braking front and rear with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitors, lane-departure warnings, rear cross-traffic alerts, adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, and rear parking sensors. A surround-view camera system is also offered.
How safe is the Toyota Tacoma?
While the NHTSA has yet to crash test it, the Tacoma has earned the IIHS’s Top Safety Pick award. It comes standard with automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high beams. Blind-spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alerts, front and rear parking sensors, and a surround-view camera system are available either on higher line models or as options.
Advantage: The Tacoma has better crash-test results.
2024 Toyota Tacoma
Which is better: Frontier or Tacoma?
The Tacoma wins here with a TCC Rating of 6.3 out of 10 compared to 5.5 out of 10 for the Frontier. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The reasons are numerous. The Tacoma is a more modern truck, with more interior technology, an available advanced suspension, an available hybrid powertrain, and better safety scores. It also has a larger and more varied lineup, though the Frontier appeals for price and can do just as much or more work than the Tacoma. We recommend the Toyota, but we understand if the Frontier is more in your budget.