2002 and 2005 Nissan Frontier

Abstract

A neighbor of mine was contemplating purchasing a used 2002 or 2005 Nissan Frontier. I offered to assist. He said he wouldn’t mind. So, using free resources, it was determined that one of the years had a potentially troublesome transmission.

Description

My neighbor is a professional gardener. Therefore, the truck he needs must be reliable with low maintenance costs. Unfortunately, his very reliable 2002 Nissan Frontier was totaled right in front of his house, luckily no one was hurt. He absolutely loved that truck. So, he wanted to replace it with the same make/model of truck.

So given his budget and truck preferences, he did some research and found two trucks meeting his requirements. One truck was like his old truck at dealership 1, 2002 Nissan Frontier. He also found a 2005 Nissan Frontier at dealership 2 that met his requirements. He felt purchasing the 2005 over the 2002 would allow him to save some money on maintenance since it was newer. Given that the 2002 had just over 100K in miles, it would probably need the expensive 100k mile maintenance. Whereas since the 2005 was under the 100k mile maintenance marker, the maintenance need could be deferred a year or so.

So to help out, I thought I would do some research for him. I did the following tasks to assist him:

Researched the 2002 and the 2005 Nissan Frontier
Researched dealership 1’s and dealership 2’s reputation
Created a check list that could help him rate the condition of a used vehicle

Researched the 2002 and the 2005 Nissan Frontier

Using carcomplaints.com, the following helpful graph was presented: Frontier History

Unfortunately, the 2005 model year had a significant number of reported transmission issues. This graph clearly shows why he perceived his 2002 model year to be very reliable.

I showed him the graph, and he was very disappointed. Via the web site, he then drilled down to see the actual 2005 model year issues, which were transmission related. In this case, the truck’s transmission cooler could rupture, allowing engine coolant to mix with transmission fluid. This would cause severe damage to the transmission. Of course, this information does not imply that this actual 2005 truck would have or had this issue. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel comfortable with the issues since he felt the probability of a transmission was too high. So, he decided to look at other model years.

Researched dealership 1’s and dealership 2’s reputation

Using Yelp.com, dealership 1 was not listed at all. Of course, that doesn't mean the dealership is bad. But it does mean it is either new, or it recently changed its name. Therefore, he would have to rely on his instincts and experience when dealing with them.

Again, using Yelp.com, dealership 2 was listed with a review rating of 4.5 out of 5. The only suggestion provided by numerous reviewers indicated that their warranties really didn't cover much. But overall, most customers were extremely happy with the dealership.

Created a check list that could help him rate the condition of a used vehicle

I created a check list that could be used to help a buyer evaluation the condition of a used car.

What Went Well

Rather quickly, I was able to find valuable evaluations for a variety of vehicles over numerous model years
I was able to provide helpful information quickly

What Could Have Gone Better

The check list I created contains descriptions of tests; it did not provide how to actually execute them. Since some car owners might be concerned with you performing some of these tests, a variety of alternative techniques need to be provided. For example, performing a simple compression test could be accomplished a variety of ways.