Envious? Nissan Navara’s Frontier cousin shows new chiseled face

Revealed to significant importance in the United States three years ago, Nissan has afforded the fraternal twin of the Navara, the Frontier, its first mid-life refresh.

New inside and out

On-sale before the end of the US summer with pricing to the announced later, the Frontier, which carries the internal moniker D41 instead of the Navara’s D23, receives a new grille and bumper across all trim levels, as well as a connecting black strip across the tailgate on Pro-X and Pro-4X variants.

Also new for the latter pair are redesigned 17-inch alloy wheels and a colour option called Afterburn Orange.

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As before, the Frontier range spans six trim levels; S, SV, Pro-X, Pro-4X and SL with all but the base receiving a new 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard.

A sliding rear window and telescopic steering column make an introduction across all grades, as does a more extensive array of safety and driver assistance systems in the form of rear parking sensors, Auto High Beam Assist LED headlights, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitoring and Lane Departure Warning.

While no design changes have taken place to the interior’s layout bar the size of the infotainment display, which still measures nine-inches on the S, new model specific specification items are electric front seats on SV models and above, and on the SL, a wireless smartphone charger, 360-degree surround-view monitor, a heated steering wheel, Traffic Sign Recognition and a 10-speaker Fender sound system.

Equivalent to the Navara double cab, Crew Cab models excluding the S and Pro-X now offer a long wheelbase loadbin measuring 1 829 mm. In addition, the claimed tow rating on all models has been increased by 227 kg to 3 243 kg.

Unique to the Pro-X and Pro-4X, the latter without the four-wheel-drive system and therefore comparable to the Navara Pro-2X, is a Bilstein off-road suspension and all-terrain tyres.

Reserved for the latter is a revised electronically locking differential and what Nissan calls Off-Road mode which uses the around-view camera to display the surrounding area at speeds below 20 km/h.

Same drivetrain

Up front, the normally aspirated 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine, introduced towards the end of the outgoing D40 Frontier’s lifecycle four years ago, remains unchanged with outputs of 231kW/381Nm. The only transmission option is a nine-speed automatic.

Not for us

Set to have a small price increase over the pre-facelift model’s $30 510 (R557 977) starting sticker, the Frontier can again be had as either a cab-and-a-half King Cab or the mentioned Crew Cab with production radiating from the Canton Plant in Mississippi.

Despite its similarities with the Navara in certain aspects, the Frontier is not expected to be marketed alongside its locally made sibling anytime soon as a result of being a left-hand-drive only product.

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