2020 Nissan Frontier offers appreciable gains in fuel economy with new V6

2020 Nissan Frontier fuel economy is here. Thanks to a report from Motor1 that we confirmed with Nissan, we know how efficient the Frontier is with its new 3.8-liter V6 and nine-speed automatic transmission. Nissan announced the new engine this year at the Chicago Auto Show, which has turned out to be the last auto show we’ve been able to attend this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the show, Nissan promised that this V6-powered Frontier would post better fuel economy figures than the V6 in the 2019 model year truck.Upon examination, Nissan has succeeded in that goal. The rear-wheel drive truck is quoted at 19 mpg city, 24 mpg highway and 20 mpg combined. Tack on four-wheel drive, and those figures fall to 17/23/19. Compared to the old 4.0-liter V6, it’s much better. With the five-speed automatic transmission, that truck was rated at 16/23/19 with rear-wheel drive and 15/21/17 with four-wheel drive.The improvements are seen in both city and highway mileage, and that’s without changing anything besides the powertrain in the 2020 truck. When Nissan releases the completely redesigned 2021 Frontier, we’ll expect these numbers to change once again. For now, rear-drive models see the biggest gains in the city (a 3-mpg bump), and four-wheel drive trucks see a 2-mpg improvement for city and highway ratings. The numbers are closer when compared to the four-cylinder available in the 2019 Frontier, though.When equipped with a manual, the rear-drive four-cylinder Frontier achieved 19 mpg city, 23 mpg highway and 21 mpg combined. Opting for the automatic brought that down to 17/22/19. The manual four-cylinder actually beats the new V6 on its combined rating by 1 mpg, but it loses out by 1 mpg when directly compared with an automatic transmission. The new numbers are about spot-on with the competition. Only the Ranger takes a healthy lead in this fight, posting a 23-mpg combined figure with its rear-wheel-drive turbocharged four-cylinder model — everybody else uses a V6 engine as their high output (or only) engine available. But the Colorado is the wild card with its diesel rated at 23 mpg combined.Nissan’s new 3.8-liter V6 makes 310 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque. It’ll be hitting dealer lots soon, so long as the dealer you’re visiting is open for business.Related Video:Filed under: Nissan,Fuel Efficiency,Truck2020 Nissan Frontier offers appreciable gains in fuel economy with new V6 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 3 Apr 2020 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments