2025 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X vs Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road Comparison Test

The auto industry has gone through some weird fashion trends over the years.

For a while, just about every vehicle was available in a sport trim, where anything from 100-hp hatchbacks to minivans were thought to be infinitely more desirable by adding some bodyside styling and decals. Meanwhile, what’s currently in vogue is a look that’s more rugged and adventurous, including crossovers with all-terrain tires and safari-ready supercars.

As it happens, it also works well with pickup trucks. And while some, like the new Trailhunter version of the Toyota Tacoma, along with the Ford Ranger Raptor, are incredibly capable — and look every bit of it — they’re also wickedly expensive. That’s where models like the 2025 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X and the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road come in, hitting a sweet-spot in the rugged-truck market without the crippling costs that can come with it. 

Practicality

Pickups are meant to be utility machines. While an increasing number of folks buy them as their everyday runabouts, the first measure of a truck’s worth should be the work it’s capable of doing.

As midsize trucks, the Frontier and Tacoma are the modern descendants of even smaller entries from decades ago. Competition between them heated up during the 1980s and ‘90s, with variations from both manufacturers being put to work all over the planet in the world’s toughest environments. Each has a reputation for incredible durability and longevity, earning a fanatical following to this day. 

The Frontier and Tacoma are both offered with either short or extended bed lengths; and while our Nissan tester had the more spacious 1,496-mm (73.0-inch) box, Toyota only offers the TRD Off-Road with a 1,524-mm (60.0-in) bed bolted to the back. However, the Tacoma has taller bedsides, plus its payload rating is 190 kg (419 lb) more.

Both trucks had damped tailgates, plus rail systems with cleats to tie down loads, as well as four floor-mounted eyelets each. Both come standard with bedliners, too, with the Tacoma’s being a smooth finish that’s easier to slide loads in and out, while the Frontier’s abrasive finish helps keep loads from shifting while underway. The Nissan also featured a highly-useful 120-volt power outlet that was absent from the Tacoma tested here.  

This Frontier’s tow rating was limited to 2,875 kg (6,340 lb), with the Tacoma good for 2,903 kg (6,400 lb) regardless of spec and size.

Nissan Frontier: 8/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8.5/10

Driving Feel

Decades ago, the predecessors of these two trucks would’ve driven very similarly, with their comparable drivetrains and archaic underpinnings. Today, they both feature a traditional body-on-frame format, but the way these trucks drive could not be more disparate. 

Despite using it for plenty of highway driving and urban commuting, the Tacoma felt agreeable and easy to live with. Its steering is light and surprisingly quick and precise for a truck. While both trucks feature off-road-ready Bilstein front shocks, the Tacoma’s rear coil-spring suspension makes it feel far more car-like in its handling and ride quality than the bouncy, leaf spring-equipped Frontier. 

The Frontier’s steering is heavy and sluggish, and, when coupled with its longer wheelbase, its turning circle is considerably larger and more cumbersome for urban driving than the Tacoma’s. But its suspension also showed its limitations during some light off-road driving, where a series of whoops had the Frontier Pro-4X bouncing wildly, while the Tacoma TRD Off-Road managed to keep its composure. Add in the Tacoma’s considerable 60-mm (2.4-in) ground clearance advantage, and it’s no surprise the Nissan’s standard skid plates kissed the dirt more often than the Toyota’s.

Nissan Frontier: 7/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8/10

Power

The personality differences are equally obvious in the way their powertrains behave. The Nissan’s 3.8L V6 dispenses 310 hp and 281 lb-ft of torque. But despite its 40-hp advantage over the Tacoma, it’s torque that we feel — and use — more under normal driving circumstances. And with its turbocharged 2.4L twisting out nearly 30 lb-ft more of it (for a total of 310), which is reached at just 1,700 rpm versus the 4,400 required by the Nissan’s bigger V6, the Toyota not only feels livelier and more fun, but it makes hauling loads more effortless, too.

The Tacoma has another advantage in terms of making it more fun to drive: it’s offered with a six-speed manual transmission, as was the case with this tester. While short of turning this truck into a sports car (it shuns being revved out and shifted quickly), it’s nevertheless more engaging as its shifter shimmies and shakes with the gruff engine, and keeps the driver more involved in the whole experience. 

To its credit, the Nissan’s nine-speed automatic is a fine transmission, keeping the V6 in its sweet spot, and offering smooth gear changes. It’d just be nice to have the choice of a manual here, too. 

Nissan Frontier: 7/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8.5/10

Fuel Economy

As one would hope, the Tacoma’s smaller turbo engine nets better efficiency, but it’s much closer than expected. Around town, the Tacoma earns a rating of 13.2 L/100 km, while it’s supposed to be good for 10.3 on the highway, and 11.9 combined. That compares to the Frontier’s 14.0 in the city, 11.1 on the highway, and 12.7 combined. Foregoing the stick shift for the Tacoma’s optional eight-speed automatic improves efficiency, especially around town.

Both trucks only demand regular-grade gas, but the Toyota falls short with its small 69-L fuel tank, earning it a theoretical range of 580 km between fills, though we found it a struggle to push to 500 km without the low-fuel light coming on. When towing, drivers shouldn’t expect much more than a frustrating 300-km range. The Nissan is marginally better, offering an extra 50-or-so kilometres per tank.

Nissan Frontier: 6/10; Toyota Tacoma: 6.5/10

Comfort

Beyond the handling benefits of the Tacoma’s better suspension, it also offers a marginally better ride. Still, these are both trucks, which means they can be bouncy, especially with the box empty, and they’re built on platforms meant to take the abuse of off-road duty. The Toyota’s drivetrain emits a lot more noise than the Nissan’s, and the Frontier does a better job keeping road and wind noise at bay, too.

Both trucks have seat belts for five occupants, and dimensionally, they trade a few millimetres between them here and there in terms of front and rear head- and legroom. The Frontier utilizes Nissan’s so-called “zero gravity” seats that we’ve found to offer good support and comfort even after hours behind the wheel. We’re grateful the Tacoma no longer requires the legs-straight-out seating position it used to force upon occupants.

Nissan Frontier: 7.5/10; Toyota Tacoma: 7/10

User-Friendliness

Where the Frontier really shines is the amount of content it offers. The front seats are both power-adjustable and heated, plus there’s a standard heated steering wheel. And with a reasonably-priced Luxury option package, there’s on-board navigation, leather seats, and a 10-speaker stereo, plus a power sunroof to round out the list of niceties that aren’t in the Tacoma TRD Off-Road. The Toyota is decidedly basic by comparison, with manually adjustable heated seats covered in cloth upholstery. Yet as a utility vehicle and daily driver, there wasn’t much we wanted for during this test. 

Nissan Frontier: 8/10; Toyota Tacoma: 6/10

User-Friendliness

For 2025, Nissan has given the Frontier a new 12.3-inch touchscreen that looks much more impressive than the Toyota’s rudimentary eight-inch display. Both trucks offer wireless smartphone connectivity, while only the Nissan had wireless phone charging. Regardless of screen size, both trucks’ systems worked well, connected to phones consistently, and were easy to navigate. The rest of the controls also utilized a welcome mix of physical buttons and easy-use knobs for key controls. 

Cheers to Nissan for including surround-view cameras, but the resolution is so poor that despite the big, bright screen, the image looks like it was generated through a pin-hole camera. The driving position in both trucks is similar, offering a commanding view with few blind spots. The B-pillars in both trucks were thick enough to warrant giving a little double-take when shoulder checking.

Nissan Frontier: 7/10; Toyota Tacoma: 7/10

Safety

Commendably, both Toyota and Nissan equip these trucks with a comprehensive suite of passive and advanced safety features including adaptive frontal collision warning and mitigation. The Tacoma also offers lane departure mitigation not found on the Frontier. In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) testing, the Tacoma received a Top Safety Pick rating, while some of the crash test results for the Frontier have shown rear-seat occupants to be more susceptible to injury in both frontal offset and side-impact testing. 

Nissan Frontier: 6.5/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8/10

Styling

With their beefy fender flares, off-road-oriented wheel and tire packages, and the availability of some great paint colours (including Nissan’s new Afterburn Orange seen here), these trucks look similar enough to the big-buck desert-running trucks. The Nissan’s interior, trimmed with black leather upholstery and red accents, plus its bigger infotainment screen, make it look more premium, but the overall design looks more outdated than the Toyota’s. While basic in its trim, the Toyota’s interior is contemporary and very well assembled, with materials that feel like they’ll hold up to the sort of abuse a truck should withstand.  

Nissan Frontier: 8/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8/10

Value

The value quotient becomes a tricky and subjective one between these two, with priorities on features or driving experience tilting the results in either direction. Although more expensive, the Frontier offers more features and luxury than the Tacoma, with a fancier off-road Toyota unavailable without moving up to a vastly more expensive TRD Pro model. That Nissan also offers the Frontier Pro-4X with the choice of cab and boxes is a nice perk, too.

Nissan Frontier: 7.5/10; Toyota Tacoma: 8/10

The Verdict

There’s no right or wrong choice between these two, rather a question of personal preference. Despite lacking luxury features, the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road is unquestionably the better-driving truck that’s not only more fun, but easier to live with on a daily basis. That it can tow slightly more than the 2025 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X, haul considerably more mass, and still burn slightly less gas makes it objectively more compelling. Offering an optional manual that Nissan doesn’t seals the deal in this comparison, because nobody said a utilitarian work vehicle can’t be fun, too.