The Nissan Path

What do I mean by that?

Well the temptation of making it grow in size must have been there.
Thats where everyone else has been going, to the point that todays "midsize" trucks are similar to what fullsize was 20 yrs ago (and so get bigger price wise too).

Instead on the Frontier they showed restraint and modernized the exterior and the interior.
Gave it more power, while keeping the same size and I bet approx the same weight.

Making a PreRunner trim available ("PROX) was clever too.

Yes ,some folks will decry the demise of the manual but if this truck takes off as much as I suspect it will, the volume will be there in a couple of years to justify the huge expense of presenting multiple manual models to DOT and EPA for testing.

Keeping it at one engine/tranny choice gives Nissan the economy of scale to keep the price of this content rich truck reasonable.

This will be a hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEQmhQC ... e=emb_logo

I concur with everything you said about the 3rd gen Frontier.

Sticking with the V6 only makes sense; it cuts down on the number of parts needed for them to inventory and the QR25DE doesn't give any real benefit of substantial fuel mileage gain despite the large difference in power. Sticking with the F-Alpha frame from the D40 makes sense, too, rather than spend the money to develop a brand new chassis. Falls under the category of "it's not broke so don't fix it!" I'm also glad they didn't go bigger, as the cab of my R51 Pathy and even my D22 Frontier fit my fat butt perfectly! Too bad I still won't be able to afford one for awhile...