2022 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X MAX Payload Test - Hauling Heavy in a Little Nissan

Hey folks, and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. Sitting next to me is the brand new 2022 Nissan Frontier, but more importantly, in the bed of this truck, we have over 1,000 pounds of rubber. We just came to buy this. This is going to be a new payload test for us, and I just happen to be using the Frontier to pick it up. So let's go see how this truck handles fully loaded. Let's cover the specs on the Frontier quickly before we take off. That is a 3.8 liter V6 making 310 horsepower, 281 pound-feet of torque, and that is sent through a nine-speed auto. Now this is the Frontier Pro 4X. Pro 4X means this gets all the off-road goodies, a skid plate up front, and unique suspension tuning all around. Now that also means this is not the ideal truck for payload. Other Frontiers will have higher payload numbers, but let's see. On our Pro 4X crew cab here today, we have a payload rating of 1,030 pounds. Well time to take off right now, so we will track our own fuel economy today. We'll go ahead and reset that trip, and the fuel economy gets reset there. So we'll be able to track what we get going down there unloaded, and then what it's like coming back once we're loaded down. Let's go. Before we talk about what this Frontier is like fully loaded, let's talk about payload in general for just a second. Now what is payload? And the answer to that is kind of complicated and kind of simple. The simple answer is payload is GVWR minus curb weight. GVWR is gross vehicle weight rating. That is the maximum amount your vehicle can weigh once it's fully loaded. So to give you an example with simple math, if you have a GVWR of 6,000 pounds and your vehicle weighs 5,000 pounds, you have a payload rating of 1,000 pounds. That 1,000 pound gap in the middle is how much stuff and people you can put into your vehicle. To find out your specific payload on your vehicle, you have to consult the little sticker down there on your door jamb. And the reason for that is because every vehicle can have a different curb weight depending on options. So if you buy a Ram 1500 and you add steps to it, and you add a sunroof, and somebody else doesn't, well, your truck is going to have a little bit less payload than the other truck because you have those extra options on it. So every vehicle actually gets weighed, and that's when the payload is calculated. And that's where that little sticker on the door jamb comes from. So that's the sticker you have to trust. And I always come back to that because especially in the pickup truck world, manufacturers are not that honest about payload. I'll give you some examples. First let's take a look at Ram. This is the 1500 GT that we recently tested. Now let's take a look at the payload charts to see if we can figure out what the payload number is for this truck. So we scroll down here, we get to 4x4 crew cab, 5-7 box, but it does say it's a tradesman. Now down here we have the Hemi, we have the 392 rear end, and that leads us to 1,800 pounds of payload. Now once again, it is already telling you it's a tradesman. So what's going to be the difference between the tradesman and the GT? Well in the real world on this truck, we only had 1,181 pounds. So Ram is being honest that this is just the payload for a tradesman. The problem is I can't find the specific payload for other trim levels. So when you buy those trucks, you can't trust the numbers that you get from these charts. And this is not just a Ram problem either. Let's take a look at the Ford F-150. Right here you can see a limited power boost hybrid that we also tested on the channel. Now we'll go over to Ford's payload charts and we'll try to find the truck. Same thing, so we scroll down to super crew, we go to the 3.5 liter power boost hybrid, and I believe we had the short wheelbase 4x4, which means we end up with 1,830 pounds of payload or possible payload. Now Ford doesn't tell you the trim, they just list this as maximum payload. Now let's go over though and see in the real world that F-150 was good for 1,324 pounds. So you can't blame brands because they don't know exactly how each vehicle will be outfitted and therefore they can't give you payload numbers on every car preemptively. However they could give you a better idea of what a certain trim level will get because every trim level has a set amount of options that are added into it and the manufacturers know those weights. I do wish more brands would do that. Nissan is an exception to the rule though because they list their payload by trim level. You can see here there's SSV and then Pro-X and Pro-4X. Now for the Pro-4X it lists the number at 1,230 pounds of maximum payload and that still is not a real world number because the truck that we have only has 1,030 pounds. So even though Nissan goes by trim you still can't trust that number down to the pound although I do appreciate that at least here you get a better sense for what each one of the trim levels is going to offer in terms of payload. So that's why I tell you to always check the door jam sticker and another thing manufacturers love to do especially in the pickup truck world is advertise max payload numbers. So they tell you that the Ford F-150 can have a 3,000 pound payload rating but they don't tell you that that is only a regular cab two-wheel drive work truck with the max payload package. It's one specific F-150 and that's where I think consumers these days are a little bit confused because the more money you spend on a truck that means you're going to have more features added on to that truck and that means that truck is going to be able to haul less. So if you want some of the hardest working trucks right now you actually have to go to the base trim levels. The top trims in just about every single case will never haul the most or tow the most. Okay folks fuel economy update we just arrived here in lovely Hamilton Ontario. We did 158 kilometers and we managed 10.7 liters per 100k and that is all at highway speeds between 110 and 120 kilometers an hour and of course that is unloaded. So now we will reset the trip we're going to do the same roads in reverse but with the load on and we'll see what the fuel economy is. Alrighty folks well you can see us here we got all this rubber loaded up and I'm just hitting the road right now. I thought I would talk right away because I'm here on city streets and lovely Hamilton Ontario so I'll really be able to get a feel for what this weight is like going around corners and constantly stopping and starting. So what I have back in the back right now are 12 97 pound rubber mats and the reason we got these rubber mats is for payload testing. If you watch the channel regularly you already know that we normally use barrels for payload testing. We made these barrels many years ago. We actually filled them up with bricks but it's a little more complicated than that. The bricks are actually in there hanging on a wooden platform that hangs off that main beam that we then use to pick up with the forks because we didn't want all the weight just to be on the plastic of the barrel. We figured they wouldn't have lasted. And you know what besides one which recently broke on us they've actually done a really good job. The downside to the barrels is really twofold. First of all you have to have the tractor to load them because even two guys could probably not lift them that high. And then secondly they're pretty dangerous if they're not tied down correctly and they're hard to tie down correctly just because they're rounded and and you put it up on the sort of the beam that goes across and then it pulls it to one way or the other. So over the years they have worked well but I've always been really worried that one is going to come loose it's going to fall over it's going to smash a bed wall or it's going to smash the back glass. So this is something I've had on my mind for a while. How do we get something that is heavy good for payload testing but also easy to tie down and safe for pickup trucks. And well the best answer we could come up with these big thick rubber mats. Now these ones specifically came out of a gym. They're three quarter inch thick six by four mats and like I said the beauty is now I can load these by myself so I can put a thousand pounds of payload into a truck without needing dad or Matt around. And that is a nice thing it's just going to make our payload testing that much more accessible and hopefully we can do more of it. And then because we have all the different weights you know depending on what kind of truck we can get we can max out a half ton or we can max out a small midsize truck. So I'm definitely excited to have some new payload weights here on the channel and it's just going to help us to do payload testing which is always a good thing. Now we can get to this Frontier and how it's actually handling and I have to start with the disclaimer yes I am overloaded. So no I cannot recommend that you do something like this. The mats in the back alone are one thousand one hundred and sixty four pounds plus three hundred pounds of driver up here. We're no doubt overloaded over that payload number. Now generally manufacturers build two hundred and fifty pounds or two hundred pounds into that payload number for the driver. But even with that yes we're overloaded not by a lot though you know by maybe a couple hundred pounds. And this is you know where the conversation starts to get a little bit gray. Because that is not just a black and white number if you go over by a little bit what's going to happen. Well I can now speak to that here in the Frontier. And my answer so far is that I'm impressed actually. This is not supposed to be the Frontier that you use to handle payload. You don't buy the Pro 4X to get a good payload rating. You buy it to go off road and then you might use it to haul stuff. Well with that in mind I'm like I said I'm absolutely impressed. I figured that overloading the rear end would have me you know riding closer to the bump stops would make the ride a lot stiffer and it just straight up has it. Like as I'm driving around city streets I'll do a little bit of this. The truck still has some suspension give to it I can feel it still has some travel that it's using. And so far you know I really don't feel like it's that much more uncomfortable. I think with weight in the back everything is accentuated a little bit. So yes I feel more of the road and I feel more bumps and I feel more of the imperfections in the road. But not to the point where it's uncomfortable. And that happens pretty quick in a lot of trucks when you really load them up they do get uncomfortable. And I gotta say once again that so far I'm impressed with this Pro 4X. There's a lot more suspension here than I would have expected. So even at maximum payload it just it doesn't come across feeling absolutely overloaded or overworked and that's a good thing. Alright we're through the city now and we're just merging onto the highway the 403 back towards Toronto. So I just want a chance to feel the power. Here's the on-ramp I'm going to floor it and there's 110 kilometers an hour. No time flat. Now this is 310 horsepower it's still the most in the midsize segment. And once again with all the weight back there like is it more strained yes a little bit but not massively. And that's sort of my biggest takeaway so far is even though I am fully loaded overloaded in fact the Frontier just straight up doesn't feel like it. The power still feels good the suspension is still comfortable. I'm not suffering in here because of what I have on the back and frankly the truck is still just as easy to drive and this might be one area where the hydraulic or sorry the hydraulic power steering really comes into play. And it's something that we've kind of complained about there is no doubt that this is the heaviest steering setup that you're going to find in honestly I think any pickup truck out there. And I'm not going to say it's bad it just comes down to personal preference but when you have all this weight on the back yeah the truck just has a tendency to hunker down it already has a bit of a heavy set feeling just empty driving and then once you put all the weight on the back with combined with this heavy steering wheel this truck just wants to drive dead straight it's not getting blown around it's not being affected by the weight whatsoever my front wheels don't feel light at all they don't feel like the nose is lifting up yeah you know what Frontier max payload in my books gets full marks. I don't see how it could really do anything better. I am curious though to see what the fuel economy is now I did reset it before I left so I'm doing the exact same trip although yes I am doing it in reverse but we'll be able to still compare those numbers and we're back home we can look at the loaded fuel economy now I got to get gas so you can see it there 11.9 liters per 100 kilometers so over one liter per hundred worse on the way home than we were on the way down totally understandable when you consider that we added weight and probably some aerodynamic drag back there well folks we have arrived at the end of this video I am back home with all of my newly acquired rubber and I am excited to have this like I mentioned this means we're going to be able to do more payload testing even easier so make sure you stay tuned for that now how did this Frontier do today really well I was actually surprised at how little effect all of this rubber had on the driving dynamics of the Frontier and sure it cost a little bit more in fuel but besides that if you want to haul a large amount of weight in a Frontier Pro 4x I wouldn't think twice about it this truck handles great so that is it for this one now please I want you to go below leave me a comment let me know what you think of the Nissan Frontier and my new rubber as always while you're down there don't forget to hit like hit subscribe hit join to become a member and then come right back here to Truck King to see what we are testing next see ya