Chevrolet Colorado vs Nissan Frontier: which is more reliable?
The Nissan Frontier is clearly ahead of the Chevrolet Colorado on the federal record: 85/100 against 67/100 across every model year we score.
The record, side by side
Chevrolet Colorado
- 10 model years scored
- 1,207 owner complaints on record
- about 30 complaints per year on the road
- 23 recall campaigns, 12 safety-critical
- best year 2012 (92/100) · worst 2015 (29/100)
Nissan Frontier
- 15 model years scored
- 509 owner complaints on record
- about 4 complaints per year on the road
- 29 recall campaigns, 10 safety-critical
- best year 2015 (93/100) · worst 2022 (41/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Colorado against Frontier
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Chevrolet Colorado
- Steering — 414 complaints
- Electrical System — 217 complaints
- Power Train — 172 complaints
Nissan Frontier
- Air Bags — 97 complaints
- Power Train — 86 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 75 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Colorado's complaints concentrate in Steering, the Frontier's in Air Bags. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Chevrolet Colorado — avoid: 2015, 2023, 2024.
Nissan Frontier — avoid: 2022.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Chevrolet Colorado prices at about $51,700 and a Nissan Frontier at about $51,700 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 20.0 against 21.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Chevrolet Colorado or the Nissan Frontier more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Nissan Frontier scores 85/100 against the Chevrolet Colorado's 67/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Nissan Frontier carries about 4 complaints per year on the road against 30 for the Chevrolet Colorado.
Which Chevrolet Colorado and Nissan Frontier years should I avoid?
Chevrolet Colorado: 2015, 2023, 2024. Nissan Frontier: 2022. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Chevrolet Colorado and the Nissan Frontier?
The largest complaint group on the Chevrolet Colorado is Steering (414 complaints); on the Nissan Frontier it is Air Bags (97).
Is the Chevrolet Colorado or the Nissan Frontier cheaper to own?
A recent used Chevrolet Colorado prices at about $51,700 and a Nissan Frontier at about $51,700, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.