Compare the2023 Nissan FrontierVS 2023 GMC Canyon

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Frontier have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The GMC Canyon doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Nissan Frontier has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Canyon doesn’t offer knee airbags.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Frontier offers optional Rear Automatic Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Canyon doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.

The Frontier’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Canyon doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the Frontier and the Canyon have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, rearview cameras, available four-wheel drive, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.

The Frontier’s corrosion warranty is unlimited miles longer than the Canyon’s (unlimited vs. 100,000 miles).

To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the Frontier has a 185-amp alternator. The Canyon’s standard 170-amp alternator isn’t as powerful.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Nissan vehicles are more reliable than GMC vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Nissan 6 places higher in reliability than GMC.

On the EPA test cycle the Frontier gets better mileage than the Canyon:

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the Nissan Frontier, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only an eight-speed automatic is available for the Canyon.

The Frontier’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Canyon are solid, not vented.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Frontier LWB Crew Cab’s wheelbase is 8.4 inches longer than on the Canyon (139.8 inches vs. 131.4 inches).

The Frontier is 8.4 inches shorter in height than the Canyon, making the Frontier much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

The Nissan Frontier has a standard tailgate assist feature, which prevents the heavy tailgate from falling with a crash and causing injury. It allows adults and children to easily open and close the tailgate with one hand to better facilitate loading and unloading. Tailgate assist costs extra on the GMC Canyon.

While the Canyon AT4X can only tow 6000, any Frontier can tow a minimum of 6260 pounds.

The Frontier uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Canyon uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Frontier’s speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Canyon’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

The Nissan Frontier comes in extended cab and crew cab bodystyles; the GMC Canyon isn’t available as an extended cab.

The Nissan Frontier outsold the GMC Canyon by almost three to one during 2022.