Where each one leads

GMC Sonoma

• On Canada's official test the most frugal 2003 GMC Sonoma uses 11.3 l/100 km, the 2026 Nissan Frontier 11.6.

Nissan Frontier

• Against cars of the same year, the Nissan Frontier comes out better in New York safety inspections (fails 3% less often than average) than the GMC Sonoma (fails 4% more often than average).

Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare

At a glance

	GMC Sonoma	Nissan Frontier
Model years in the US safety record	1983–2006	1998–2026

EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).

Reliability and problems

	GMC Sonoma	Nissan Frontier
New York safety inspections failed	1.9%	1.6%
… against cars of the same year	+4%	−3%
US owner complaints	1,345	3,362
Most complaints about	Service brakes, hydraulic	Power train
Model year with most complaints	1994 (224)	2006 (617)
US recall campaigns	15	39
Manufacturer service bulletins	2,404	2,320
NHTSA defect investigations	11	8

Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).

Safety

	GMC Sonoma	Nissan Frontier
NHTSA overall rating	—	4★ (2022)

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program, most recent rated model year (public domain).

Fuel, emissions and price

	GMC Sonoma	Nissan Frontier
Official combined fuel use, Canada	11.3 l/100 km (2003)	11.6 l/100 km (2026)

Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).