How the QR25DE Engine Made This Nissan Frontier A Million-Mile Truck

It’s easy to fill out “longest lasting cars” lists with Toyotas. There are plenty of examples out there of million-mile Toyota Tundras and Camrys, but Toyota isn’t the only game in town when it comes to building trucks, cars, and SUVs that could just about outlive a Galapagos tortoise.

As much as we all love Toyota and Lexus, Chevrolet, Volvo, Honda, and Nissan all deserve praise for their long-lasting powertrains, as well. In particular, the 2007 Nissan Frontier stands as a shining example of how far you can go with smart engineering and a little basic maintenance.

2025 Nissan Frontier

Base Trim Engine

3.8L V6 Gas

Base Trim Drivetrain

Rear-Wheel Drive

Base Trim Transmission

9-Speed Automatic

Base Trim Horsepower

310-hp

Base Trim Torque

281-lb-ft

Brian Murphy’s Million-Mile 2007 Nissan Frontier

Whenever you read about a million-mile vehicle, the least surprising part of the story is the fact that we’re talking about a work vehicle. 2007 Nissan Frontier owner Brian Murphy’s story is no different in that regard. Murphy had spent much of his life working in the corporate world before retiring to the open road as an independent delivery driver. We can think of worse ways to stay busy.

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Discussion: What are the longest lasting cars you can buy today?

If you want a long-lasting car, then we recommend buying a Toyota. The brand has a great reputation when it comes to reliability and longevity. Honda is another solid bet if you want a car that you won’t soon need to replace.

The 2007 Nissan Frontier’s V6 engine is known to be a trooper, but Brian Murphy’s Frontier didn’t have a V6. Instead, it had the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, a motor shared with the Nissan Altima. The nature of his work as a delivery driver would necessitate both long hours on the highway and short stop-and-go trips in town, amounting to an incredible 77,000 miles a year. To put that into perspective, the US Department of Transportation estimates that a man of Murphy’s age (62 years old when he finally crossed his first million miles) should be driving around 15,859 miles a year. It took Murphy just thirteen years to tap the odometer out at 999,999 miles.

Explaining how he kept his engine humming for so long, Murphy states that he drives carefully and changes his oil himself every 10,000 miles. The truck was still running on its original engine and transmission when Nissan gifted him a 2020 Nissan Frontier with a V6 engine, but it did have a handful of new parts here and there.

• 450,000 miles – new radiator
• 450,000 miles – new alternator
• 500,000 miles – new driver’s seat
• 700,000 miles – new timing chain (as preventative maintenance)
• 801,000 miles – new clutch

A Look At The 2.5-Liter i4 Under The 2007 Nissan Frontier’s Hood

The 2.5-liter 4-cylinder found in the base King Cab RWD 2007 Nissan Frontier is known internally as the QR25DE, a member of the Nissan QR engine family. This is an aluminum-block engine with cast steel connecting rods, and a bore and stroke of 3.5 inches by 3.94 inches.

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For the 2007 model year, the Nissan Frontier shared the QR25DE with other Nissans like the Sentra, the Altima 2.5, and the Rogue, with the engine being tuned to the needs of each individual model. In the 2007 Nissan Altima, for instance, the engine produced 175 hp with a six-speed manual transmission, while that model year’s Sentra managed to squeeze 177 horses out of the engine with a CVT transmission. The Frontier prioritized torque over horsepower, resulting in a relatively low power output of 152 hp.

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The base QR25DE’s engine’s incredible longevity is largely a testament to smart construction and knowing your limitations. Besides the extensive use of high-strength aluminum, it was also built with a lot of exterior ribbing to up its durability without adding unnecessary extra weight.

The QR25DE was built for light and medium-duty work, so you won’t find a turbocharged version of this engine outside the garages of the most deranged mad-scientist hotrodders, but there was a supercharged version, the QR25DER, which paired to an electric motor for as much as 250 hp in the 2014 Infiniti QX60.

Nissan has kept the QR25DE in production, but it has largely been retired for the MR20DE, more commonly known as the Renault M4R, which still powers the new Brazilian Sentra, where it has been converted to flex-fuel engine running on gasoline and ethanol.

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Nissan’s V6 engine is reliable, powerful, and durable enough to feature in a wide array of different vehicles from trucks to sports cars.

As for the Frontier, the 2020 model was still part of the last generation but introduced a new V6 engine, still seen in the 2024 Frontier. Displacing 3.8 liters, the V6 produces 310 hp and is paired with a new nine-speed automatic gearbox. This new motor belongs to an entirely different, but equally popular Nissan engine family, the VQ series.

How To Hit A Million Miles With Your Own Frontier

2007 Nissan Frontiers packing the larger 4.0-liter V6 engine have a known issue with the plastic timing chain guide wearing out, which can lead to a blown transmission, meaning they may not be the best option to get to a million miles. But the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder that powered Mr. Murphy’s pickup to one million miles has no such issue. However, we were able to turn up a complaint on RepairPal with a driver reporting that they had to replace the engine at 153,089 miles after a no-start issue, resulting from a problem with the oil system, which had been narrowed down to either the pump or the oil sending switch.

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What are some obvious signs you need an oil change?

Ideally, you want to change your oil before your car shows any symptoms of needing it, such as the low oil warning light illuminating. A low oil level, dirty or contaminated oil, a burning smell, exhaust smoke, or unusual noises could all be linked to your car needing an oil change.

At such a low incidence rate, it may be tempting to wave these concerns off entirely but bear in mind that there’s no such thing as a completely problem-free engine. No matter what kind of testing the automaker puts these things through, there will always be machining defects and imperfections, and the closest thing we have to a perfect engine is one that takes a very long time for those imperfections to result in a problem.

Ultimately, poor maintenance is the biggest killer of engines, and it usually centers around late or neglected servicing. Oil is the biggest engine killer, and low oil (or incorrect oil) in your engine could put paid to any intention of reaching seven-figure mileage. In other words, if you want to drive a 2007 2.5 Frontier to a million miles, keep your eyes, ears, and nose open for signs of low oil:

• Engine overheating
• Oil puddles under the truck
• Burning oil smells
• Knocking or grinding sounds
• Decreased fuel economy
• Oil pressure warning light

The Secret To Hitting Seven-Figure Mileage Isn’t Rocket Science

Putting a million miles on the odometer essentially comes down to two factors: picking the right vehicle and taking good care of it. Almost any engine can make it to a million miles, but some will cost more to maintain than to replace after the first 200,000.

Of course, all of that might go without saying, but take a look around CarComplaints and RepairPal and count the drivers who went for 100,000 miles without so much as an oil change and then called their car a lemon when it finally broke down. It’s downright shocking how many drivers are out there who have never taken a single look at their service schedule.

If Brian Murphy keeps at it, we expect to see him celebrate his 75th birthday with his second million miles in a Nissan Frontier sometime in the next decade.

Sources:
RepairPal
,
Car Complaints
, Nissan