Having driven every model year of both vehicles for the past 7 years I will have this to say. I will keep it short.
The Nissan will feel like a quicker truck even though the numbers are nearly identical. The gearing on the Nissan is lower (some years) and it feels like it launches off the start faster than the Tacoma. That being said, the 4000 RPM range of the Tacoma feels like it pulls more and high-end shifting is much smoother on the Tacoma. I don't really want to get into everything or this post will be 43 pages long but if I had to sum up my experiences with both....
The Nissan feels more like the truck you wanted in high school. Nimble, quick and has all the basic features rough around the edges.
The Tacoma is the truck you want AFTER the Nissan. Its fast, better handling, more refined features and is overall more comfortable to drive on a daily basis.
One other major gripe about the Nissan is the lack of aftermarket product. I built an Xterra for 4Wheel Drive & Sport Utility Magazine a number of years ago and was shocked at how little I found. I ran into a few good guys like Shrockworks for bumpers/sliders and ended up with a Rancho suspension I wanted to kick on a daily basis. There just wasn't much out there. Maybe its better now?
I also built a Suzuki Equator (rebadged Nissan Frontier) for Off-Road Magazine just a couple years ago and there was still not a great selection of aftermarket. PRG (Greg Gagnon) provided the suspension for the project and he really knows his stuff if you're looking for a quality kit. Still didn't find a great deal of stuff.
The Toyota based projects always left me with more aftermarket choices than I could use. With that being said, it reaffirms my earlier statement of the Tacoma is the truck you want AFTER the Frontier. Mind you I LOVED driving both of the Nissan projects and have no major complaints about performance other than not being super comfortable daily.
Okay now I think I am going off tangent. lol
