I have to admit that, a few years ago, I wrote the article “We Need To Have A Talk About The Dodge Nitro,” and it wasn’t exactly positive, per se. Now, eight years later, I’m seeing a 4×4 six-speed manual version for sale, and I think I have to revise my stance.
I’m going to quote my dumber, 26 year-old self, who wrote this for Jalopnik in 2017:
The Nitro had the same problem lots of Chrysler products had in 2007: terrible interior quality, an underwhelming powertrain, and styling that makes that “look back” owners do when walking away from their new cars a painful event every damn time.
Under the hood was a 3.7-liter V6 that made 210 horsepower, which, especially when mated to a “What Is This, 1970?” four-speed auto isn’t enough to get this two-ton monster out of its own way.
To be fair, that 3.7-liter could be mated to the same excellent six-speed manual that’s found in the Jeep Wrangler. Plus, if you were feeling like a big baller, you could get the R/T model, which made 260 horsepower and could get the 4,100 pound box to 60 in about seven seconds. But not too many people bought those…
But about six years later — last year — I had a chance to actually drive the Nitro to see the error in my youthful ways:
Oh wait, turns out I was right the whole time! The Nitro really is a steaming heap — unless you buy it in the versions I mentioned in my 2017 article: with the 4.0 V6 or with the stick.
I have always been intrigued by the stickshift Nitro, especially in 4×4 guise. At least on paper, it seems like a decent overlanding machine (even without the low-range transfer case that its sibling Jeep Liberty offered), and more importantly, there’s something about the Nitro that my younger self didn’t properly acknowledge: It’s interesting.
Seriously, the fact that I’m even writing about the Nitro — and that there are so many other “think pieces” (that’s really stretching the term “think”) about it — tells you that at the very least, the Nitro isn’t boring. And as I recently mentioned on a popular YouTube Channel reporting on the Tesla Cybertruck: Boring is the ultimate sin of car-dom. (That comment got ripped in the comments by Cybertruck-haters — check it out).
Look at the Nitro’s weirdly coordinate-grid-like grille, the split headlights, those giant fenders, the fake fender vents, that ridiculously boxy profile — the Nitro is just a Tonka toy but in full-size form, and it draws you in. It is both hideous and fun at the same time, and after almost 20 years, I’m now thoroughly a fan of its weirdness.
I’m particularly a fan of this one for sale near me, shown above. It’s got the Jeep Wrangler JK’s NSG370 six-speed manual transmission, and though those require a special fluid and are known for popping out of first gear, there are shift-kits that can fix that, and overall they’re fairly stout. What’s more, this Nitro is a four-wheel drive model! Again, it doesn’t have low-range gearing, but I’m curious if the transfer case could be swapped from a KK Jeep Liberty…
Either way, I like the idea of this as a cheap overlanding machine. It’s got short overhangs, it just needs a bit of a lift and some tires that are tall enough to give some good clearance but not so tall that the lack of low-range gearing would make low-speed rock crawling a stall-fest. Rocky Road actually makes a lift for this thing:
It’s possible I might be losing my marbles, but $4,500 for what looks like a clean, relatively low-mileage four-wheel drive manual SUV — especially one that isn’t that old — seems like a bargain.
The interior, while made predominantly of Playmobil-quality plastics — actually looks decent, and that stickshift is probably fun to row through, even if the 210 horsepower V6 that’s it’s hooked to is known for being largely forgettable.
Look at the clip above. Play it on a loop. Stare deeply at the Nitro’s boxy shape. Watch as it blasts through mudpits, slinging the stuff way up into the sky and onto the rugged roof rack holding its spare tire. Keep watching. Again and again. Listen to that modest V6. You want this Nitro. You want this Nitro. You want to call the seller and buy the Nitro right now before I lose control and end up with yet another car I do not need. Gaze into the big crosshair grille. Let it take over your motor functions. Allow it to type the seller’s number into your phone.
Please hurry.
Images: Craigslist
My only memory of a nitro is one cutting me off to steal my parking space after almost hitting my mom. I’ll pass
My love for DT and SWG knows no bounds, but… nope. I’m pretty sure I remember having a couple of these as rentals back in the day and the horrible interior and boring driving experience are just too much to overcome, even with a manual and having all four wheels driven.
A high school classmate had a red Nitro. I always thought it looked cool, but knew nothing else about it.
Good Lord…I haven’t read the article yet but you don’t want that. You can’t. As someone who owns its Jeep-alike (Liberty), you don’t want one. Manual or not.
How did the manage to get so little horsepower out of so many liters this far in the aughts??
Reads article about how DT wants a Dodge Nitro.
Sees that it was posted at 4:20.
Now it all makes sense.
Too long after tooth hurty
I daily drove an Jeep Wrangler with the NSG370 6-speed for many years and I would hardly call it “excellent”. I’d call it “agrarian”, in fitting with the rough-and-tumble Jeep lifestyle, as it was notchy, hated being rushed, and doesn’t have great feel – and before anyone says I had a worn-out example, I bought that Jeep brand new with six miles on it.
Also, manual garbage is still garbage, and the Nitro absolutely fits that definition.
Next: I am considering buying a Jeep Commander
There’s a forlorn Commander a couple blocks from here that’s been sitting for a few years. When I walk the dog past it, I wonder about it.
Commander is fine. You’d get to tell people you drive an XK.
Not sure if anyone else has noticed the time of post but uh….
Maybe David went looking for that secret garden in San Rafael a little bit early (so as not to be late), perhaps after a meeting at the Pasteur statue
A shitty car with a stickshift is still a shitty car.
“It’s possible I might be losing my marbles”. This vehicle is a total piece of shit. All day every day long. David you are now confirmed as a Cerberus Fan Boy.
If I’m a fanboy of anything, it’s AMC.
Then go buy the Eagle from this morning’s SBSD! THAT has your name all over it. And it’s $500 less.
Why do we love AMC so much? Their plucky underdog status? Probably. Their cool-ass logo? Probably. Their cleverness? Probably.
Also, it probably figures in there somewhere that I probably came home from the hospital in a ’68 Rambler American. A car that I also knocked out of park and rode down the driveway into the garage at the age of 18 months old (Look, it was 1979, and parental supervision was … different then)
Isn’t a similar age Nissan Xterra with a 4.0L and a 6 speed MT a much better rig for not that much more $$?
I’m not a Nissan fanboy, am a fellow manual transmission diehard, and also like cheap cars, but if you kinda already know that a Nitro/Liberty isn’t a great car, then maybe just find another cheap ride to appreciate that is…. less crap??
For that matter, isn’t an 05+ Crew Cab Frontier with a 4.0L and a 6 Speed in some ways an easier to live with vehicle than a 35 year old GMT400 with a 350 and a stick? I had a unicorn for a while – 4.0L 6MT crew cab 6′ box 4×4. The Frontier can tow 6K, which is very similar to an 89 K1500. The Frontier is in no way iconic, but it’s also a modernish vehicle that’s fairly easy to live with.
The Nitro doesn’t suffer from the “Strawberry Milkshake Of Death” like those Nissans do. I currently own a Nitro and have owned 2 of those XTerras.
The Nitro is still with me, both XTerras are now I-Beams in a building in China after blowing their head gaskets and needed new radiators, heater core, etc from the Milkshake Of Death.
The transmission cooler failure is such an easy fix though, its hardly worth considering. Ignore factory cooler, install aftermarket transmission cooler, problem solved.
And if we are talking about manual transmissions, then that problem is already solved.
The last XTerra I had popped the head gaskets due to the transmission cooler failure.
So no, it’s not something that is “hardly worth considering“, since it literally junked my truck.
The Nitro is a uniquely-styled, reliable, well-built vehicle; you’re dead wrong here, Lardo.
“Uniquely-styled” is definitely one way to put it.
I think there’s a hyperbolic over-usage of the terms “bad!” and “piece of shit!” just because some dislike styling choices or if an interior is cheap or such.
There are truly bad, shitty, poorly-engineered, unreliable cars out there, constantly littered in various broken states all over Craigslist and MarketPlace and this is not one of them.
Agreed. I have no opinion on whether it’s good or bad. It’s just ugly, and that doesn’t make it not good. Just not pretty.
You are disgracing Playmobil with this comparison. Dad bought me an ambulance/medic set from a specialty toy shop (SW Randall, Pgh) when I was in kindergarten or so. My younger brother got an Arctic explorer set at about the same age. These were both cherished and played with hard. They were definitely a cut above the usual US crap and on par with Danish LEGO.
Turn of the century Chrysler/Cerberus was PlaySkool
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394514350287
It was similar to this set but had a different car.
Oh boy.
No, no. Your wife and life are more important. Seriously.
Do it! We could even go halfsies- My wife has said she would be okay with a 2 seat convertible. I dont think this is what she meant though. Get a running start with that news though.
If you’re considering a second ‘fun/winter’ (in LA?) car: Do it. Reasonable price for a vehicle that can be both a fun overlander and a useful ‘plow thru the snowdrifts and haul shiznit’ truckster (again, in LA?).
If you’re considering an addition to your (admittedly diminished) fleet: Forget about it. This needs a boatload of work to do what you want, and you have way too many other projects that could benefit from the time/money this would require.
Interesting but not $4500 worth of interesting
Did the second gen Liberty get a 6 speed manual as an option? That seems like a better choice, styling-wise, IMO, in addition to the low range.
Yup, for the first year or two of production at least. The Canadian government must’ve bought quite a few (had to be an error by 2008), because they were popping up for sale frequently on the surplus website several years back.
This is priced less than the sales tax (most states anyway) on the Lexus 700h in the accompanying article. I’m totally seeing the value proposition here.
And while the 3.7 is no tech wonder, there’s also no failing plastic oil filter/oil cooler housing to change out in middle age.
Sammy gets it. My man!
I’ll be honest, these have an appealing Tonka-truckish quality to them, but…
One of my favorite British English understatements is “not very nice”. This is a wonderful term that can be applied to raw meat pies or a hovel built over a leaky cess pit and is roughly equivalent to the American “Are you fucking KIDDING me?”. The interior on that Nitro may be as fresh as the day it left the factory… but it’s not very nice.
Another Britishism is “Not the worst thing in the world.” Meaning “It’s shit but it could be worse.” This saying could very much be applied to the Nitro/Liberty. They only sold two hundred thousand of these things across five years for a reason.
Huge Nitro fan here – I bought a black-on-black leather R/T with a bad motor 2 years ago for $600 and have it currently sitting in my garage awaiting the install of the replacement 260hp 4.0 motor.
I’ve never figured out why I’m usually the only person in the room that thinks this aesthetic is wicked ’82 GI Joe/Cobra Command-design-style cool.
I also like the design. I get that the interior materials are very cheap. It was 2007 DCX – Mercedes stole all the cash and had also forced cost reductions on programs that were quite progressed. When you need to take money out, and the car is almost done, there’s only so many levers to pull, and the interior is a big one.
Anyway – I think it’s a good looking vehicle.
Read the comment and thought this guy was crazy, saw it was SWG and now I think I’m the crazy one for not liking them.
This is a fine vehicle. Not everything has to be a luxury car or have a 40-something:1 crawl ratio.
Not everything needs to be quick.
It’s more than FINE, it’s badass! Manual 4×4 boxy suv = win!
True – and AMBER turn signals!? I don’t think I’ve ever seen those on a Nitro.
ANNNNNNND: The 3.7 is based on the Powertech V8 which has its design roots in AMC. So, you’ve got one of the last AMC-related engines in there.
OH. The amber turn signal is….a leaky taillight. That’s the reverse light that’s discolored by rust.
I think there’s some Beelzebub-level demon that tests David’s resolve with steaming piles of car and it’s getting ready for Spring season to begin
Want to really blow peoples minds? A Rubicon NP241J should bolt right to that NSG370, giving you the lowest of low ranges…
Stop trying to sabotage DT’s life.
I’m not forcing him to do anything…
I don’t need one, I don’t need one, I don’t need one… well, maybe I can go check autotrader.
No low range no dice. Sorry It doesn’t have a low-range transfer case so that is a deal breaker in my mind.
If you ever intend to use 4×4 I agree. Hill starts on STEEP rocks in 4H would be impossible.
375 bucks on eBay for a 241J seems like a reasonable answer.
My neighborhood drug dealing house recently acquired a Dodge Nitro and a Dodge Caliber. It’s a house filled with poor decisions.
That’s what happens when you get high on your own supply.