My brother just got rid of his '00 Taco and bought a '06 Nissan Frontier Nismo edition. So I thought I'd do a little side by side evaluation of both the 05'+ Taco (because I have one) and Frontier. Mine is a D/C and his is an extra cab, but oh well.
First impressions of the Frontier: Factory 32's , 260hp 4.0 V6 , silky smooth 6spd , still feels like a compact truck, though it has grown. , Utilitrak system uses aluminum instead of plastic , Styling , Seat materials seem like they may not last long , still feels like a compact truck, though it has grown .

The size difference is very apparent from the cockpit, I like the roominess of my Taco, but I have a family and need it so I may be biased there. I feel safer in my Taco, but that is not to say that the Frontier felt unsafe, this may be due to the size thing. I love the Nissan's power. The extra 24hp feels more like 50hp! The Nissan feels much more sporty, and the 6spd manual is superb, delivering much shorter and direct throws compared to Toyota's. The quality of interior materials in the Taco feels to be higher than that of the Nissan, though I hate that fact that my seats get stained by water! The 4WD switch and Diff-lock switch have better placement than Toyota's.

So this is just a preliminary comparo but, I would have the say that I am giving the nod the the Frontier here. As far as what I would like to see in a truck, Nissan appears to be delivering the goods in more abundance than Toyota.
Nissan's engine and tranny pkg. is what did it. It really hit the spot for me. It sounds and feels really smooth too, where my Taco's valves tick away, and the exhaust manifolds sound like they are leaking a little.
I still love my truck though, and for what I need it's better, but for what I want.......

 

My ma's got a 05 Xterra. Its got some nut. 6spd would be interesting. Always liked nissans and my family who has owned them never had bad luck with them. My brother still has his first car, 1998 Nissan Maxima Gle he bought new and now has over 230,XXX miles on it. He ran only synthetics and kept up with the matinence religiously. He still runs it.