When you place fourth in a four-bear contest, that doesn’t mean no one loves you. It just means “Yeah, thanks for showing us the goods, everyone is winner, let’s have a round of applause for all our contestants and here’s a free drink coupon.” Still, it hurts being third runner-up, no matter how you slice it. The poor Nissan Frontier, a small-ish truck from a company best known for its small cars, just can’t seem to ever get onto the platform with the gold, silver and bronze medalists in the pickup competition.

I like to read websites that I feel provide solid journalism, and one of the last remaining stalwarts of the bygone era of journalistic integrity is U.S. News and World Report. Earlier this century, these real-life Lou Grants stopped being a weekly print standard for the most important national and world news of the week, but they are still online writing credible (and incredible) stories, and offering keen insight into our crazy world of world leaders named BiBi (or Bebe, like the women’s store) proclaiming how if you don’t vote, the Arabs will take over.

In short, U.S. News and World Report ranked the 2015 Nissan Frontier fourth of four contestants in the Compact Pickup Truck category. Actually, the ranking is the result of a thorough analysis of what car reviewers across the World Wide Web felt about the Frontier.

Here’s what the web has been saying:

“There’s no sugar coating the reality that the [Nissan] Frontier’s appeal has slipped in the midsize pickup class,” says Edmunds.com. Ouch.

“Suddenly, the Frontier seems dated,” says Kelly Blue Book, which is really surprising because they are usually upbeat about every car, even the crap ones.

In fairness, Auto Trader writes, “The Frontier pickup is built on a rugged platform, offers an overachieving V6 and, for owners that need it, can be equipped with off-road capability that exceeds expectations.” That’s more in line with how I felt about the 2015 Nissan Frontier.

I tested the Pro-4X trim, which is really more like a rough SUV with a truck bed. I found it capable and overall appealing, especially with the optional V6 engine. It looks very butch, something perfect for you types that prefer Carhartts and Duluth Trading Company to Dolce & Gabbana and their incredibly stupid comments about babies who aren’t conceived the icky old-fashioned way. I will admit, I liked the 2015 Nissan Frontier, even if I couldn’t get it through the Krispy Kreme drive thru.

There were shortcomings, yes. These days, you expect a fair amount of interior space inside a truck’s cabin. I felt fine when it was just me and another passenger in the Frontier, but the backseats were really tight for my other friends with largess. Sure, I could have gone looking for wayward twinks needing a lift to night school or Night Court (but they never pay ¼ of the dinner bill because they never eat ¼ of the food).

I did enjoy the 10-speaker Rockford Fosgate stereo system, whatever that is. Okay, I’m not an audio geek or a car geek, but I know something snazzy when I hear it, and this Rockford Files whatever it is, yes, it’s snazzy. Optional equipment, like on any car, does seem to make the Nissan Frontier more attractive.

Where the Nissan Frontier really shines is when someone is looking for a truck that is also good off-road. Across the board, reviewers say this is the truck for off-roading. It’s not too big, not too small, not too hot, not too cold. Nissan has been promising for a few years that they would be overhauling their truck line-up and that it would be worth the wait. I have no doubt about that, but we are still waiting, at least for a makeover for the Frontier. The Titan, the big King of the Nissan bear trucks, has had some upgrades, and I will review that monster sometime in the near future.

Indeed, the American truck market is no longer the domain of just GMC and Ford, and it hasn’t been for at least few generations. There has been plenty of room for improvement, and the likes of Toyota and Nissan seem perfect for the truck market, at least on first blush. The problem may just lie with owner perceptions. Does Nissan really say truck? If you really do need a truck, wouldn’t you care more about reliability and affordability? What should you do if you are gay or trans or fabulous or butch or all of the above with a pinch of glitter thrown in?

I guess I really can’t help anybody on this one. I like the Nissan Frontier. If I did more (or even some) off-roading, I might enjoy it more. But as a day-to-day light-duty truck, I really don’t know what to make of it. Here’s one way of looking at this quandary: Just like trying a new brunch dish made by someone who knows absolutely no gay people, caution is advised.

Though I know for a fact that the good guys at Nissan, like my buddy Steve who gets me all these vehicles to test, know a lot of gay people ….

…. As do I.