Drove a Titan....my impressions

[foghorn23]

Okay I'm not trying to start a flame war here, but thought I'd give my honest opinions about a test drive of an 04 Titan on Thursday of this week. As I posted earlier in the week I'm considering the purchase of an 04 Silverado Z71 Crew. I had business in a nearby town on Thursday so I decided as I was passing a Nissan dealer I'd see what all the hype was about. The truck was a doublecab SE with the floor shifter and list for approx 33,700. There were a couple of good things I can say. The room inside was super. Both front and back seat space was huge. Also, the 5.6 was very powerful had good pickup from a standstill and at highway speed. This is where my list of positives end.

 

I know the Motor Trend and Car and Driver boys like to give the General a bad wrap, but there were many things I felt were superior on the GM trucks. The quality of the materials was far and away more upscale (admittedly they are not up to the new F150 though). Even in the cloth interior Z71 I was looking at the quality of the fabric and the overall fit and finish of the GM truck was much better.

 

As I stated before the 5.6 had good power, but considering all the hype I expected a big difference from my current 5.3. There's some, but not much. Off the line I couldn't tell too much difference, but the Nissan did seem to hit passing gear and pick up a little quicker than my Chevy. (This could be due to the fact that the exhaust and ride of the Nissan were louder and harsher that what I'm used to.) As I came to a redlight, this new Nissan with 16 miles on the clock had a terrible vibration under the defrost vents on the dash. Honestly I had an 88 Ford Ranger with 95K miles that had fewer vibrations than the Nissan. The factory Nissan spray in liner with the utility bed (gives some movable tiedowns) was a $900 dollar option. With that the tailgate was covered with a plastic drop in liner like cover. No spray on the tailgate. I really believe a Linex, Rhino, or Speedliner is much better for at least 1/2 less.

 

When I've read posts on the Nissan like mine I've often thought it was just a diehard Chevy (or Ford or Dodge) guy who didn't like to admit the Nissan was a real truck. I believed all the Motor Trend/Car & Driver stuff. While I won't say Nissan has a chance at making a run at the full size market, I am completely satisfied they have a ways to go to deliver a complete package. For a first try the Nissan certainly is a better truck than Toyota's first T100, but in my opinion has a way to go to meet the demands of GM/Ford/Dodge owners in terms of performance, quality and real truck feel. I still think its tough to beat the General. Maybe I'm biased, but I know whose truck I'll be buying (and whose I won't) if I do decide to take the plunge

 

Vroten

[concours]

Hook a trailer of about 5,000 lbs. on it and then compare. The rice trucks have their horsepower tuned up in the high end of the RPM range. That's fine if you're just another urban cowboy racing around empty, but not if you actually plan on WORKING the truck. Search and find a dyno chart (one that shows the entire RPM range, not just the peaks) and you'll see what I mean. Nobody tows a trailer at 4000 RPM. Compare the engines torque output at 2,000 RPM and you'll see who the winning WORK truck is. The Ford Triton V-8 was the same way (no low end power) until they retuned it.

[dannyukonxl]

i agree if you put a trailer on the titan it would be a slug, the only decent japanese truck ive driven with plentiful low end torque is the lx470 with peak torque at 3200, it was a torquey motor but once you put more than 2000 pounds on it, it was a pig. not to mention it used about the same amount of gas or more when towing than my 8100 which is far more powerful than the 4700, im not going to get into differentials, transmission, or tuning or alternator outputs because simply put those wont match up to a gm/dodge/or ford

 

edit: once the 4700 engine got above 6000 feet it was starved for air

[RyanbabZ71]

Did you notice the cheap outside door handles. I thought I was going to rip it off opening the door on the truck at the autoshow. They felt like a cheap car handles

[foghorn23]

Yes I did notice the handles. For that part, other than the sheetmetal, the truck felt... fragile (I guess that's the word) I can't get over the cheap fabric upholstery. If you've ever ridden in an old tercel or with the almost polyester feel seats you'll understand the design of the Titan interior.

 

Vroten

[dogzapper]

Hey verotin,

 

Thank you for the first-hand report of your test drive in the Titan.

 

Actually, this kind of thing shows the value of this forum. Surely none of us can test drive ALL trucks. I found your report to be totally objective and wonderfully informative.

 

I own a 2003 Silverado EC/SB Z-71 5.3 and have been thoroughly impressed with the truck. I looked at the Titan at the Portland, OR auto show and momentarily considered one. Yeah, the door handles are junk and I'm not sure that I could live with the abbreviated bed (we haul WAY too many dead elk for that!)

 

The good news is that the existance of the Titan will force Toyota to bring out their version and in turn will force ALL manufacturers to rethink their trucks. Competition is great....it makes for better trucks and more choice for the consumer.

 

By the way, I have two BIG Bush signs in my front yard. We have to keep our guns and we have to keep the terrorists from our shores; Bush is our guy

 

Steve

[Kgry]

Chevy =

 

Nissan =

 

 

Although the do last forever. I'd never get a foreign truck. I just can't do it. What about the Tundra, anyone test drive that?

[Truckman031]

Thanks for your report. I haven't seen the interior first hand, but I can't get over how bad they look on the outside. I can't stand all the chrome on the grille. Thanks again.

[99Silver6.0]

Have you guys seen the motor in those? Look at one and think about what it looks like!!!! Kinda resembles an LS1 but set up for DOHC. Intake is a dead giveaway in my opinion.