Autoblog

It would be a pity if Nissan resorted to merely rebadging Dodge Rams, complete with the Chrysler "Hemi" powertrains, along with all of the typical Chrysler woes.

The Titan had the best half-ton powertrain set up in the industry until the current 5.7 liter Tundra premiered, and putting aside all of the minor annoyances, the Titan had far fewer problems than the current Tundra.

The big problem is that Nissan entered a very conservative, comfort oriented market segment where buyers are typically the least open to non-Domestic nameplates. Nissan offered class leading acceleration, class leading offroad performance - as well as some of the best on-road handling in the full sized truck segment. It turned out that fullsized truck buyers didn't want any of those things. A soft ride, limited ground clearance and sluggish acceleration are good enough for the mass market half ton.

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Hypercarfan
The domestics are building the best 1/2 ton trucks they've ever built, no doubdt thanks to the competition from Nissan and Toyota. That said, it would be sad if Nissan decided to kill Titan.

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Hypercarfan is just spouting, I'm sure he owns a dozen Titans and hasn't had the first problem. The Titan is a great truck in many ways but mine has been the most problematic vehicle to ever sit in my driveway. I waited until the second model year to let them work the bugs out but to no avail. I have had the following issues within the first 25,000 miles.

1. Front seat stiching separation within the first month. Corrected with a new seat section.

2. Fuel hose flap (in the tank) that would close indiscriminately during fueling and spew gas all over the truck and person pumping gas. Corrected by installing a new fuel tank.

3. Clunking noises when shifting into or changing gears due to transmission crossmember bolts backing out. Corrected by replacing and tightening the crossmeber bolts.

4. Brake judder and steering wheel shake with light braking on grades. Corrected with a TSB issued to replace rotors, pads, and brake clips.

5. Leaking transmission lines.

6. Chrome peeling off of door handles.

7. Recall for wiring harness that may cause vehicle fire

8. Dash lights that quit working for a few days then start working again. The dealer couldn't reproduce this one.

9. Heavy tire scrubbing and wear on right rear wheel. Nothing has broken in the rear so Nissan claims this is normal. Yeah OK

The engine and transmission is fabulous except for the fuel economy. Much worse than trucks I've owned previously.

Bottom line... The Titan has its merits but mine will likely not be replaced with another Titan. I am sure many other Titan owners who have had similar experiences feel the same. Perhaps ownership surveys show this trend and Ghosn understands the writing is on the wall.

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Greek Boy,

The Titan pretentious? Yeah I guess it should have a way too large grill like the new GM's, so stately and understated. Looks like it ran into a wall at full speed.
All of the Domestics and the even the Tundra have that "I -wish-my-penis-was-bigger grill". If the grill isn't enough to compensate, then you lift it or buy a diesel that exceeds your actual use by a magnitude of 5.

I would say the Nissan actually suffers from it's understated and somewhat dated styling.

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Truck sales is the inverse of quality. The Ram is the worst truck on the market according to nearly every comparison test. The Titan is #1 or second to either the Silverado or the Tundra. So Nissan obviously needs to sell a lower quality truck!

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I think you're right. And yes, they had fewer issues with the Titan platform than Toyota has had with their abysmal Tundra.
I recall they took responsibility for the engineering problems in Mississippi early on and called hundreds of engineers from Japan to deal with the Titan and Armada. We don't see that with Toyota, do we. We just keep hearing all kinds of excuses when in reality it's all about decontenting and fewer and fewer R&D dollars to boost the bottom-line. It's not about 'Quality' with them anymore. So many still buy Toyota's on this perception but the facts now speak louder than the propoganda.

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I don't think people are really understanding the reliability performance of the Tundra. It's had recalls, yes, but overall it's been the one of, if not the most, reliable half-ton.

As domestic fans have been hammering on for years: recalls do not equal poor reliability, or even customer dissatisfaction. Thusfar, Toyota has handled the Tundra's issues very well.

The Titan's first year was awful--far worse than the Tundra's. The performance of the Titan, as well as some of the other American-built Nissans, was ringing warning bells about Nissan's QC. The Titan's first-year performance spoke volumes about Carlos "Le Cost Cutter" Ghosn and Renault's role in Nissan.

The other difference is that Nissan wasn't under the same kind of microscope that Toyota is, and that (in terms of forums like these) the Titan wasn't the slap in the face that the Tundra was. Toyota is very baldly attacking the last bastion of the North American industry and that's really raising the hackles of domestic fans.

I realize people want the Tundra to fail, but it's really not the pariah that domestic fans so dearly want it to be.

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Tk,

Acceleration and handling shouldn't be considered "passenger-car traits," and off-roading isn't merely "recreational."

In my mind, a real "working man" would require more ground clearance and a stiffer suspension than the average domestic half-ton currently offers. Doesn't a real "working man" need the greater towing capacity of a Tundra or Titan over the industry trailing towing capacity of the Ram?

Sadly, the half-ton market increasingly caters to the "retired man," or the "sedentary man." Sometimes it's seemed that we've all grown flabby and obese along with out pickup trucks.

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Hypercarfan,

your lack of understanding trucks certainly is showing!

-first, in your discussion of the "industry-trailing" Ram's towing capacity, what are you talking about?

you're obviously not a real truck guy, because a real truck guy wouldn't be caught dead towing more than 6,000 pounds with a half-ton pickup anyway.

why?

a half-ton has essentially car brakes, and a car axle. it is made for light towing only. light towing stops at about 6,000 pounds. move up to a 3/4 ton truck, and everything changes.

I'll keep in mind how "industry-trailing" my '06 Ram HEMI is the next time I fill it up; I average over 16 MPG towing a 5,000 pound trailer. when not towing, it averages over 20 MPG. in case you didn't know, both mileage figures are in diesel economy territory.

oh, and let me know from your personal experience about those Chrysler "quality woes"; I'll be more than happy to tell you about mine.

I've had seven Rams since 1994. I've driven them well over 1.2 million miles, with more than 600,000 on my '97 alone.

here is a list of problems:

1) two recalls. one on the '97 for installing rubber plugs on the back side of the steering wheel. the '06 also had a recall for front wheel bearings. 76 trucks were affected; mine wasn't one of them, but they replaced them anyway.

2) unexpected repairs. one. on the '03 V-10, a fuel overflow tube near the tank needed replacing. cost, installed, at the dealer: $108. by the way, when I sold this truck last year at 232,000 miles, it still had all the original brakes. damn Chrysler quality!!

I've never had ANY engine work, transmission work (other than fluid replacement) done on any of them. and please don't tell me I'm lucky; everyone I know with a Ram has had the same experiences.

on another note, this move by Nissan seems really stupid, as their large SUVs are built from the Titan platform. I wonder if they are considering eliminating the Infiniti QX56 and the Armada as well.

hypercarfan, I promise I'll never make fun of your '83 Toyota Starlet with the rice muffler, ever.

AZMike

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"it still had all the original brakes. damn Chrysler quality!!"

I'm really hoping that at 232k miles you're not running on the same pads / rotors / drum. Just because you can still manage to screech to a halt does not mean that you've still got what it takes. Maybe you're off in an area though where stopping is done far enough in advance that you can use your glazed over components to come to a halt though.

Maybe you can share with us what is exactly original there from day 1 of purchase.

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I don't understand how anything less than a diesel dually towing 14,000 lbs isn't real work.

And of all the unimproved roads to construction sites and beds full of plywood and mulch and towing lawn trailers and such, you know the sort of work that isn't real work, I also don't understand why a Mexican built truck with a domestic badge can do but an American built truck with an import badge can't.

And finally, if light duties are really just cars underneath where it counts then show me the other cars with brakes to stop 6,000lbs empty let alone 11,000lb with a trailer. Or 3800lb rating axles.

You're being intentionally blind.

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"I also don't understand why a Mexican built truck with a domestic badge can do but an American built truck with an import badge can't."


Ok, it looks like someone is trying to take a swipe at the Ram because they think they are all built in Mexico. Let me give you the facts.

Rams are built at 3 plants, 2 in the US, 1 in Mexico. The plant in Saltillo is the only one to build Mega Cabs and Chassis Cabs, but that is a small percentage of overall Rams sales. All the other models are built in the US. Some of the Mexican Rams are sold in the US but the majority of them are made for the Latin American and other export markets.

The Hemi engine is made in Mexico, but not all Rams have the Hemi, some have the V6, some have the 4.7, and some the Cummins diesel, ALL designed, engineered, and built in the US IIRC. This is also true of the transmissions. Also the Hemi was designed and engineered in the US. What about the Titan? We know it's manufactured here. What about the transmission? The engine? Really I don't know. But what does it tell you that when Nissan had quality problems they rushed in engineers from Japan? Why would they send in engineers from Japan who had no hand in the design and development of the truck or drivetrain?

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More importantly, it sells over 1,000 units fewer than the Titan each month.

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What's the package that nobody else offers? Crew cab long box? Ford offers that now, doesn't it?

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