Driving Impressions

Looking good isn't enough for a truck, not even one bristling with clever ideas. It has to perform well, too. The Nissan Titan does just fine in that department. Driving the Titan is a pleasure. Nissan in the past has sometimes muddied a neat package with weakness in power. Lesson clearly learned. The Titan's 305 horses are hairy-legged enough to get the job done. Doubly welcome is the well-shaped torque curve with the segment-leading 379 pounds-feet of torque. The Titan's engine delivers 90 percent of its peak torque across a wide band down to low rpm. (Torque is that force that propels you from intersections and pulls heavy trailers up long grades.) Nissan's new Endurance 5.6-liter V8 is a modern design with double overhead-cams (four total) and four-valve heads (32 valves). It's designed to strike the ideal balance between performance and fuel economy. Titan 2WD gets EPA ratings of 14/19 mpg City/Highway, while Titan 4WD models are rated 14/18 mpg. Regular unleaded is recommended. Towing capacity is 9,500 pounds, which is more often seen in 3/4-ton trucks, not 1/2-ton trucks like this. Nissan thought it had a first in class for towing but it got snookered by Ford. Ford purposely understated the towing capacity in the specs it first released on its new 2004 F-150 hoping to con its rivals into benchmarking the low figure. Nissan did just that. Then Ford announced its "true" towing capacity of 9,900. Nyah-nyah-nyah. Ford might just need such trickery to sell the 700,000 F-150s it must sell. Nissan is looking to sell 100,000 Titans. Titan's V8 (standard) has more horses than Ford's V8 (optional) and Titan has a five-speed automatic to Ford's four-speed, but towing capacity is one of the bragging points that rank high with truck buyers. Anything rated to tow 9500 pounds can really move its bod when unencumbered. Our first impression of the Titan was its responsive powertrain, perhaps the most responsive among the full-size pickups with comparable engines. The Titan always feels alert and wide awake, like it started the morning with a double espresso. The V8 delivers quick acceleration performance whether launching off the line or pulling a quick pass at speed. It isn't a whisper quiet engine, but has a deep exhaust note that sounds pleasing when accelerating. The five-speed automatic is equally responsive, quickly downshifting whenever needed. With five gears to choose from, it can always find an appropriate ratio for smooth, rather than abrupt, downshifts. The transmission features a Tow/Haul mode. Titan handles twists and turns just fine. It's easy to drive quickly and smoothly at the same time. It does well in the braking department with big four-wheel disc brakes standard. It's easy to modulate the brakes for smooth stops in everyday driving. Anti-lock brakes come standard with electronic brake-force distribution and Brake Assist. (ABS helps the driver maintain steering control in a skid. EBD improves balance and stopping power by apportioning the braking force to whichever tires are getting the best grip. Brake Assist helps ensure full braking potential in a panic stop.) 4x4 models offer a shift-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive system with an electronically controlled part-time transfer case. Simply turn a knob to shift from two-wheel drive to four-wheel drive; this can be done on the fly, while driving. At very low speeds, almost a full stop, push in the knob and turn it to shift into low range. The low creeper gear keeps steep descents in the comfort zone. An off-road package includes a feature exclusive to the Titan in this market segment: an electronically activated locking rear differential to aid the slog through the toughest conditions. The 4WD King Cab we drove rode very well in most situations and its suspension offered quick and agile handling. One rippled section of I-405 in Los Angeles, however, set up a harmonic that had the Titan 4x4 pogoing unc

Final Word

Nissan's marketing research has broken pickup buyers into two groups it calls Traditional Truckers and Modern Truck Guys (and presumably Gals though they used a lot of "he" and "his" words at the introduction). Traditional Truckers, Nissan says, use their trucks primarily for business and work, mostly in rural areas. They are brand-loyal to the extreme and are not quick to embrace changes in styling or technology. The Modern Truck Guys are more apt to switch brands if drawn by innovations and styling. Their primary use for a truck is personal, pressing it into service on weekends for home-improvement and gardening projects. Clearly, Nissan sees most of its buyers in the second group rather than as conquests from the ultra loyal-to-brand Traditional Trucker. However, as the new truck on the scene the Titan has one advantage: A trucker deciding to switch after years with the same brand is unlikely to move his loyalties to what has been "the enemy" all these years. The switcher is more likely to settle on neutral ground. Like a politician switching parties, it is easier to go to Independent than to cross the aisle. The Titan is an attractive truck with which to express that independence. Time will tell.