First - equipment:
- Utility Package - Utilitrack system, LED bed/tailgate lighting, Fender Premium Audio, Rear bumper step, electronic locking tailgate, Power-sliding rear window, proximity lighting, trailer brake controller, Bed mounted 120V AC power outlet, front/rear sonar system.
- Convenience Package - Leather heated power seats, remote start, around view monitor, driver's seat memory, power-folding side mirrors, trailer light check, heated outboard rear seats
- Panoramic Moonroof package - GIANT dual panel panoramic moonroof, ventilated feature added to front seats
- Styling. The truck looks freakin sick. This is finally a Nissan take on the Ram Rebel/Tundra TRD Pro (no, not a Raptor - but a practical offroad package with some extra styling like a Rebel).
- 9 speed transmission is immensely improved from the 7AT, which was a flaw in my 2017 (to the point of replacement) and clumsy in my 2018. Driveability of this truck is completely different. No clumsy downshifting/confusion at city speeds. Power EVERYWHERE, all the time, and plenty of it. Shifts WONDERFULLY.
- Nissan's Safety Shield Suite is here, and as always, it's just a solid offering of safety tech.
The Little Observations/Nitpicks
- My 2020 truck has two fewer LED bars for the bed lighting. Some cost cutting went through here. Odd decision, but ok. Instead of two per side, there are two total, positioned halfway down the bed. My 2018 had two per side, one closer to the tailgate and one closer to the bulkhead.
- The headliner in the Pro4X is now blacked-out, and it's an amazing touch for interior styling compared to the light gray in my 2018 Pro4X.
- It's not just more horsepower, it's not just more torque, and it's not just a new 9 speed transmission. It's also a new final drive ratio on all trims. 3.692:1 on the 2020, whereas my 2018 was 2.937:1. All of these things make for a much livelier driving experience in the absolute best way.
- As you might expect based on the previous bullet, my city MPG is not as good with this truck. Not sure if it's my new driving habits (this truck sounds COMPLETELY different between 3000-4500 RPMs with the hammer dropped in a really good way), or if it's just how the gearing is set up. I'm around 15.0 MPG average around town. I was previously around 17 MPG in my 2018. On the highway rides at similar pace, I see 20.8 with my 2020 where I could wring out as much as 21.1 with my 2018. I run the same oil (Mobil-1 Extended Performance), but I run 93 octane Shell gas in the 2020 where I ran 87 octane gas in the 2018. Fuel consumption edge goes to the 2018 in my case. There are differing opinions out there.
- You cannot get the large towing mirrors as part of the Utility Package on the non-XD Titans any longer. I expect this is due to positioning the XD as the "towing model". You can, however, still order them as an accessory. Be aware that if you do, you lose the power-folding feature in a truck equipped how mine is. Yes, there are different models of tow mirror in the accessories catalog at Nissan that make you specify if you have power-folding mirrors equipped, and that's so they send you something to cap off the wiring harness at time of installation. This is the silliest thing about my experience with this truck so far - I miss my big mirrors (I do occasionally tow), but really wished they power-folded. Now my mirrors have power-folding, but they're not the oversized mirrors, so I rarely use the power-folding feature. Overall, not a bad thing really. Just funny how things work out sometimes.
- The screen resolution in the new 9 inch display is wonderful. The camera resolution for the around-view monitors is just... not. Wished they had taken the opportunity to refresh their 10 year old cameras here, but they did not. It's clear Nissan did the best they could updating this truck with a constrained budget. Overall, they hit the right things. AVM is still an absolutely must-have feature.
- On the note of screens/infotainment, the Titan has finally bid adieu to the CD Player (at least when equipped with the larger display - not sure about S/SV trims). Thankfully for me, Tool finally put their whole catalog on Apple Music, so the rock show goes on in my crew cab. The only CDs that ever made it into my 2017/18 were Tool albums anyway.
- The Fender Premium Audio offers more clarity at volume than the Rockford Fosgate Audio in my 2018, but it does not kick you in the pants like the Rockford did. I do miss the mid and low range oomph the Rockford system had, but the Fender is still a very nice offering.
- The new 9 speed transmission is still controlled by a column-mounted shifter, but that column-mounted shifter is no longer connected to the transmission via a shift cable. It is now electronic. The Titans with 7-speed transmissions were connected via cable.
- The panoramic moonroof controls are just odd compared to other Nissans I have had experience with. The shade for the moonroof stops halfway back, requiring another press of the shade button to fully retract. There is no pressing/holding combination that bypasses this. You have to wait until the halfway point to press it again, or it will just stop where it is. This is annoying when you're driving and want to close the shade, and you spend way more time focusing on that than you have to when we live in a world with one-touch (and no touch) controls. Tilting the glass panel is not done by sliding the button forward when closed, it's done by pressing upward (like a button press, not a slide), but tilting down is done by sliding the button forward - not consistently implemented throughout Nissan's lineup (wife's QX80 works differently, as an example, as well as our past 2015 Rogue with the panoramic moonroof equipped). Also, if you want to close the shade, the shade will not close if the moonroof is open, and instead of activating closing procedures for everything when you try to close the shade, it does nothing. You must first go to the other button to close the moonroof, and back to the shade button to close the shade. Overall, this is something that could have easily been thought out better, and is a really picky gripe, but I'll live.
- The panoramic moonroof has a popup wind deflector, but it's a mesh material that traps bugs and their guts quite well. It's not easy to clean, either. Many automakers are doing this likely to save weight or cost in materials, and I'm not down with this trend. It also hisses at higher speeds, but you don't want the thing open at 55+ MPH anyway.
- Around View Monitor does not automatically activate when a parking sensor broadcasts a warning, but I have recently discovered there is a TSB out there for this issue. I will have that fixed.
I'll break it down by manufacturer/model here:
Ford F-150
I gotta list it - it's the king of trucks (though Ram is fighting hard to take that crown), but I never once considered an F-150. At all. I don't find them compelling outside of a Raptor, and I'm not paying for a Raptor. I'd rather have a Titan and another Z someday. Nice trucks, great equipment. Price tag to go with it. Not visually appealing to me, and I just don't like a lot of Ford's instrumentation in their vehicles. Door chimes, button placement, steering wheels... just a lot of it rubs me the wrong way and I don't have a good reason why that is.
If I did an F-150, I would go for a Coyote V8 instead of any ecoboost, and option it similar to the Pro4X, and would die a little inside every time I saw a Raptor because I couldn't get cool styling for less than $74k.
Toyota Tundra
The Tundra is old, and if you think my Titan 4x4 CC at 15/20 MPG is bad, the Tundra CrewMax 4x4 is worse (now, worst in segment). Yes, the Tundras have a superb track record with regards to reliability, and yes the CrewMax has the largest back seat in the segment, but the old 6 speed transmission just feels lethargic and the truck itself has a very boring set of driving dynamics for today's half ton trucks. Not a fit for me and my money, especially since the Tundra is more expensive when similarly equipped. You also cannot get a rear differential locker even on a TRD Pro trim, and while I'm not going to do much off-roading, the Titan's off road package is better equipped than the Tundra's top-tier trim. The Titan is also structurally safer, but Toyota will likely rectify all of this with the soon-to-come mythical Tundra refresh.
The GM Twins
I'm growing to like the Trail Boss trim on the Silverado quite a bit. It's nicely styled, it comes with better tires than the Titan (General Grabbers are middling offroad tires when your competition is equipping Goodyear Duratracs - both the Ram Rebel and Chevy Silverado Trail Boss equip the Goodyears). I'm not a fan of the interior - I think the center stack in the Titan is better. I also think the weight difference in the trucks negates a lot of the power difference for my use case. I also don't need to pay more to get the V8 in the Titan than the 6.2L I would opt for with the GM trucks, and we're talking 30hp difference (but a whopping 63 lb-ft more torque in the GM). However, with that power comes cylinder-deactivation tech I'm not fond of, and I'm also not sold on the 10 speed transmission in the GM. I consider the tranmission a moot point, however, because each truck is using a brand new unit for 2020 if memory serves me correctly. The bed size in the Chevy is better overall for my use as it's deeper by a few inches and I could fit my drum cases under a hard tonneau cover whereas I cannot do this with my Titan.
At the end of the day, the value for dollar on the Titan got me over the GM when coupled with the preference of the Nissan V8 over the more costly 6.2L V8 with engine tech I didn't want in the GMs. At the time I was shopping, around view monitor was not available on a Chevy Trail Boss, and I felt a decent camera system was just a must-have feature at that price point. They do now have that really crazy cool trailer camera setup that is awesome, but while I tow occasionally, I don't do it enough to really need/want anything like that. I also was not impressed with the Bose Audio offered in the truck.
Ram 1500 Rebel
This truck nearly got me twice. I nearly left Nissan for Ram when I was having trouble with my 2017. I briefly considered the Ram again when moving to my 2020. There are a few reasons why I did not.
The Ram is expensive. MSRP to MSRP (not including any incentives), the Ram Rebel I built was going to be $7,000 or so more than a fully-loaded Titan. They finally fixed this for 2021, but at the time, there was no amount of money you could throw at the Rebel trim to get their Surround-View Camera System. (You could step into a Laramie to get it, however you lost the really cool Rebel styling). The Ram's interior clobbers anything in the segment at all. Its panoramic moonroof was nice. The optional Harmon Kardon audio is absolutely superb. Ram boxes are REALLY neat. There is a lot of well-thought-out niceties through the cabin (neat hidden storage in the floors in the rear seats, as an example). The ZF 8-speed auto shifts nicely and fairly consistently in my limited seat time with one. It's an absolutely fantastic truck.
When I was faced with the decision, I could have bought the Ram as the pricing would have gotten into my range with one I had picked out. However, I liked how the Titan drove better (which is the most important part for me at the end of the day). I felt the 2020 Titan was more responsive throughout the power band, and I felt much more confident with the braking on the Titan, especially with initial bite and response. The Ram (I tested without air suspension) absolutely handled better over crappy roads thanks to its lack of leaf springs. Anything past that is just really subjective - I'm not saying the Titan is a better truck than the Ram. On paper, the Ram beats it in every category with on-paper truck specs (except power with the 5.7L Hemi against the current Endurance V8 on 93 octane - the Titan edges the Hemi in power unless you equip the e-torque, but then you're forced to use Auto Start/Stop - I absolutely HATE that crap). I just liked the feel of the Titan better. Maybe that's a place of comfort for me? Other than that, I still stand by that you get more features for your money with a Titan, but if you start crunching paper specs, you might find the difference in price justified for what you need to do with a truck. The Ram tows more, hauls more, and has more interior space in every dimension. But there is just something about the Titan overall that I liked better. That and you don't see them every 12 cars on the road like you do the Rebel where I live.
Had Nissan not updated the Titan from my 2018 to where it is today? Harder to answer. The Ram does better with its final drive ratio and ZF 8 speed than the 2018 Titan and its 7 speed, by far. Then you have its interior, its exterior styling, and sweet ram boxes for the cherry on top. The gap there is huge, and you get what you pay for. With the updates Nissan made to the 2020 Titan against the same Ram, the gap is much narrower. I didn't think the Ram Rebel was $7k more truck than the 2020 Titan. I thought it was $12k more truck than my 2018.
More to follow!
