Tailgate falls off during Nissan Titan review.

[Jesda]

But at least the reviewer was hot (I'm a huge Dagmar fan).



Her pics:
http://jesda.com/2011/02/23/what-dagmar-midcap-drives/

The video review:
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/22706898/index.html

[MinisterofDOOM]

V8 exhaust notes DO NOT GET TIRING EVER. Anyone who says that can GTFO NOW. One of my biggest complaints about my LS is that the AJ35 is just too damn quiet and only betrays its V8ness under load. If you don't want to hear a V8, go buy a Ridgeline. My Magnaflowed VH NEVER got on my nerves. All it ever did was make me smile. Same with my dad's (very loud) Magnaflowed Dodge 5.9. Never tiring, always pleasant. A good exhaust note improves the driving experience. A bad one can destroy it, sure, but this isn't the KA24 for crying out loud. This is a noise you WANT to hear.

And the tow mode does not "push all that power to the rear wheels." It's 4WD. The front wheels only get power when you tell them to. It's not a f#*king RX300.

And I dunno where the fark she's getting her reliability stats, but the Titan has never had reliability problems. Certainly didn't take it 6 years to build up average reliability.

And while the Titan is getting on in years, rather than being in dire need of update, I'd say it should be commended for maintaining relevance amongst such a competitive group of trucks. The Titan's still my number 2 choice, as it was 6 years ago. The number one has changed, and everyone else has been redesigned, but despite that the Titan is not just competitive, it's often superior.

Terrible review.

[GrilledCheese33]

While she is hot, I found her review more annoying than anything...

[Jesda]

Actually, the intake and engine noise of my q45 got old after a few hours around town. 90-93 had less sound deadening.

I compensated by removing the muffler and turning up the radio. Unlike the northstar, the vh45 makes an annoying nasally whir from inside the cabin instead of a low growl.


Exhaust sound good.
Engine noise bad.


Not sure how the vk sounds from inside the titan (its probably louder than the armada/QX), but I suspect that this was her complaint.

The dodge ram makes more noise than the titan but the tone is pleasing.

[Jesda]

And I dunno where the fark she's getting her reliability stats, but the Titan has never had reliability problems. Certainly didn't take it 6 years to build up average reliability.

And while the Titan is getting on in years, rather than being in dire need of update, I'd say it should be commended for maintaining relevance amongst such a competitive group of trucks. The Titan's still my number 2 choice, as it was 6 years ago. The number one has changed, and everyone else has been redesigned, but despite that the Titan is not just competitive, it's often superior.

Terrible review.

The Titan's first few years of production were plagued with quality control issues at Nissan's new plant in Mississippi. Titan's reputation was tarnished from the beginning, despite its good looks and strong engine. Reliability and build quality have gone from poor/inconsistent to average.

Titan's market share remains small due to its lack of options and configurations. Trucks are not cars. They're tools for work, therefore you need several varieties of cabs, engines, towing capabilities, and cargo carrying options. You buy a socket set to accomplish serious tasks, not a gator grip. I remember you and I agreeing on this years ago when we were talking about the Honda Ridgeline. The Titan was getting pummeled so badly that in 2009, Nissan strongly considered selling a rebadged/rebodied version of the Dodge Ram to avoid losing customers to domestic brands.

Now, I know you're as emotionally drawn to the robot-faced Titan as I am (I had a Titan poster on my wall for years), but without more options, most people who use trucks for labor-intensive duties and contracting jobs (rather than trips to Trader Joe's) will ignore it.

The Ram Tradesman is $23k with standard 390hp hemi while the Titan work truck is $26k with 317hp VK56. The Tradesman is built on a more modern chassis with 73 hp more than the Titan and greater payload and towing capacity. Most importantly, the Tradesman offers more optional equipment, bucking the trend of manufacturers forcing people to buy expensive luxury packages just to get a few basic features.



I like the Titan for its character and straight-line performance and its maybe my top pick among used trucks, but its fallen way, way behind for 2011. Its an also-ran. A non-contender. Worst of all, there won't be a new Titan until 2014.


Ironically, the Titan follows the tradition of domestic manufacturers: making a big splash and then petering out while aging product withers away.

[mmkeller]

She was reviewing a Titan? never noticed the truck

Seriously, the Titan is a solid machine, my friend has one(07) and he has had 0 problems.

[Jesda]

Seriously, the Titan is a solid machine, my friend has one(07) and he has had 0 problems.

The issue was never the Canton plant's inability to build a solid truck -- the tooling and training were all in place, so several examples of well-made Titans are out there. Tons of them. The issue was building them consistently well which requires the focus of management and labor working together and the ongoing refinement of manufacturing processes.

They've improved dramatically since 2004, but that improvement took years and brought quality scores from below average to average rather than average to excellent.

Progress at Canton will be determined by how well they manufacture the new NV van, which will FINALLY offer a serious challenge to the Savanna, Econoline, and Sprinter.

[Bubba1]

I would have preferred to see more of Dagma's tailgate.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Titan's market share remains small due to its lack of options and configurations. Trucks are not cars. They're tools for work, therefore you need several varieties of cabs, engines, towing capabilities, and cargo carrying options. You buy a socket set to accomplish serious tasks, not a gator grip. I remember you and I agreeing on this years ago when we were talking about the Honda Ridgeline. The Titan was getting pummeled so badly that in 2009, Nissan strongly considered selling a rebadged/rebodied version of the Dodge Ram to avoid losing customers to domestic brands.

Now, I know you're as emotionally drawn to the robot-faced Titan as I am (I had a Titan poster on my wall for years), but without more options, most people who use trucks for labor-intensive duties and contracting jobs (rather than trips to Trader Joe's) will ignore it.
.

I do agree here. Nissan saw the light to an extent, though, and now offers a longbed version (so, 3 bed lengths). But I can't believe they still offer neither a regular cab nor a VQ40 work truck stripper variant. Even Tundra gets a V6 regular cab. I also don't see why you can get a longbed with a crew cab but not with an extended cab. That's bassackward to me.

I really, really, really like the look of the Titan. In fact, with all the redesigns over the last few years from Nissan, the Titan is the one I fear the most, because I know they're going to fugly it up. I honestly think the success of a 2nd gen Titan hinges more on looks than anything. If Nissan tries to sell something that looks like the QX56, they're never going to get a single buyer. Even the Tundra's not that ugly.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Doesn't the VK56 drink oil at an alarming rate?


Also, first 10 seconds of that video...hot. Doesn't hurt that during the whole thing she reminded me of a redheaded, busty Sandra Bullock.

[numbnuts240]

i think that's the vk45.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It's the VK45 that drinks oil. And while it was a disturbingly common problem, it was resolved after the first 2 or 3 years. The VK56 never shared its sibling's oil consumption problems, though. No worries with the trucks.

[scotty-2-forty]

V8 exhaust notes DO NOT GET TIRING EVER. Anyone who says that can GTFO NOW. One of my biggest complaints about my LS is that the AJ35 is just too damn quiet and only betrays its V8ness under load. If you don't want to hear a V8, go buy a Ridgeline. My Magnaflowed VH NEVER got on my nerves. All it ever did was make me smile. Same with my dad's (very loud) Magnaflowed Dodge 5.9. Never tiring, always pleasant. A good exhaust note improves the driving experience. A bad one can destroy it, sure, but this isn't the KA24 for crying out loud. This is a noise you WANT to hear.

And the tow mode does not "push all that power to the rear wheels." It's 4WD. The front wheels only get power when you tell them to. It's not a f#*king RX300.

And I dunno where the fark she's getting her reliability stats, but the Titan has never had reliability problems. Certainly didn't take it 6 years to build up average reliability.

And while the Titan is getting on in years, rather than being in dire need of update, I'd say it should be commended for maintaining relevance amongst such a competitive group of trucks. The Titan's still my number 2 choice, as it was 6 years ago. The number one has changed, and everyone else has been redesigned, but despite that the Titan is not just competitive, it's often superior.

Terrible review.

^ This! MOD, you need to do (redo?) the review! I actually had to replay several times the part where she said the sound of that V8 could get on your nerves a little bit .... WHAT?! Total credibility lost in that one statement. Aside from her notably annoying audible rollercoaster reporting technique coming from her opinionated mouth, she's a definite candidate for permenant vocal cord paralysis. Ack.

[scotty-2-forty]

I would have preferred to see more of Dagma's tailgate.

Bring a gag.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

^ This! MOD, you need to do (redo?) the review! I actually had to replay several times the part where she said the sound of that V8 could get on your nerves a little bit .... WHAT?! Total credibility lost in that one statement. Aside from her notably annoying audible rollercoaster reporting technique coming from her opinionated mouth, she's a definite candidate for permenant vocal cord paralysis. Ack.

As pointed out, she did say engine noise, not exhaust noise.

Also, engines of any cylinder configuration can get annoying if they drone.

[scotty-2-forty]

As pointed out, she did say engine noise, not exhaust noise.

Also, engines of any cylinder configuration can get annoying if they drone.

Don't let her buubees burn your eyes out man! Come ... back! Don't ... look ... straight ... on! She says, "The 5.6 liter V8 has a really hefty growl to it. Every time you put your foot on the throttle, you really notice what's under the hood. After a while though I tell you that can really get on your nerves a little bit." That being said, she said "growl" - implying exhaust note. If she stated mechanical sound, then I would think engine noise. Who really cares; the point here is that she's reviewing a pickup truck, not a luxury sedan ... and even in those, I luvz me some growl. And as a rule of thumb, pickups should growl! And the most annoying drone sound would be coming from her mouth if I had to listen to her repeatidly on a long drive. Don't get me wrong, this is all in good fun; I'm sure she's probably a very nice person, but maybe she should've done a better job at reporting and not talk as if she's giving a robot commands.

And why exactly did the tailgate "fall" off? She didn't even touch on that.

[hachiroku781]

There was a review in that video? I would totally nail her. I got a stiffy watching her play with the tail gate. I thought it was an ok review. I Don't really understand the truck market though. I thought that the titan is still a great looking truck. Never realized that truck drivers really cared for looks and options though. Hell most truck owners I know could care less about what they look like. They care more about how much they can haul. The whole horse power thing shouldn't even matter for people who don't use trucks for their intended purposes of being a utilitarian piece for work. Now it appears horse power is just another d!ck contest amongst brands.

[MinisterofDOOM]

There was a review in that video? I would totally nail her. I got a stiffy watching her play with the tail gate. I thought it was an ok review. I Don't really understand the truck market though. I thought that the titan is still a great looking truck. Never realized that truck drivers really cared for looks and options though. Hell most truck owners I know could care less about what they look like. They care more about how much they can haul. The whole horse power thing shouldn't even matter for people who don't use trucks for their intended purposes of being a utilitarian piece for work. Now it appears horse power is just another d*** contest amongst brands.

I DO understand the truck market. And I care about looks. As does every truck owner I know, both legitimate and douchebag (yeah, I know some of those).

And yes, horsepower is pointless, but TORQUE is a whole other matter. Torque determines what you can do with your truck, and when and where and how hard. Horsepower, being a rate derived from torque production, tells you a little (since all truck V8s have low redlines and early torque delivery) but any "real" truck owner will look for torque numbers and ignore HP.

There's more to a truck than what you can "haul" too. There's towing, there's bedsize, there's 2wd vs 4wd. There's need or lack of need for offroading. Especially with pickups having grown a lot more livable inside (Hell, F150s get nicer inside than my leather-swathed Lincoln!) options only seem to mean MORE with each passing year.

From someone who does understand the truck market, I'd say the truck owners you know are all from a very narrow slice of the pie.

Good variation in bed and cab options is very important to truck owners, which is what Jesda and I are talking about. That's "options." Lots or truck owners have no use for shortbeds. Others have no need for a long bed, but want to haul lots of people and a 5th wheel trailer, which is where Dodge's Mega Cab comes into play. Others need a truck that still fits in a driveway but combines a decent bed and decent seating, which is why most truckmakers offer 4 or 5 overall wheelbase choices now, with different bed and cab lengths intermixed across the board.

And looks...Toyota has driven that message home. I can't count the number of people I know who like the Tundra mechanically but couldn't bear to look at one in their driveway every day. A truck is just like every other vehicle: you have to walk to it with your eyes open every morning. Ford drove it home even harder when they chose to "redesign" the F150 mid-generation when it slipped off the top of the sales charts for the US for the first time in decades. That redesign? More chrome, edgier lights, and more aggressive fender flares, and that's it. And it did the job. And the continued popularity of stepside beds is yet another clear clue that truck owners absolutely do care what their trucks look like. Stepside beds are a tradeoff of capability for looks. Especially if you get a shortbed. You end up with a midsize bed (I think older shortbed F150s even used Ranger tailgates unless I'm mistaken) on a full size truck. Why kill your bed space? Because you like the look of a stepside more than you need all that bed space. Which means you care what your truck looks like.

Yeah, truck owners care about looks. Maybe Larry's Construction who buys 15 V6 Silverado W/Ts every year doesn't care. But individual truck buyers do.

The halfton truck market is CRAZY competitive these days. Anything and everything you can do to stand out is important. But the best part for consumers is that there's really not a bad option these days. I put the Tundra way down on the list for its frame problems and looks, but even it'll probably do the work you ask it to. Meanwhile Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Nissan ALL offer superb choices. I liked Ford's better before the steroid injection, though.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Nonsense.

Truck owners who want to go anywhere quickly care about horsepower. Horsepower is a measure of the rate work is preformed.

A truck with mountains of torque and no horsepower is a tractor. Just ask owners of the L65 non-turbo diesel Suburbans.

[Jesda]

And yes, horsepower is pointless, but TORQUE is a whole other matter. Torque determines what you can do with your truck, and when and where and how hard. Horsepower, being a rate derived from torque production, tells you a little (since all truck V8s have low redlines and early torque delivery) but any "real" truck owner will look for torque numbers and ignore HP.

This is very true. However, its kind of awesome how quickly the Titan will fly off the line.

[hachiroku781]

thanks MOD!! I finally understand. Like I said most of the truck drivers i know are in some sort of construction business and use them as work vehicles. Such as my father. All he cared about was reliability and the length of the bed. I had no idea options went so in depth as cabs and beds. Guess there are a lot of options for trucks that serve a purpose. Also I did not know looks played such an important role in the market. (good explanation with the ford f series)

[themadscientist]

Much like many lizards, the Titan, when in danger, will eject its tail. The good news is the aftermarket should be fielding tailgate release controllers with fuzzy logic to adjust force of ejection, windage and elevation.

My Ford Ranger rolled with the tailgate down constantly and never once did this. Nissan Fail.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Honestly, I don't see how that could have happened without some sort of luser error being involved. The tailgate doesn't work in a way that would cause it to just "fall off." And even if it DID just fall off, the design would require the thing to be bounced out of its hinge brackets at EXACTLY the right angle, while unlatched. See how hard it was for her to put it back on? It's just as hard to take it off, too. Something smells fishy.

[themadscientist]

Perhaps she is not feeling "fresh?"

[Jesda]

Based on history, its not unreasonable for someone to assume that someone at the factory left out a step in the build process. That's the problem with making a good first impression. If you screw it up, you lose the benefit of a doubt.

Its happened to Fords too:
http://www.truckforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10603

[C-Kwik]

Honestly, I don't see how that could have happened without some sort of luser error being involved. The tailgate doesn't work in a way that would cause it to just "fall off." And even if it DID just fall off, the design would require the thing to be bounced out of its hinge brackets at EXACTLY the right angle, while unlatched. See how hard it was for her to put it back on? It's just as hard to take it off, too. Something smells fishy.

No, it generally doesn't just fall out, but occasionally it will. Mine has. Usually when lowering it while something got trapped between the tailgate and the bed, but it has come out for seemingly no specific reason. And putting it on is primarily difficult simply because the tailgate is heavy. She was struggling with that more than anything. Without the weight of the tailgate being an issue, the tailgate is quite easy to take on and off the hinge mechanisms.

[R/T Hemi]

I would have preferred to see more of Dagma's tailgate.

Or her high beams.