Truck rant. And don't know what to do.

[N80]

Background: I have been a Nissan guy since 1984. Brand loyal all the way. And I've had great cars and trucks along the way. Then, in 2003 it was clear that I needed a full sized 4 door 4wd pick up. Nissan did not make one at that time so I bought a new Ford F150 Super Crew. I was never real happy with it. Steers like a yacht. Bounces and wobbles like a '75 Cadillac Fleetwood. Braking is always questionable. Rear window leaked from the get go. AC went out, to the tune of $1000, with only about 50k miles on it. Fit and trim in the interior is a joke. I still have it. It is my farm truck. Beat to heck but still running and I love it for that.

I replaced it about 4 years ago with a 2015 Nissan Titan 4 door Pro-4x model that I bought used with low miles. It has been an absolute turd. I love how it tows and it has great torque. Steers well. Brakes okay. But, transmission had to be replaced because it would roll away in 'Park' and would frequently not allow the truck to start because it 'thought' it wasn't in 'Park'. Entire head unit/nav had to be replaced because the volume and several other switches quit working. Its got a cacophony of squeaks and rattles. I mean bad. The interior trim is garbage. The five speed tranny always up shifts waaay to soon and downshifts waaaay to late. "Tow Mode" does not help with that. The heater switch failed which I fixed myself. The rear diff is leaking. The ride is terrible on anything but smooth interstate. The trim on the driver side window doesn't fit and there is constant wind noise in my left ear. Now the blend doors for the heat and AC have gone bad and my wife and I just rode home from dinner in an expensive truck freezing because of no heat. Because of the nav/head unit being in the way the entire dash has to be removed to replace the little electric motor and lever that moves the blend doors. This has been a known issue with these trucks since 2005 and still is on a 2015.....kind of like leaky rear windows in Fords. The cost of repair? $1000.

So this was the last straw. I have to get rid of this thing....and I usually keep cars until they die or get killed. Am I bashing Nissan? Yes, I think so. But, I've been a loyal customer since 1984....I've owned 10 of them and still have an Infiniti coupe that I love. My track car is an old 350Z. So maybe I have the right? Did I just get a lemon? Maybe. Doesn't matter. I've lost my faith in them.

I know that asking what brand of pickup to buy is probably worse than bringing up politics or religion but at this point I don't even have any idea where to look. Maybe I need to subscribe to Consumer Reports but in years past they did a lousy job of evaluating trucks because they always compared them to cars.

I will buy used. I need 4 doors, 4wd, minimum towing capacity of 8000 pounds. Toyota has always had the quality reputation but also the price tag to go along with it. I'm interested in brand neutral advice. And I know someone is going to tell me they have a Titan that has 600,000 miles on it, gets 40 miles to the gallon and still has that new car smell. I guess that's unavoidable.

I will certainly look at Ford and I did when I was looking to replace my F150. Two things turned me off from the Ford 1) I'm not interested....at all...in the V6 Eco-Boost. 2) It was almost impossible without a VIN to tell the exact towing and gearing specs and trim levels on Fords at that time and even then it was questionable. So I gave up.

Anyway, open to sage advice. And thanks for listening to the rant. I feel better already........but that might be the bourbon.

 

[jyoutz]

Background: I have been a Nissan guy since 1984. Brand loyal all the way. And I've had great cars and trucks along the way. Then, in 2003 it was clear that I needed a full sized 4 door 4wd pick up. Nissan did not make one at that time so I bought a new Ford F150 Super Crew. I was never real happy with it. Steers like a yacht. Bounces and wobbles like a '75 Cadillac Fleetwood. Braking is always questionable. Rear window leaked from the get go. AC went out, to the tune of $1000, with only about 50k miles on it. Fit and trim in the interior is a joke. I still have it. It is my farm truck. Beat to heck but still running and I love it for that.

I replaced it about 4 years ago with a 2015 Nissan Titan 4 door Pro-4x model that I bought used with low miles. It has been an absolute turd. I love how it tows and it has great torque. Steers well. Brakes okay. But, transmission had to be replaced because it would roll away in 'Park' and would frequently not allow the truck to start because it 'thought' it wasn't in 'Park'. Entire head unit/nav had to be replaced because the volume and several other switches quit working. Its got a cacophony of squeaks and rattles. I mean bad. The interior trim is garbage. The five speed tranny always up shifts waaay to soon and downshifts waaaay to late. "Tow Mode" does not help with that. The heater switch failed which I fixed myself. The rear diff is leaking. The ride is terrible on anything but smooth interstate. The trim on the driver side window doesn't fit and there is constant wind noise in my left ear. Now the blend doors for the heat and AC have gone bad and my wife and I just rode home from dinner in an expensive truck freezing because of no heat. Because of the nav/head unit being in the way the entire dash has to be removed to replace the little electric motor and lever that moves the blend doors. This has been a known issue with these trucks since 2005 and still is on a 2015.....kind of like leaky rear windows in Fords. The cost of repair? $1000.

So this was the last straw. I have to get rid of this thing....and I usually keep cars until they die or get killed. Am I bashing Nissan? Yes, I think so. But, I've been a loyal customer since 1984....I've owned 10 of them and still have an Infiniti coupe that I love. My track car is an old 350Z. So maybe I have the right? Did I just get a lemon? Maybe. Doesn't matter. I've lost my faith in them.

I know that asking what brand of pickup to buy is probably worse than bringing up politics or religion but at this point I don't even have any idea where to look. Maybe I need to subscribe to Consumer Reports but in years past they did a lousy job of evaluating trucks because they always compared them to cars.

I will buy used. I need 4 doors, 4wd, minimum towing capacity of 8000 pounds. Toyota has always had the quality reputation but also the price tag to go along with it. I'm interested in brand neutral advice. And I know someone is going to tell me they have a Titan that has 600,000 miles on it, gets 40 miles to the gallon and still has that new car smell. I guess that's unavoidable.

I will certainly look at Ford and I did when I was looking to replace my F150. Two things turned me off from the Ford 1) I'm not interested....at all...in the V6 Eco-Boost. 2) It was almost impossible without a VIN to tell the exact towing and gearing specs and trim levels on Fords at that time and even then it was questionable. So I gave up.

Anyway, open to sage advice. And thanks for listening to the rant. I feel better already........but that might be the bourbon.

Half ton or something heavier?

 

[Jstpssng]

It seems like you found out why the previous owner sold it. You've had good luck with Nissan/Datsun throughout... I wouldn't throw them under the bus for one bad ride.

 

[deserteagle71]

The truck you want doesn't exist yet.

I'm closing in on 80 years old and have had a lot of trucks in my time. They ALL have problems, if not sooner then later.

 

[N80]

Half ton or something heavier?

Half ton.

 

[N80]

The truck you want doesn't exist yet.

It might not exist now but I know for sure they did in the past because I owned them.

Three previous Nissan trucks. All stellar. That is not to say they were perfect or never had any issues.

So I don't think I'm being unrealistic.

 

[N80]

You've had good luck with Nissan/Datsun throughout... I wouldn't throw them under the bus for one bad ride.

In general I think that is sound advice. What worries me is that a few years after the new Titans came out, maybe 2018, there was a 4 page spread in Car and Driver (or one of those) detailing the fact that they never got to review their brand new $65,000 top end Titan HD because it was in the shop the whole time. I've never seen an article in one of these magazines beat up a vehicle so badly and all they did was document the shop visits, time in the shop and the cost of those repairs if they had not been under warranty.

Maybe Nissan has sorted out those issues. I don't know.

My daughter and her husband recently bought a used F150 4 door 4wd. I think it is a 2021. They are happy so far but it has only been a few months. I'll drive it some time soon.

 

[jyoutz]

Half ton.

I actually think that the big 3 and Toyota all make good half tons now. But the heavier trucks are where we see larger differences between brands.

 

[N80]

Question: The Fords and I'm sure most of the other brands come with different diff gearing. What I'm seeing in most of the v8 Fords is 3.31s.

Is that what I want?

Typical use for my trucks is short drive to work every day. Down to the cabin about an hour away every weekend. Occasional long distant trips. Towing, car trailer, tractor, two horse trailer 5-6 times a year. I use it off road down at my cabin but most of the rough dirty work goes to the old Ford farm truck.

 

[Dftodd]

My GMC Sierra is the most comfortable truck I've ever owned. Has the turning radius of a school bus. But then, every crew cab truck I've ever driven has the school bus turning radius.

I'm not a fan of Ford. The seats tend to press into my kidneys

And dodge had the hardest seats out of the bunch. 3hrs into a 14hr drive to Denver and it started feeling like I was sitting on a park bench.

I can't speak to the Toyota's. I haven't ridden in a Toyota pickup since my buddy got rid of his mid 80's model in the early 90's