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The Titan is too new of a truck, with all the problems my family has had with new Nissans, I would definitely avoid Nissan entirely. I do not like American cars at all, in fact I find them extremely sterile and boring, but I think I would have to go Chevy or Dodge on this one.
If you want reliable, out of all the trucks you listed, the GM trucks are the way to go. They may be getting dated but that means most of the deisgn problems and bugs have been ironed out. The Chev small blocks are virtually bullit-proof.
The Titan is a nice truck but its too new and scored very bad in the latest JD power inital quality survey. The new Ford and current GM trucks are top three.
My father has a 99 K1500 Suburban LT 4x4 with the 5.7L V8 and 3.42 Hwy gears. Its been bullitproof since new I think part of it is because its the last model year of that style. I can imagine the same can be said now with the 2004 GM trucks.
Originally posted by Tugz_S2K
If you want reliable, out of all the trucks you listed, the GM trucks are the way to go. They may be getting dated but that means most of the deisgn problems and bugs have been ironed out. The Chev small blocks are virtually bullit-proof.
I could not agree with that entirely, they have had some interesting problems with the chevy powerplants with piston slap and some odd fueling issues here and there. I know several avalanche owners who have had serious reservations about the midsize motor that shevy puts out. Then again my F10 stistacally has serious problems in the rear end shutter wise that ford has not gotten a handle on in my opinoin, that and some bed shake issues.
I would not even look at the tian for a work truck, they simply do not have the experiance in my opinion to build a work truck, give them 3-4 ears to work the bugs out of there platfom and it will be a different story.
My perfect truck truck would be the F150 with a smaller desiel and quadrasteer with Chevy HD 4 x4 system and ford's LSD's. .
I've been very happy w/ my Tundra Ltd. after 44K+ miles...it's been trouble-free, and IMO has the highest quality of all the 1/2 ton trucks. The interior (mostly back seat area) is a little smaller than I'd like, though, since I often stuff lots of bike gear back there during race weekends. I also discovered that I'd rather have a crew cab, since the access doors can be a PITA in crowded parking lots.
Next time I want a crew cab, and the Titan is calling my name. I rode in a friend's and it was truly badass.
Here's my take on the others (semi-educated/semi-uneducated):
Ford - class-leading interior, but under-powered/overweight, a little pricey?
Dodge - great Hemi engine, Quad cab strikes a great balance betw. interior/bed capacity and overall size
Chevy/GMC - long in the tooth (esp. interior), smooth ride, I like the low bed loading height
Chris, I think the reason the Tundra hasn't been mentioned isn't because of any lack of quality. It's a damned fine truck, but no matter how much Toyota wants to call it a full size, it just doesn't measure up. It's just too small compared to the other work / family trucks. I wanted the Tundra but my wife liked the GM better because of the back seat. Now I'm glad we went with a truck with a comfortable back seat for "real" people. I also like the crew cab idea and our next truck will likely have four full doors and at least a 6
I know it's a little smaller, but it does the job for most things unless you hauling really heavy loads or seating adults in the back on a regular basis (welll, they have the Double Cab for that now).
Hopefully Toyota and the other makes steal many of Nissan's innovative ideas like the locking bed storage compartment and movable cleat system.
I've got a 2002 1/2 ton Suburban w/ 3x,000 miles. No problems, never been back to the dealer. Not exactly a pickup, but another data point on the GM 5.3 V8 powertrain. On some (not all) cold mornings, I hear the infamous piston slap, but it only lasts about 5 seconds. It shouldn't be there at all though. I have heard in 03+ they have corrected the piston slap issue. My next truck will probably be a 3/4-ton Suburban with Quadrasteer (if only they weren't so darn expensive). I've never heard of anybody who has driven Quadrasteer that doesn't think it's great.
Truck debates can get very hot.
I'll speak my mind and go away, the Ford, Chevy and Dodge guys don't like me very much.
This is what goes into my driveway in 2005.
04-30-2004, 11:30 AM
