@adrianp89 @BlkGS
Went and drove a Titan last night. TL: DR at the bottom.
Overall it's a nice truck. I can see where the money difference between the GMC and the Nissan is though. I'll break it down by category below, I have a lot of thoughts.
Interior:
I think the Nissan is just as nice or nicer here. Seats are firm and pleasant, but not superb. Infotainment and center stack is somewhat better laid out. it works fine, none of them are how I would do it, so they all have weird quirks and such. Center console is MUCH better in the Nissan. Good place to put the phone that shows thoughts on where the hell the cord should go. I think they copied this from RAM, not sure who had it first to be honest. Panoramic Moonroof is pretty amazing, and doesn't buffet or sound weird on the expressway. The fit and finish isn't as good as the GMC, but the plastic bits are less obvious and of higher quality. They don't fit quite as tight though. Seats are "higher" or the dash is "lower" than I'm used to. Felt a bit odd. No HUD in the Nissan despite a large panel that looks like where one would go. Windshield is more upright and smaller in general do to the higher beltline styling. Not bad, but noticeable. Rearview mirror felt small, and visibility overall didn't' feel as good. Overall I would be perfectly happy spending time here. Big takeaway is that it didn't agitate my neck the way the Audi does. I could easily sit in the back seat behind the drivers seat setup for my 6'2" frame. Rear air vents and rear seat heaters are present, as well as some USB ports and a charging port. Boys will do just fine back there for years to come.
Exterior:
Styling is subjective, but it's a fine looking truck. The white with black accents are nice, the step boards are SUPER solid and coating in LineX or similar bed coating stuff. Emblems are a little obnoxious, and the large "Pro-4X" decal will go away in short order. Bed comes pre-lined with durable coating and it has some sort of track system in it. No idea if that's actually useful or not, have to see how that works out after purchase. Wheel/Tire package is 18's with AT General Grabber tires. Not stellar, but not bad. I like the 20's on the AT4 better, but overall no big deal, the look fits. No fancy tailgate, no fancy anything really. It's pretty basic bed and cab on wheels here. LED lighting looked nice, but I didn't drive it at night to have any idea how that performed.
Driving:
The 5.6L (which does take premium I've learned) has TONS of power. 1st gear is short and makes easy work of spinning the tires. Throttle is a little touchy, but not bad. Have to watch what you're doing to keep from putting down too much power on turns out of parking lots and such. The engine sounds AMAZING. I merged onto the expressway next to one of those concrete wall things, and the reverb was just great. It honestly sounds as good or better than my SS did, definitely better than the diesel in the AT4. Tow rating is 9,660lb, I think payload was 1,400-ish lbs. That stacks up well against the AT4, and easily has me covered. The suspension is very typical truck. It's oversprung when empty, and possibly over damped a bit. Made it a bit nervous over bumps, it's definitely NOT smooth like the RAM's, but it's not far off the AT4. The 18's weren't doing it any favors either. Steering was HEAVY. ALL THE TIME, it was heavy. I thought something was broken in the parking lot, it's seriously under assisted. On the highway, the heavy feeling made for great cruising, but parking at the grocery store is gonna build some shoulder and bicep muscles.
The fuel mileage is a concern on premium. At 20k mi/yr that calculation I did before grows to ~$85/mo. Makes a stronger case for the diesel. The "upside" is that there is no trickery in the engine. No start/stop system. No cylinder deactivation. It's just a big, powerful V8 and 9spd transmission. Kind of like the simplicity of it, despite it's arguably abysmal economy. I think it's a DOHC engine, but I'm not certain. I didn't even lift the hood now that I think about it.
The driver aids were OK. Not great, but OK. As expected, they worked just like I expected them to, and very similarly to my wifes '18 Rogue. The auto cruise didn't like a busy urban street with cars on the side of the road, and people turning from the left lane. But it seemed to do fine on the interstate and maintained speed and distance acceptably. Rear parking sensors fired on me when doing a test park at the grocery store, good and bad I suppose. I found the button to turn them off, but not sure how that works for things like hooking up the boat and going back and forth forward and reverse to get lined up. Camera views were good, but quality was poor. I'm spoiled by the HD cameras on the Audi that look amazing and have exceptional field of view. Even the GMC's are down compared to the Audi stuff on video quality.
Overall feel:
It's a truck. It's going to do truck things. It's not as refined as the RAM, and not as pretty as the GMC. It has plenty of power, and plenty of space. It presents a really good value overall. $60.5k for a brand new truck with an exceptional warranty. This particular dealership gives "lifetime" warranties on all new Nissans. If you own it, and bought it from them, they cover everything except maintenance and wear items for the entirety of your ownership. Nissan corporate does 5yrs 100k miles bumper to bumper coverage. Not sure RAM or GMC can compete at that level. It's not the driving experience you'll get from the GMC, and it doesn't have the refinement of the RAM, but it'll do the truck things just fine. I liked it. Probably an 8/10 on an overall scale. I still like the AT4 better, but then again I also like double oaked Woodford Reserve, but drink Four Roses on the regular. I think the Titan is the right choice here for where I'm at in life, finances, and desires. It's nice enough to have all the features, but not so luxuruious that it's going to be fragile or cost me a fortune to maintain.
Working the deal:
Here's where we hit a snag. I'm like 90% certain I want the Titan at this point. They will NOT budge off sticker price, and gave me an absurdly low value on my Audi. Like, $5k under Carvana offer on the Audi. I owe around $40k on it, and they offered $28k. They're selling on the Audi boards right now for around $42k or so. I don't have the best example, I get that, but they can take a hike at $28k. We'll have to work on that. Also, I've found a few dealers online that have exactly what I want for $1-2k under sticker through rebates and such. We're a LONG ways apart on the making the deal work at this point. We'll see if I can close that gap in the next few days, but who knows.
I do think I'm going to lease though. I've changed vehicles every 3-5yrs for the past 20yrs I've been driving, and I've had a payment almost that whole time. Say what you will about the financial literacy that might or might not be at play there, but leasing appears to fit my habits. If I take a 15k/yr lease for 3 years, and actually drive 18k/yr, at $0.25/mi overage I'm only $2,250 in the hole, and I only pay that if I walk away and hand them the keys. I spoke to the finance manager about it, and she recommended shooting for a 17k/yr lease. We can adjust our habits some, and it limits our exposure up front. If we overbuy miles I don't get that money back, but if I underbuy I don't want to do so grossly. If I lease through them, all maintenance while under lease is covered as well, so there's some cost savings to be had there.......We'll see where I land. I'm not afraid of going elsewhere to get the truck and deal I want, and I'm hoping I can leverage that to get a comparable deal locally.
TL: DR
It's a truck. It does truck things well. It's a great value. I think I'll pick it over the AT4.
So glad we traded the 17 explorer sport, the small gas tank was annoying plus we got premium trade in for it.
