Why No Love for the Titan?

[Harry Reckinrod]

Title says it all.

I bought a 2014 Titan Pro-4x earlier this year for towing, hauling, and off roading. It is not the best at any of these, but it can do them all well and the price was right. It's also easy to work on and outside of its well documented quirks, very reliable.

Aftermarket support isn't great, but seems adequate to build out a nice full size overlander. Is it the small gas tank? Is it just that Titans have such a tiny market share that they just aren't represented well? Or is there some other reason?

My kids won't be ready to go out for a few years so in the meantime my plan was to just stalk marketplace for used parts and cobble something together on the cheap. I am in San Diego so br/overlanders are everywhere and folks are always offloading old gear. But, I don't want to waste my time and money, or clutter up my garage, if there's a reason people don't build out Titans. I'm equally happy to just focus on tent/trailer camping until it's time for another truck.

Thanks for any comments.

 

[Gravelette]

You didn't mention mileage, don't know how much more reliable service you expect from the truck. That might guide how much $ you choose to put into it. My guess is low numbers is what limits the aftermarket, not some inherent fault.

 

[GR8ADV]

Title says it all.

I bought a 2014 Titan Pro-4x earlier this year for towing, hauling, and off roading. It is not the best at any of these,

…and outside of its well documented quirks…

Aftermarket support isn't great…Is it the small gas tank?


Thanks for any comments.

Did you read your own post?

 

[ovʀʟxnᴅ]

Titan parts are great for building Xterras.

 

[Harry Reckinrod]

You didn't mention mileage, don't know how much more reliable service you expect from the truck. That might guide how much $ you choose to put into it. My guess is low numbers is what limits the aftermarket, not some inherent fault.

It has about 120k. Nissan ran the same platform from 2004-2015 and I see them for sale all through that range frequently in the 175k+ range. West coast truck so rust is not an issue. It mostly sits in the driveway and I can't see putting over 5k miles a year on it. So in short I expect 10 more years out of it. At that point if we still want a truck I'll either downsize into an old Frontier if Nissan is still in business, or move to a late 2nd-gen Tundra.

There are enough aftermarket parts that I can outfit it, just not the range of options available for Toyota and Lexus, or even the Frontier-based platforms for that matter.

Titan parts are great for building Xterras.

Those and Frontiers! I was looking at Frontiers for a good while but ultimately decided they would be too cramped for us. Came across some great looking Titan swaps along the way.

 

[dstefan]

Do a search for posts by member @PirateMcGee, he’s had and built a couple

 

[Bergger]

After owning 5 Toyotas between 95 and 2020 I bought my 2018 Titan Pro4x in 2020. Hands down the best truck I've ever owned. I keep it stock with an AT Summit Topper on it and it does great and gets me where I want to go. I was bummed when they stopped making it. Just could not compete with the big 3 but I think if they had better marketing they could have taken enough of the Tundra market to justify continued production. I did have a major issue with mine just a few months ago. The truck started to knock and it ended up being a bad cylinder. This happened at 60k miles. I was out of warranty due to time and not miles. However Nissan covered the entire cost of replacing the short block of the engine as they said that should not have happened. Cheers to Nissan.

 

[PirateMcGee]

Title says it all.

I bought a 2014 Titan Pro-4x earlier this year for towing, hauling, and off roading. It is not the best at any of these, but it can do them all well and the price was right. It's also easy to work on and outside of its well documented quirks, very reliable.

Aftermarket support isn't great, but seems adequate to build out a nice full size overlander. Is it the small gas tank? Is it just that Titans have such a tiny market share that they just aren't represented well? Or is there some other reason?

My kids won't be ready to go out for a few years so in the meantime my plan was to just stalk marketplace for used parts and cobble something together on the cheap. I am in San Diego so br/overlanders are everywhere and folks are always offloading old gear. But, I don't want to waste my time and money, or clutter up my garage, if there's a reason people don't build out Titans. I'm equally happy to just focus on tent/trailer camping until it's time for another truck.

Thanks for any comments.

Marketing. You can still get an ARB bumper and Icon suspension. What else do you need?

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Plus, I really do think people are looking at strong horse/weak horse. The Titan may be a good truck, but Nissans issues as a company have been nagging to punching for several years now and there are so many other good choices, why pick the one that appears to be circling the drain?

This coming from a guy who owned an 86 300zx. In 2006, I bought a Honda Civic Si, put it side by side with the 86 ZX with the hoods up, and the nissan sounded smoother. And I loved the Maximas and Sentras of the 80's and early 90's, so I'm no hater on Nissan.

I could see myself being perfectly satisfied with a Titan. I just love what I'm already in

 

[Harry Reckinrod]

Marketing. You can still get an ARB bumper and Icon suspension. What else do you need?

I can't think of anything it needs that can't be bought or built. That's why I'm just checking to see if there's something I'm missing about the platform that makes it inherently unsuitable for over landing and so far I haven't seen anything to suggest this is the case.

It does seem, true to Nissan fashion, that they just haven't been able to market it for this. I guess when you are hovering at 1% share in the full size market, you've got bigger problems than appealing to the overland crowd.

 

[plumber mike]

I’ve had three Titans. Loved them all. Enjoyed an Xterra and a frontier previous to those. An old Nissan Pulsar fueled all the love I had for Nissan. What a great reliable car that was.
But…
No local dealers in rural America. The dealer I had 60 miles away was NOT helpful. The next closest dealer is another 300 miles away. They did far more to sour the ownership experience than the trucks ever did. No parts in stock at chain auto parts. Usually no oil filters available at Walmart either.
I ended up breaking a weld on the hitch of my 2023 XD while towing below spec. After a thorough inspection, it looked like all of the frame welds were laid on cold. It was a tough decision, but I eventually gave in and bought a Super Duty to tow my 8k camper. My insurance went down and Walmart now has my transmission fluid in stock. Fuel economy while towing has been improved as well.

 

[Harry Reckinrod]

This weekend I was able to take the truck up to San Bernardino National Forest and do some dispersed camping. Mostly dirt road driving but there were some boulders and rutted sections early on that we had fun navigating.

I think the truck is a fine fit for overlanding but I'm debating how I personally will go about it. This is a few times a year kind of thing right now, so I'm inclined to stick with tent camping.

I found a local guy to fab up rock sliders, so I'll get that done. When I recover from that I'll start stalking Marketplace for jerry cans, ditch lights, and recovery gear. I thought about getting a roof rack installed but with MPG already as bad as it is, I don't think I need that. It would mostly be for looks anyway, and I'm really trying to keep from spending money just for looks.

I'd love a 3" lift to fit 35s and adjustable Icons or Kings, but sinking $4k into it at this point would be a tough pill to swallow. I just slapped Bilstein 5100s on front and rear, plus new springs up front, and it rides so smooth on the road. As little as I get off road, it's really hard to justify a cost like that. So for now I'll just deal with the ************ off road ride and acknowledge that I have to take it slow.

 

[PirateMcGee]

Just leave it alone and take a tent. That's what it's all about....going outside.

The mods are fun but most of the time unnecessary and have tradeoffs that harm the bulk of what the vehicle is used for the other 300 days of the year.

 

[Harry Reckinrod]

Just leave it alone and take a tent. That's what it's all about....going outside.

The mods are fun but most of the time unnecessary and have tradeoffs that harm the bulk of what the vehicle is used for the other 300 days of the year.

I appreciate the encouragement. My older kid had a blast sleeping in a ground tent, and that's how I grew up too. Younger one isn't quite there yet but in another year or two he can come along. Instead of the RTT and bed rack setups I'll be setting up with self-inflating mats and some better sleeping bags. I have so far picked up one Big Agnes Captain Comfort pad and holy smokes what an improvement over an air mattress. I will get an Exped Megamat next to compare and whichever is more comfortable goes to my wife.

I am really enjoying the Titan so far and I don't want to lose access to the bed with a full height rack setup or RTT. Maybe I will look for some bed rails eventually to add a little utility. I've seen some stuff that clips into the utilitrack to hold jerry cans and such, and I'd just as soon go that route.

I do think a suspension upgrade is in the cards. I just can't stop thinking about how smooth my buddy's 4Runner (with Kings) took the trail while I was getting bounced around. I will revisit the idea when the current set of tires wears out.