By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(September 4, 2016) At the age of 89, Cindy’s mom has finally agreed that it’s time to stop living alone in the house she and her husband bought in the early 1950s, and to move in with her kids.Which has meant a lot of work getting the house ready for sale. A good portion of that has been taking things that didn’t sell at the garage sale to the local Salvation Army store, but even some of that was so old and wildly out of style that it ended up in the dump.

Other items were transported to our house, the smaller ones in the family sedan, while larger items required a full-size pickup truck.



Toyota Tundra

Thankfully, Toyota’s Detroit office came through with a Tundra on (very) short notice. A 4x4 Limited Double Cab painted Blazing Blue Pearl whose only options were running boards (much appreciated) and the Limited Premium Package. The latter, a $1,065 option includes items like a front and rear parking assist sonar, Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross Traffic Alert, auto up/down front windows, illuminated entry and an anti-theft system. Despite not being the biggest, bulkiest truck to grace my driveway recently (more on that later), the Rear Cross Traffic Alert and front and rear sonar sensors came in handy.

With its high hood line, it’s tough to tell just how close the front end of the truck is to things ahead, especially when parking. I found myself stopping a few feet short of the target with the system turned off, which often left the tail of the truck hanging out in the lane.

There was a time when this would have been a difficult thing to do with Toyota’s biggest pickup. The 1993-1998 T100 was a halfhearted attempt at building a larger than compact pickup, and a timid take on what full-size customers want in their pickups. It had a large bed, but looked like a warmed-over Tacoma with a variety of V6 engines under the hood.

More of a placeholder until the first generation Tundra appeared in 1999, the T100 was to be followed by Toyota’s first clean-sheet full-size pickup, the T150, but a lawsuit from Ford saw it renamed “Tundra”. Unlike the T100, you could get a V8 in the Tundra, a 4.7-liter with 245 hp and 315 lb.-ft. of torque. There were Regular Cab, Access Cab and Double Cab versions added over time, as well as different bed styles. But, good as it was, it still didn’t feel like a full-size pickup.

That changed when the second generation Tundra debuted at the 2006 Chicago Auto Show. The 4.0-liter V6 and 4.7-liter V8 were still offered, but the top of the line 381 hp 5.7-liter V8 gave it the grunt and towing capacity to go with its full-size pretensions. The Tundra was starting to come into its own. And Toyota, which had been racing the Camry in NASCAR for years, now had something to sell those fans. (Ask any Detroit marketing type why their company races in the Sprint Cup and they’ll tell you it’s to support pickup truck sales. Success in the top NASCAR series means more to pickup intenders than competing in the Camping World Truck Series.) It also gave it models that would appeal to that growing body of buyers who use a full-size for everyday transport.

This group of buyers were catered to with the 2014 refresh that gave the Tundra a higher, more chiseled nose, a new interior with more luxury features, and a retuned suspension. Ride quality was improved, and the re-valved steering system gave better on-center feel and accuracy. All of these changes were apparent as we drove over the river and through the woods — or more accurately, down the highway from one city another — to grandma’s (now great grandma’s) old house.

The latest edition Tundra steers more accurately, rides much more comfortably, and has less wind and road noise. The hobby horse rocking motion that used to be the price of entry with a large 4x4 pickup is almost totally banished, and the highway ride is confident, secure and comfortable. Someone did a lot of work with the bushings to get the needed compliance without the wind-up and underdamped ride motions.

Is the Tundra perfect? Nope. The throttle pedal causes ankle pain as it is slightly out-of-place, forcing you to move the seat back slightly to help alleviate the pain. (It comes back the longer you’re behind the wheel.) Also, Toyota insists on fitting a drop-in plastic bedliner that can slide from side-to-side, scratching the finish underneath. Though it provides a more slippery surface on which to slide cargo, it also traps dirt and moisture that can lead to rust. [Toyota says that the bed liner, which is installed by the dealer, can be replaced with a spray-in bedliner, also dealer supplied. Good to know. -- ed.]

The tuning knob for the radio is located up high on the center stack, but is a bit of a reach. It’s easy to forget that there’s a navigation system if you don’t press the “home” button that brings up the audio and nav screens in split-screen format. And there’s something about the silver trim on either side of the large infotainment unit that is more than a little reminiscent of Ford’s F-150. Which is sort of funny when you consider that most Ford buyers would never consider swapping their F-150 for a Tundra.

If they did, they might be surprised at just how nice the Tundra has become. There’s a refined, powerful (381 hp/401 lb.-ft.) V8 mated to a six-speed automatic, aromatic leather trim, large controls with knurled edges, a 7.0-in. infotainment screen, power adjustable front seats, a bed tie down system, and decent fuel economy (16.5 mpg in driving biased more toward highway than city).

You could say it’s not only the best Japanese full-size pickup, it’s the best option for those who are either tired of their domestic pickup, or are looking for a full-size pickup that’s not one of the expected varietals. You could say it, but you might be wrong.



Nissan Titan XD

This is the model Nissan chose to launch first, in part to establish the new Titan’s “tough truck” bona fides before the mainstream half-ton version was launched. Built on a thicker gauge heavy duty frame and offering a Cummins diesel that gives it a maximum towing capability of 12,314 lb., the XD sits in the space between light and heavy duty.

The reason, claims Nissan, is that each year approximately 150,000 pickup buyers move between light and heavy duty (150 to 250 or 1500 to 2500, if you’re Chevy/GMC or Ram fans) looking for a truck that fits their needs. They want towing and/or payload capacity, but tire quickly of the rough ride, extreme bulk and other compromises that come with a move to the more robust pickup. However, a light duty truck isn’t quite what they need to carry their load.

Often, the light duty truck can just pull the weight, but wanders all over the road as the heavy tail wags the dog. Giving them an alternative that is robustly built, offers an integrated goose neck hitch and bed-mounted hitch ball, and that is available in models from the bare-bones S to the leather-wrapped Platinum Reserve should, Nissan hopes, siphon off a  number of these buyers.

As with the lighter duty Titan, the Crew Cab model was the first version of the XD to be offered for sale, and — therefore — was the vehicle that showed up in, and dominated, my driveway. Built on a 151.5-in. wheelbase (11.8 in. longer than the non-XD Titan Crew Cab) and stretching nearly 243 in. overall, this is a large truck. The 310 hp/555 lb.-ft. of torque Cummins straight six under the hood required a longer, higher hood, so all XDs have an imposing face with headlights that redefine the word “massive”.

And it feels massive, too. The long wheelbase and overall length make this a vehicle you park well away from the mall entrance. It’s a fool’s errand to try and pivot this ocean liner between a pair of parked cars. Not only will they disappear behind the hood well before you reach them, the pivot point follows a long way behind, making the arc this truck travels feel only slightly smaller than the one the earth follows around the sun.

XDs with smaller cabs will have smaller wheelbases and greater maneuverability, and this lack of nimbleness is common throughout the industry on long-wheelbase pickups. So the Nissan is no worse than its competition in this area.

A major plus is the Cummins diesel, which adds about $5,000 to the bottom line. In day-to-day mixed driving, the XD returned a solid 14 mpg, and made just the right amount of big rig sound under acceleration. And while the Titan XD won’t win many drag races, the astounding torque will launch the XD with malice away from lights, and is probably enough to pull your neighbor’s house down. However, a truck this size is more than most buyers need, which brings me to the 2017 Titan Crew Cab. The truck that should make every other full-size pickup maker sit up and take notice.



Nissan Titan Crew Cab Pro-4X

About the only things carried over from the XD to the Titan are the lights, cabs, interiors and tailgate. The front and rear are shorter, as is the wheelbase, and the overall height is marginally lower. These changes make the truck much easier to maneuver and park, and improve the forward field of vision. And the rich grain leather, double accent stitching across the top of the instrument panel, and bright trim are more in keeping with the Titan’s demeanor than the XD’s.

You may have noticed the picture taken in front of the billboard (above), and thought it was little more than a funny juxtaposition when, actually, it is a comment on the 2017 Titan. Or, more accurately, a comment that will be on the lips of every competitor, foreign and domestic, once they get their hands on this vehicle.

The previous Titan came out of the box in 2003 as a raucous, rough-and-tumble, somewhat uncouth pickup, and stagnated for most of the next 12 years. Nissan toyed with the idea of dropping it for the Ram when it looked into buying a stake in Chrysler but, when that plan disappeared, Nissan threw its weight behind creating a truly competitive full-size pickup.

So it has a comfortable interior that does not suffer from the slightly awkward throttle pedal angle of the Tundra, built-in LED bed lighting (including a lens built into the side of the taillights that throws light on the tailgate when it’s lowered), a fold up rear seat with a setback that folds forward to give easy access to the child seat tether mount, an Around View 360-degree monitor, and more. It also has what could be the best ride and handling of any full-size pickup on the market today.

Nissan found one of the few curvy sections of road with elevation change near Milford, Michigan, that the glaciers didn’t grade flat to show off the Titan’s prowess. This section consists of a downhill left that bottoms as it becomes an uphill right/left combination, and is followed shortly thereafter by a slight downhill right that opens up onto a straight.

It’s perfect for loading and unloading the suspension, and features a rough, mildly potholed verge that is perfect for upsetting the suspension while under load. Nissan must have a similar stretch of road where it tests for the 4wd Titan Pro-4X tracked straight and clean through this section, requiring very little additional steering input, and did not chatter the rear wheels or induce side-to-side rocking when the wheels were purposely dropped onto the rough verge.

In addition, the Titan has a firmer (but not harsh) ride than the Tundra tested, slightly heavier steering, and a firmer brake pedal with a quicker initial bite. Which means that the controls are matched to the more robust feel chosen by the engineers. Thus, the Tundra feels like a Tacoma 4x4 TRD tuned for the Lexus set, while the Titan has the positivity and responsiveness you might expect if a Z-car engineer was part of the project. In both cases, the engineers did masterful work with the suspension bushings to keep undamped ride motions under control but the firmer, more positive feel of the Titan — aided by progressive-rate rear leaf springs and the use of uniquely tuned Bilstein dampers — is confidence inspiring.

Until my time behind the wheel of the Titan, I thought the Tundra was one of the best experiences I’d had in a luxurious 4x4 full-size pickup. It still is. However, should more time behind the wheel prove the impressions created during my short time with the Titan correct, full-size pickup truck makers have something they didn’t want: A surprisingly capable and comfortable new competitor.

The Virtual Driver