I learned this past weekend that a friend of mine, diehard ford man mind you, bought a Nissan Titan. His wife has a 99 Expy with 196K on it, still looks and runs great. He had a 94 F-150 with about 250K on it and it was still in great shape. I asked his wife why he bought the Nissan, and her answer was simple, more truck for less money. Not nessecerly better she said but more options and what not for lots less money. He is also a mechanic and I have asked him about all vehicles I have purchased in the last 8 years for his experience working on them. I would have to assume he had not seen too many problems with the Titan or he would not have purchased it. I think it is sad that a company that is not in the greatest shape financially is not willing to deal more to keep what they have, loyal customers. In case anyone wonders he got a Crew Cab 4wd out the door for $26K. His wife did not tell me Fords best price but to make him switch it must have been quite a bit higher. Not trying to start a debate here, just telling a story. Dan

 

All I have to say is he likes the Nissan better...........PERIOD.


With current rebates, 0% financing and just some basic shopping knowledge there is NO WAY you can't get as good if not better deal on a Ford.

Local dealer had a $31,000 Super Duty Crew Cab this last weekend for sale @ $23,000.

Either your boy does not know how to shop or somehow thinks the Titan is "more truck" than a Super Duty.

 

Now thats kind off amazing story isnt it. Thats a copout about the price. If he shopped around he could have got what he wanted for the price he wanted. Why would somebody go drive something else after his Fords have given him good service. Its kind off like ditchin your best friend an liking someone else for no reason at all Them Titans are ugly. I wouldnt be caught dead in one. I question the intelligence off people like this. I really do. Hell surly be dissappointed.

 

In that part of the country, he is in NC and Nissan is in TN, Nissans may be more widely available and therefore cheaper. Each local market is different. Here in So Cal, any brand is available at a great deal because there are so many dealers for all makes. Still, my most recent purchase was a Toyota because there were no Ford or GM trucks of the configuration I needed (4x4, regular cab, long bed) in stock at any dealership in the entire state of California at the time, regardless of price.

Jim

 

I suggest that this:

is not consistent with this:

Not a problem. I buy primarily on price too. But there are a couple of places that I am "loyal to" also. My HVAC repairman, for example. I like him. His prices seem reasonable. So I use him and have never shopped his price to anyone else.

So if you are a "loyal" Ford (or GM or DCX or whatever) buyer, I suggest that $2000 won't make you switch.

 

I am pretty sure that Dodge has lower prices than FORD too, you might even say that about Chevy. Here in Hawai'i the prices of FORDs are high because of demand. It seems everyone is on the new F150 band wagon here. It seems to be a trend. The dealers can't keep them on their lots.
To each his own, everyone has a budget and a particular taste and need for that matter. I will always buy a FORD(any car in FORD family).
Could not see myself, buying anything else.

 

I can only speak of what his wife passed on to me, I have not talked to him since his purchase. I figure Nissan was willing to deal more because around here and where he lives in Raleigh, Ford has a long time following and strong foothold on the market and Nissan is trying to break in. I will talk to him soon and see how much difference there was in the price. He was looking at a F-150 Supercrew, not a superduty, DOHC. I too have seen great deals on both 150's and superdutys but usually they are only on a few trucks on the lot. I also agree with the statement of if something gives you that many years of good service why switch. Even his wife was surprised when he got home with the Nissan.

 

The Titan has not been around long enough to prove it's durability. One glance is enough to confirm that it is hideous however.

 

the dang thing couldast 20 years and 1 million miles, i wouldn't won it, its UGLY!

 

He probably liked the HP of the 5.6 and the five speed auto. He probably liked the price for all of that HP and that five speed auto. What he won't like later is the fuel bill to feed those HP. He probably won't like to change the rear axle fluid every 15,000 miles if he pulls anything at all. He probably won't like replacing the rear axle that has been prone to fail before 50,000 miles. He probably won't like the cheap plastic interior that has a tendency to fall apart. He probably will be back in an F-150 in one year or less.
I can say all of these things as a friends wife bought him a Titan for Christmas. It's not really a bad looking truck, all white and all options. He won't drive it because of the poor fuel mileage. Just sitting in the garage with less than 5000 miles on it and the interior is falling apart. He has gotten several recalls on the rear axle and the last one was for the rear axle cover plate to be replaced with an aluminum one with cooling fins. While I find the new Frontier a pretty decent truck for its class, the Titan is a dismal failure. It goes real fast, just not for long.

 

Whats the deal with the Dana 44 in the Titan? Those axles have been around for decades in half ton and even some three quarter ton applications. F-250 4x4's of the mid 1960's had them front and rear. The only thing I can think of is the horsepower combined with the the fact that todays "half ton" trucks weigh more than yesterday's "three quarter ton" models.

Styling and interiors are a matter of taste, but I think that is Ford's biggest advantage today, from a marketing perspective.

Jim

 

Gee, if price was the big issue, he should've come home with a Dodge. People are funny- there's a lot of reasons that can motivate a purchase. everyone hammers price- but that's usually lower on the list of priorities. Here's a recent marketing study:

Reason Number
What motivated you to consider buying a new car?
Percent of shoppers

14
Lease on old car is up
4.8%

13
Wanted a vehicle with new “techy toys” (Nav, DVD, etc.)
6.2%

12
Needed a vehicle with more room
9.0%

11
My significant other wanted a new car
11.9%

10
Needed another car for my family
14.0%

9
Financing deals/incentives too good to pass up
14.3%
8
Wanted a vehicle with better safety features
14.6%

7
Like the styling of the new models
15.0%

6
Not really sure, other
17.0%

5
Old car just died
17.6%

4
Wanted a car with better gas mileage
19.2%

3
Old car was always in for repairs
20.4%

2
Tired of the old car, I wanted something new
22.0%


And the top reason why is


1
Old car had high mileage
35.2%


Source: BIGresearch The sum of % totals may be greater than 100% because respondents could select more than one answer.

Linky

 

Add another one to the list To keep up with the Joneses. Ive seen that happen many times. The old adage if he can buy a new car why cant I. Very interesting. Financing deals an incentives to good to pass up. Look at last years employee pricing an how many people bought when that came about. Not really sure talk about a lame excuse.

 

Flash, I don't know if the mileage will bother him that much, his F-150 only got around 15 I think. I don't really think there is that much difference in fuel economy with any fullsize truck with a compareable size V-8. A friend of my moms has a 05 F-150 crewcab 4X4 , 5.4 and around town it only gets 12 and 16 on the highway, and unfortunately he has had lots of problems with it. Including noise and poping from the rearend. I love how it looks though, especially on the inside. I think you can have a lemon in any make or model. I do know if he has problems with the Titan, I will hear about it, he will not try to hide it. Polarbear, interesting list, I would tend to agree with most of those reasons. As I posted above, he did have 250K on his 94, fits reason number one.

 

jimandmandy, take a look at the folks over at titantalk and the amount of rear axle failures they have had. Some of these guys have had the rear axles replaced multiple times. I think the problem is the 8" ring gear and the gear ratio. The Titan uses a lower gearing in the tranny and a much higher gear in the rear. The poor rear axle takes a beating especially from the under rated 5.6.
http://www.titantalk.com/forums/atta...f?d=1139102977