Toyota Tundra Forum

The Nissan- Dodge talks are actually old news, this was first announced more than 9 months ago. The economy has obviously change quite a bit since then, and the Fiat deal has put the Dodge-Nissan deal on hold.
In 07, Ghosen said that the Titan was essentially dead.They have never come come close to their sales goals and since 05, Titan sales have dropped more 80% to 1-2000/month.
This Summer there were more than 13 months of Titans and current sales levels at the plant in Mississippi when they closed Titan production.
Warranty costs were killing Nissan.
The hope was that when the 04 and 05's warranty expired, they might be able to make money. But, sales continued to slide, and the warranty costs of the 06+ models wasn't any better. the only saving grace was that Nissan sold very few Titans from 06 on.
The 04 and 05 models total about 50% of total Titan sales.
The Armada, built on basically the same platform is already extinct.
My 04 titan lasted 9 months 9600 miles before Nissan gave up replacing parts and bought it back. My 05 lasted 2 years, and Nissan replaced $12k in parts not including labor, this took over 40 trips to the dealer.
For some reason, Nissan was unable or unwilling to change the major design flaws of the Titan.
The newer Titan models are a little better, but they still suffer from major part defects. One thing Nissan is good at is finding cheap parts and if they can't parts cheap enough, they have a reputable company known for good parts, make cheap ones.
The rear diff is a good example. It was probably not a good idea in the first place to put a Dana 44 in a 300+hp truck rated to tow 10K. Nissan probably could have gotten away with using the standard Dana 44 that we all know, but they had Dana build an abortion with powder coated gears, and 2:96 or 3:36 gearing. Nissan claimed it was equivalent to other trucks with a 4:10 gears. The way they did this was by using the low gearing in the very good Titan Tranny.
Of course this cause problems with overheating the both the small diff and the tranny, especially when towing. You can't use a tranny as a substitute for a small diff.
Why Nissan didn't stick with the tried and true Dana 44 with 3:73, 4:10 or 4:30 gears is a mystery. Did they really think that using the same rear diff the Frontier uses, would be adequate for a much larger and more powerful truck? They found out the hard way and the answer is no.
The same rear diff is still used(with minor changes) and is still failing.
I could go on and on about the cheap parts.
Here is an example of a seemingly insignificant part that has cost Nissan Millions in warranty work. Cheap pipe clamps. I can't tell you how many people had power steering pump failures, tranny failures, water pump failures, radiator failures because of the cheap pipe clamps failing causing a loss of fluid.
The Titan has failed because of cheap parts, and what is worse, Nissan failed to acknowledge and fix the problem and now the Titan is facing extinction because the American consumer stopped buying the Titan after 05.

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2007 Tundra DC Limited 5.7L 4X4
TRD,NAV,TOW
Xlerator Exhaust
aFe Stage 2 CAI
BFG AT/KO 285/65/18
Desert Sand Mica

My guess as to the reason Sky is the gas mileage would have suffered at a time when they were touting the Titan as one of the better gas mileage trucks for a large HP V8!

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2007 Tundra Limited Double Cab 4x4 Super White
Volant CAI
Pioneer AVIC Z-2 (hard drive upgrade to AVIC Z-3)
Key FOB Tailgate Lock (courtesy of Toxarch)
OEM back-up camera w/flip down monitor microswitch mod
Sirius Satellite Radio
WeatherTech Floor Liners
20" OEM alloy wheels
Line-X Bed liner
UWS Black Powdercoat Low Profile Toolbox
DU-HA underseat storage unit
JC Whitney Black Nerf Bars
Lund Interceptor II Bug Shield
Tekonsha Voyager Brake Controller

After reading Skyhammers write up, i am seriously glad i did not buy a Titan. I didnt really like them though. Would like to see Skyhammers write up on the Tundra.

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Penny wise and pound foolish.
Doesn't do much good to to gain a MPG or two, if the consumer loses all faith in the reliability of the truck.
You can bet that Toyota was looking closely at the problems the Titan had when designing the Tundra.
I admit I am very biased. Owning two Titans is the biggest mistake I ever made as a consumer. I am afraid to calculate how much money the Titan cost me.
Over 60 trips to the dealer(150 miles round trip), 60 days + missed work(good thing I am semi-retired), and at least $15k in lost equity, as the Titan lost value quicker than any vehicle I have ever owned.

I hear ya Sky.... I know many Titan owners had similar problems as you. I guess I was one of the lucky ones and got a Titan that had only one trip to the dealer (for the replacement brake rotors and pads, and a leaking input shaft seal on the front transfer case). And, that truck (which now has almost 100k miles on it) now belongs to my son-in-law who has had zero problems with it. I suspect I was one of the few lucky ones!

I have an 05 Titan and love it, I had the brake fix done and manifolds replaced under warrenty but other then that its holding up great. And I think must Titan owners in general don't have many problems with them after talking with several Titan owner here in town. In fact I'm between either a 2010 Titan or a Tundra as my next truck. The Titan just is has a little more headroom and legroom up front for my 6'8" frame.

Let me help you make your decision. I owned a '05 Titan and only had two warranty issues with it. The Brakes and the inline electronic device on the trailer wiring harness that Nissan installed to keep your wiring from getting fried if you had a trailer with bad wiring (not really a Nissan fault issue).

Having said that, the paint was either too thin or just lousy quality in that you could nick/chip it real easy. The plastic inside the truck was cheap also. It scratched super easy (especially if you let your seatbelt go which I am pretty good about not doing). The truck ran like a scalded ape and those were my only issues with it.

I traded it to get my current F150 (old itch I had to scratch). The F150 has problems and if it doesn't get fixed right it will go bye bye. That's how I ended up here, kind of. I recently went on a tour of the Tundra plant in San Antonio. I was truly impressed with the way the trucks are made and the people I spoke with. In the visitor's center they had some Tundras that you could sit in and inspect. The quality blew me away. Go open and close a door on a Titan or F150 and then do it on a Tundra. Night and day difference.

After my plant tour my wife and I went to the nearest Toyota dealer (literally) and drove a Tundra. Here's what I found.

Fit and finish - superb

Performance (5.7 model) - would run circles around a nutless F150 and smoke a Titan like a cheap cigar.

Comfort - more comfortable than my Titan and on par with my F150

Ergonomics - right on for me at least.

Looks - badass

Helpfullness of the dealership personnel - I told them I had been on a plant tour and was from the Houston area (about 200 miles away for you out of towners). I told them that I just wanted to look and that if I decided to buy it would be back home. They told me no problem, went and got keys to two trucks and even let me and my wife take one for a spin by ourselves. They never got my information other than a handshake and first name introduction when I got there. That's how you treat potential customers. They did as much for my opinion of the whole Toyota family/operation as anyone/anything.

And let me add that if you ever get a chance to go on the plant tour do it. Schedule ahead as they get full and they do three a day currently. We got lucky and the group that was scheduled to go at 9:00am cancelled so it was just me and my wife. A gentleman named Chris gave us our tour and he was great.

Can you tell that I'm impressed by the whole experience?



Steve

Yep Steve, when quality, value and customer service is done right you really notice the difference. BTW, noticed this is your first post so welcome! You might want to consider posting over in the New Members forum so everyone can more formally welcome you. And btw, doesn't matter that you don't yet own a Tundra.... only requirement is you love trucks! We just happen to focus on the best one out there!

That was a very good write up Steve, I think i can speak for the others on this forum and say, we also were impressed with Toyota, and are sure happy we own one.

I'd love to go on a plant tour. Maybe we should have a San Antonio meet and schedule a tour sometime.

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2007 SR5 Crewmax 5.7L 4x4
Mods: nerf bars, Truxedo tonneau, radar detector power, 3M clear bra, fog lights, black billet grille, rear differential breather, parking sensors, Line-X, power tailgate lock, hood safety latch mod, one off driving lights behind grille, Pioneer NAV w/ OEM camera, Flowmaster 50 SUV dual/dual, blue LED dash lights, Volant CAI, Llumar tint, CompuStar Pro alarm, ProComp 6066 20" wheels, Cooper Zeon LTZ 275/60/20 tires, OME HD coilover lift, Firestone helper air bags, stereo cable lock, Tekonsha P3 brake controller
All mod descriptions and pictures © 2007-2009 by Toxarch. They may be copied only for personal use and the mods may be done for non-profit only.