I don't need a truck and certainly don't need a diesel truck, but I've been noticing that the diesel XD Titans keep popping up around me for around 20k-ish which, in many cases, appears cheaper than their gas counterparts. Seems like these could be one hell of a deal for truck shoppers in need of something newer with lower miles without taking out a second mortgage. What says the hive?
IIRC, Fueled by Caffeine worked for Cummins during the development of the 5L diesel and he was very much not impressed.
It might pay to shoot him a PM.
I Do Cars tore one down on their YT channel, found a broken crankshaft, which is a known issue supposedly. Only know one person that has one and they are happy with it.
Cummins doesn't seem to do V8's well. Even their old-school V8's were never that impressive. VT-903 was never heralded by truckers as being anything to write home about. The military used a lot of them though.
Their I6's on the otherhand: legendary.
I also worked on it during my time there. Engine itself is pretty stout, though it uses chain driven cams instead of gears like the bigger Cummins. Like most modern diesels it is hampered by complicated emissions equipment that likes to fail or throw codes. The sequential twin turbo system is also a little complicated, since it uses a rotary exhaust valve that diverts exhaust gas into one or both turbos. Think EGR valve but with even more moving parts, so it's a bit failure prone. The turbos themselves had some oiling issues too. The transmission integration is not great either, like borderline unpleasant to drive.
I shopped them pretty hard and was ultimately scared away. They have a repuation for snapping crankshafts. And the driving experience isn't fantastic. They're not bad, but they drive 10 years older than they are.
I still work for Cummins, though wasn't involved with that program. It's a technically interesting engine and air handling system, but also a very short lived one which would make me worried about long term ownership. I drove a few and was also not impressed with the transmission integration, but I tend to be picky about that. It's not a common vehicle to see in the employee lots, which usually tells you something too.
Being a Nissan, it will surprise none of you that the gestation period for the truck was much longer than it should have been, and the market segment it was designed for ultimately didn't really appear, so they're a bit of a unique offering being a 1500 with a large-ish diesel.
Counterpoint would be that I do know a few non-engineer people who have them and like them, and I do still see a surprising number of them on my cross country road trips, often towing something.
The general gist seems to be that you get 3/4 ton truck downsides with half ton truck capabilities.
It rides, turns and drinks like a big truck, but has capabilities that some trims of half ton trucks can compete with (at least on paper). It's a pretty specialized tool in my opinion. If you're frequently towing something that would be near/at the limit for a half ton (10-12k lbs perhaps) then it might make sense.
They're uncommon trucks, with even less common engines. Parts support would surely be more of a concern than anything from other truck makers. Also worth noting that it's the only diesel that Nissan has offered in the US in at least 30 years or so. Their dealers may not be the most versed and well practiced units when it comes to diagnosing and repairing one.
I don't think it's a terrible option, but I don't think I'd shell out my money for one either.
It almost sounds like the kind of vehicle that would be fun to own just for the sake of driving something you don't see very often.
Another car magazine had one for a long term test that I'm sure you can find. Let's just say that they were quite dissatisfied.
I recall hearing that the gas version was more capable or towed better than the cummins version. Not sure if that is true or not.
i had experiences with a few of the first gen titans, the gas versions, and i really liked them.
My boss had one that the dealership took back due to the amount of time it spent in the shop within about 6 months time. He's pretty happy with the 5.6 replacement.
I was at Holset during development of this engine. It's a bit of a mongrel and now a total orphan.
Late 1990's early 2000's the original engines and concepts were built as part of a DOE project with dodge. A light duty v8 for ram and a v6 for durango were delveoped. They showed good promise but then the financial crisis happened.
so Cummins went shopping and got Nissan to sign up. Changes were made from the version I saw. They also tried to shop it to the military as a replacement for the 6.2-6.5 in hummers. That didn't work well. I don't know if was performance or if the government cancelled the plan due to global financial crisis.
anyways. They are lighter built engines than the standard Cummins fare. The cranks snap. The turbos are proprietary to that engine and the turn valve is completely unique never to be used again.
finding parts is tough.
finding people who know how to work on them is worse.
Built a whole plant for that engine. 500 jobs etc. probably not there now
My buddy had one. Never gave him a lick of trouble. Had it for 5 or 6 years. It was OK when it was new but felt dated fast. I felt it was ugly but I am not a fan of chrome and Nissan used a ton of it.
He went F150 Ecoboost - Nissan - F150 Ecoboost.
Loves the F150.
Fueled by Caffeine said:Built a whole plant for that engine. 500 jobs etc. probably not there now
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
I worked in CEP for a bit where they were building that engine. Line is totally gone, last time I was in there it was being used as a staging area for battery production. Even when it was there, it never ran at a particularly high capacity that I saw.
The M2 turbo is an oddity for sure. There was a version made for other markets that actually sold, but in relatively low numbers, with a conventional turbo. Can't imagine trying to service the odd RV that ended up with one of those.
I cant share everything I know or how I know it but just no. If you meet the extremely narrow use case for one just buy a 2500 and don't OCD over the fact that you have a little more truck than you absolutely need (its a good thing)
If you HAVE to buy a TItan buy the newest 5.6 you can afford and get a service contract the covers the cylinder scoring problems.
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