Silverado or Tundra or Titan.....

[ouarkie]

Ryan if it is only 35 lbs of sound deadening it was definitely worth it. IMHO the GMC was definitely the quieter vehicle. My 09 Ford came with heated and ventilated seats on both drive and passenger bucket seats. It also has MySynch which is nice for talking on a cell phone with bluetooth. It also came with a 6 month subscription to Sirius satellite radio. I bought the lifetime subscription within the month so I don't have to listen to all the annoying car dealer commercials. I don't know the last time I listened to regular radio. It also rocks when I drive down to Houston to visit friends in Pearland, Tx. Don't have to keep trying to find a radio station.

[Grubrunner]

For the record: I'll be spending my second full day today driving a 2011 Nissan Titan SL 4X4 CrewCab before handing it back in this evening.

 

I'll post a brief [opinionated] review following.

ohh yea, 2012s are getting heated and ventilated seats... i think i'll just hold out a year or two after the 2014 new body style rolls out. my truck is already loaded. the only things that are going to keep me happy for now is getting that 2012 LTZ grille and new door speakers/sound deadening. the mod bug has once again healed my new car fever! me!

I'm familar with the heated and cool seats, but what exactly is a "ventilated" seat?

Admittedly, they don't. But I knew that going into the purchase and I wasn't deterred. Mine reads 14.8 AVG MPG with probably 85-90% around town driving.

At that rate of driving around town, that is pretty darn good MPG for a full-sized pickup with a large V8.

 

Very impressive actually.

I have the 4.8, and it only is short 13 hp from the 5.3. I dont feel its underpowered at all with the 302hp 305 tq.

I'm surprised the power and torque difference is so minimal. I would have thought the 5.3 Gen III would have more "oomph."

[ouarkie]

I thought he meant cooled seats. The Ford has a fan in the bottom seat and it blows cool air.

[Grubrunner]

Okay, I'd just never heard of the term "ventilated" to describe cooled seats.

 

Thanks.

[Z71_Denali]

yeah it blows cool air on your bum.

 

i was bored and went to test drive a sierra denali over the weekend, just to feel the power difference between the 6.2 and my 5.3. i tried out the cooled seat function and it will take some getting used to... that said, my wife suggested i wait to get a new truck when we see what the new models look like in a couple years.

[Grubrunner]

I'll try again.....

[Grubrunner]

Okay, just returned home from dropping off the 2011 <NOBR>Nissan Titan</NOBR> SL 4X4 Crew Cab with Standard Bed with 1200-miles on the clock.

 

I did no off-road driving. Only city and highway. Picked it up Sunday evening and dropped it off 5PM [EST] today.

 

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Driving impressions - Plenty of power and torque with a nice OEM exhaust tone [quietly surprised... is this the norm?]. Engine is smooth all-round with a great responsive acceleration pedal, transmission shifts very smoothly [though my one had a little hard time down shifting one time] and the steering, for a large vehicle of this class, is pretty darn accurate and very easy to steer [read: precise]. Wife said the ride [suspension] was a little stiff, but I loved it and though Nissan nailed it. Some body-lean around corners but nothing out of the ordinary for something this size. Braking, now this is where I was VERY impressed. For a vehicle this cumbersome, the breaking is super impressive! It's the best breaking vehicle of this size I've ever driven.... period! I spent a decent amount of $$$'s on my previous '05 Ford F-150 to update/improve the [crappy] breaking and STILL could not get it to break like this.

 

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Overall - The way I feel right now, it's on the top of my list.

 

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Thanks for reading.<o:p></o:p>

[Foxxer]

Silverado has all the advantages, only thing I like about Tundra's passenger compartment, you could sleep with ease and HP. Other than that, Tundra's have a terrible chassis, bed shacks too.

 

Titans, meh... Never been in a one.

[Dv3andrs]

Ed, I'm glad you gave the Titan a test and gave it an honest chance! I love the braking on mine, it saved me a couple times the other day driving through I-95 in Virginia. The wind noise is probably a case of the deflector. Good luck in whatever you choose though!

[ouarkie]

Ed I liked the Nissan too. I was just to <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026"/> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->embarrassed to to say I liked the exhaust tone. It really does sound sweet. Like I said the only problem I had was it hurt the wife's back after about 5 or 10 miles in, so I took a short cut and went back to the dealer. I didn't see any point in wasting my time driving something that I wouldn't buy anyway. From my experience driving all brands I don't think you can really go wrong with any of them. It just comes down to which one you like best, and fits your needs and budget. I hope my post helped with your decision, and look forward to some pictures of your new ride!!!

[3PedalMINI]

im glad you gave it a try. Since my Nissan NV is built on the titan frame i know what your talking about. I love it and for a work van this thing handles incredible. But the one thing i love is the breaking. It is Awesome and it doesnt matter what im hauling i can count on it to get me to a stop QUICK.

 

Nissan Really has steped up there game. I love the guages and DIC. However plastic is plentiful but it certainly isnt the cheapest plastic. The only thing that drives me absolutly nuts is the shifting stalk, im sure you knoticed how cheap that is. Everything else is quality.

 

Now, I found out that the white Nissan NV's have an enamel paint job so i cant tell you about the quality of the clearcoat.I have a V6 and i sware i have a V8, the exhaust note is very deep and aggressive (for a V6 Work Van!!!) Ive been on job sites where guys have put a magnaflow or flowmaster on their V8 titans and they just sound MEAN!

 

Good luck!!

[Grubrunner]

For those interested -

 

About to return a 2011 Silver Ice Metalic Chevy Silverado 1500 4X4 5.3L Crew LTZ I've been driving since Saturday morning. This truck had a little under 4K on the clock at pick up and was bone stock apart from a drop-in OEM bedliner and front window tints.

 

Again, no off-road driving of any type was done.

 

 

Interior - Color was dark/light cashmere leather. A lot of hard plastic but everything is a good tight fit with no obvious sharp corners and bits [the common thing with cheap plastic interior parts]. Many claim the interior is a little on the "bland" side but I didn't find this at all. In fact, its interior reminded me [mimics] much of my 2011 Tahoe LTZ..... they're pretty much the same "ride." Nice comfortable seats with much room for even the big fellas both up front and in the rear.... though didn't feel as spacious as the Nissan Titan or [especially] the Toyota Tundra in the rear. Storage compartments fall well short of the Titan but are decent none the less. Nice center console/arm rest with spacious glove compartment and deep door map pockets hlep with sotage up front. Nice wood grain [plastic] accents cover the driver's to passanger's front compartment. Ergonomically, it has a great dash and instrument cluster layout. I'm a HUGE fan of OnStar so that was a great added bonus [one of the main reasons I recently gave the Tahoe to the wife] as its piece-of-mind is unparalleled in the industry..... kudos GM!

 

Exterior - I have to say, here is where it kicked me in the guts a little. I don't like it. I love the front end with a nice stance and terrific looking grille/accent combination and the overall "flow" factor. Walk around to the side and it takes a huge nose dive IMHO. Stand back about 20' and take a long hard glance; it looks bland and has nothing flowing IMHO. I don't know whether it's too "squared" compared to the front or whether the wheel/fender gap ratio is something GM got horribly wrong. Yeah, I know my Tahoe is near identical but it doesn't have a naked bed, which I believe adds to throwing the pickup's appearence off even more. I did, however, like the chrome accents on the mirror caps, and door handles as they looked great. Didn't like the drop in OEM bed liner but that's an easy fix [read: LineX].

 

Driving impressions - Plain and simple: the only way you know you're driving a pickup is because, well, you know you're driving a pickup. Blindfold someone, throw them into the driver's seat of this truck and don't tell them what they're driving and they'll never guess it's a pickup.... that's how GREAT this thing is to drive. There was actually something about this that felt a little more secure than the Tahoe.... I just couldn't pinpoint it. Smooth and quite ride, VERY responsive acceleration, amples of power [wow!] good breaking [though well short of the Titan] and a very responsive steering wheel. The only drawback is it does have a little arse-end body roll around corners if you're taking them a little quicker than you [probably] should be. Apart from that, I swore I was driving my Tahoe. Visibilty [safety] is excellent for a truck this size as the blind spots weren't really noticeable. I, however, didn't feel that in the Titan..... but did so in the Tundra.

 

Overall impressions: Love it.... apart from that side angle exterior appearence.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Z71_Denali]

on the interior... there are 2 different dashes that they put in the silverados/sierras. the LTZ is the only silverado and the SLE/Denali's are the only sierra's that get the fancy dash.

 

on the exterior... definitely get rid of the bed liner. it is a dealer installed option so you shouldn't get a problem from them on having them remove it from the truck and from the price of the truck. did it have side steps? i felt the same way you did about the side of the trucks, but the GM oval side steps really enhance the look IMO. the fender well space in the front is terrible. no room for bigger tires, even with a lift people struggle to fit big tires under there.

 

about the driving... i definitely agree the ride is great! i test drove a 2012 sierra denali and i was surprised that the ride in that was even better than my silverado. the denali's have hydraulic body mounts to help dampen bumps. and the reason it didn't corner like your tahoe is because there is no rear sway bar. i dunno why they did this, but they did.

 

they've got great deals on the 2011 models right now! $5,000 rebate, plus you might can talk them down to invoice price if you tell them the only thing stopping you from choosing the silverado over one of the others is the price.

[Diggerdan11]

Driving impressions - Plain and simple: the only way you know you're driving a pickup is because, well, you know you're driving a pickup. Blindfold someone, throw them into the driver's seat of this truck and don't tell them what they're driving and they'll never guess it's a pickup.... that's how GREAT this thing is to drive. There was actually something about this that felt a little more secure than the Tahoe.... I just couldn't pinpoint it. Smooth and quite ride, VERY responsive acceleration, amples of power [wow!] good breaking [though well short of the Titan] and a very responsive steering wheel. The only drawback is it does have a little arse-end body roll around corners if you're taking them a little quicker than you [probably] should be. Apart from that, I swore I was driving my Tahoe. Visibilty [safety] is excellent for a truck this size as the blind spots weren't really noticeable. I, however, didn't feel that in the Titan..... but did so in the Tundra.

 

 

That is why I love my Chevy. It does not feel at all like a truck but it has all the capabilities of one. I bought my 01 Silverado in 03 and the first time a drove it i was so shocked that it was a truck. I was use to driving an 89 Ford F-250 that could rattle fillings out of your teeth, it was night and day between that and my Silverado.

 

I know what you mean about the difference between the Silverado and the Tahoe. I have felt the same way about how much more secure i feel in my Silverado compared to my Tahoe.

I think the main reason is the difference in lenght of the wheelbase. That Silverado you drove has an extra 3 feet of wheelbase over tha Tahoe which makes a huge difference in how it rides and drives.

 

Good luck with your choice, im crossing my fingers you choose the Silverado:xfingers: