I owned a Titan-nice truck, decent hy mpg19-20, typical 12-13 mpg city mpg.
I owned a 2001 Tundra also.
I would pass on both the Nissans and buy the Tundra with the 5.7. It is rated 14-20- better than both the Nissans. The Tundra "felt" better. The Titan had some very significant problems with the rear differential. They were breaking at low miles at a high rate.Nissan hadn't solved the problem as of early 2006. Go to the Titan forum-lotta info there.
Nissan would replace the entire rear end while it was in warranty, but you were out of luck once you were out of warranty despite there being an obvious flaw in the "parts." Best inexpert forum guesses in the past is that the quality control on the heat treatment of the gears(not sure pinion,ring, spider gears) was off-but who knows. They are some sort of powered metal part that requires exacting treatment. There was probably a "cheap out" in there somewhere-maybe they went with the cheapest parts supplier despite inexperience ?? Who knows, but lotta folks were very unhappy. I bailed out to a Prius and an ancient Suburban at 11,000 miles-no problems for me. I liked the Titan, but would trust the Tundra more- and get better FE. There are great deals on all full sized trucks now.
You could do much worse than a full sized Chevy with the 5.3. My 1998 Suburban 202,500 miles-get 21.3 mpg at 70
mph, and it is reliable. The 5.3 pickup will get 3 mpg better than that.
If money is no object- it usually is- get that Tahoe Hybrid- and them let me borrow it!!
Charlie
Nissan Armada or Titan
