05 F-150 & 05 Nissan Titan Owners

[cliffy]

I have been shopping around for the past few weeks for a new vehicle. I would like to get a truck to replace my 95 Ford Explorer. I kinda have my eye on two different makes/models. I like the 05 Ford F-150 XLT and the 05 Nissan Titan.

Does anyone have either one of these trucks? What are your likes and dislikes? Would you change anything about your truck if you could? I know both state they get 14-18 mpg....is this correct?

[Dan Thiem]

Ok, I have to chime in too.

I work at a Nissan and GMC dealership. Not in sales. Thank God. I work in the Parts Dept.

Although the Titan did experience a huge problem with the brakes they now have a handle on it.

Other than that I haven't seen any other problems come in for repairs.

[cliffy]

Grizzly:

What model Titan did you end up buying and what do you get for MPG?

[Grizzly16]

cliffy,

I have the SE Crew Cab 4wd 04', prior to this I had the Dodge slt 4wd Hemi.

[cliffy]

I liked the Titan alot...thought it was a very nice truck. The problem was the lack of choices in colors available at the dealership...this is in Fargo, ND. I salesperson even called 4 other dealers and no one had an SE model with the Big Tow package in either white, silver or red. He said he could call some places in the cities but couldnt offer me such a great deal on a vehicle that didnt come off of his lot.

The only other thing I noticed about the Titan that I didnt care for was the noise. I thought the Fargo salesperson did a heck of a job and really worked out a honest offer. We would have probably bought one on the spot if they would have had the right colors.

I know that Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Nissan and Toyota all make good vehicles. I know in the end, it just comes down to what a person likes.

This is my first time buying new...and I didnt think the sales people would play around so much.

Thanks again for all the replies and info....

[Grizzly16]

Cliffy,

Sorry I forgot about the mpg, lately running up to the cabin on Crane Lake I have been averaging about 17mpg and that is with a full bed of gear and I get about 14 on my way to work. Also I have the big tow package which has the 4.10 rear end so I am kind of shocked at the mileage since my dodge with the 3.55 got about 15.5.

[cliffy]

That was what we were looking at....with the big tow package. What color do you have?

[92python]

I picked up an 05 Titan Crew Cab about 3K ago. Before that I had a 97 F150 I bought up new and drove for 138K. I like everything about the Titan except the mileage. It get very similiar mileage to the Ford so I don't see much of a benefit either way. My Titan is a FFV and I have been running E85 as much as possible in the Titan and that is cheaper, cleaner but doesn't give you the best mileage. It is about 105 octane and seems to give me a little better power.

I drove and did a bunch of reasearch on the Titan, F150, Sierra, Siverado, Ram, and Tundra and liked the Titan best. I just liked the way it drove and liked all of the little things about the truck. I could have gotten a better deal on every other truck other that the Tundra but still thought the Titan was worth a little extra $.

They are all nice trucks. I might have picked up the hybrid Siverado or Sierra if they were available here. If sick of the high gas prices and the environmental damage that autos cause and wish I could get better mileage. I hope that E85 becomes more readily available and the price stops following gas prices.

[Grizzly16]

Cliffy,

My Titan is the Maroon color, I really wanted the Silver since it matches the grill better and shows very little scratches but the maroon is nice.

[Doonbuggy]

edmunds.com is a great resource when looking for a new vehicle. You can read reviews and vehicle summaries and you can also price a vehicle exactly how you want it.

It will show you the msrp and the invoice price so you can compare it to what the dealer is offering.

Know the price you are willing to pay and what you want for your trade. All of the other numbers will fall into place and then it's into the dealer's hands if they want to make that deal or not.

I imagine the percentage of people who walk out of a dealership and come back later and buy is very low hence the numbers started dropping once you headed for the exit.

I also had a good experience at Morrie's Mtka Ford with my Explorer.

Good luck - both are fine vehicles. (FYI - big discounts on the Ram).

DB

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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Help me out on this one. What is the invoice price? Is that listed on the documentation plastered on the window?

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No! The invoice price is what or close to what the dealership has paid or has into the vehicle.

It gives you an idea on how much they are going to make off of you plus it gives you additional bargaining leverage.

[montanagriz]

Blakjak - Glad to hear you had a good experience at Morrie's Minnetonka Ford. I hear ya on the trade in though, I think you can get more $$ if you just list it online or in the paper.

Cliffy - It sounds like you are having a tough time finding the color you want. You really should talk to my friend Luke (952-543-7616) who works at Morrie's. I don't know exactly what they have in stock, but he'll take good care of you. Good luck with the search, and let us know what you end up choosing.

[blakjack23]

Cliffy,

If you go on fords HSOforum and go the f150 section you can put in your zipcode and look at every dealers inventory. I think you can search by color...

[RussDaBuss]

I second the -edmunds.com- advise!! Great site. BTW, I have a Ford F150 2002. Love it. Mileage could be better but oh well..

[CodyDawg]

Cliffy,

Minnewaska Ford in Glenwood is the dealer I am referring to. They are fantastic. Just give them a call. As I stated, they always deliver the vehicle to you. If you are serious about using them, I will give you my name to drop and they will only charge you a little extra! Seriously, I would at least make the call. Usually their strong point is the trade in price. Sooner or later he will be beat, but so far that hasnt happened. Let me know.

[DTro]

Cliffy, for more info than you ever needed, including invoice prices and average price people are paying, check out edmunds dot com. Best site by far.

[DTro]

I just checked out Edmunds:

Ford F-150 Super Crew 4x4, invoice without options--31,451

Nissan LE 4x4 Crew Cab, invoice without options-----31,999

also I put them side by side and no doubt the standard package of the Titan blows the Ford out of the water. Seems like the Titan comes with all the goodies. I guess that doesn't mean it's a better truck, but some of those thing are nice to have.......heated seats, premium rockford fosgate sound with 10 speakers, rear cargo power outlet, memorized driver/passenger seats/mirrors/pedals, captains chairs, the list goes on and some of that stuff adds up quick.

Good Luck, I really don't think you can go wrong either way.

[cliffy]

UPDATE****************

I took your advice and got the invoice price on the truck I wanted and went to two other dealerships and got quotes on very similar vehicles.(no one had the same truck (options) in the same color) I also told the other salesman about my experience and they threw in a lot of little extras...free gas, bed liner, auto start..etc. The only problem was the vehicles were not the color I was looking for. Its hard to believe but they only had the odd colors..moss greens, blacks dark maroon. Colors that I have already owned or just didnt care for. I know it seems like I am stuck on the color issue..but I just dont want to wake up every morning and walk out side and see something sitting in the drive way that I am not 100% sold on. Every place I went I was told that the 05 s-crew was pretty much picked over due to the employee discount. Any ways, I got the other offers in writing and headed home.

We stopped in at the local Nissan dealership and gave the Titan one last look. It’s a very nice truck and to be honest, I was sold on everything but the color. When they had one in the right color it did not have the options I was looking for....or that had to bump it up to the LE model which really put the payments out of reach. I really wish they could have found one with all the things I wanted/need that was any other color but BLACK. I had a black car when I was younger and my wife has a black truck and they are just impossible to keep clean...but they do look drop dead when they are clean!

Anyways, I headed back to my local Ford dealership and walked in two minutes before closing time. I found the salesmen and we sat down and worked the numbers over and over again until we got what I was looking for. I then pulled out the other quotes from the other dealerships....and that really caught him off guard. Long story even longer......He was able to get his sales manager to beat the quotes and throw in every extra that I asked for. I took the deal and now am driving the 05 s-crew. However, if Nissan would have had the right color........

We took a few hours the following day to go back to the other dealers and thanked the salesmen for their time and efforts. I don’t think I would like their job too much....always having to be happy go lucky...ugh!!!!

I hope not to go through this new car buying experience again anytime soon. I didn’t really care for it too much but you guys really helped me out and I thank you for all the info. It helped me keep from going nuts and climbing a tower...etc.

[Jarrod32]

Sounds like you got your deal done...I was just going to add that I lived in Moorhead for a long time, and our family bought a lot of Fords...a few from the dealer in Fargo, but a lot more from the dealer in Wahpeton...

Even when dealing with the same product, different dealers are a lot different...I bought a Dodge a couple years ago, and dealt with two different dealers...and one was a lot better to work with than the other. They threw in some of the extras, and really worked hard to sell me the truck. It became clear that one dealer wanted to make a sale moreso than the other.

But then, it sounds like you found that out...congrats on your purchase.