Nissan Titan with a diesel!!!

Bionic Man wrote:
T&P, I think you are missing the mark on this one.

For now, I'm not going to address the comments regarding diesel and cars, but let's talk about diesels in trucks.

If memory serves me, the old GM 5.7 diesel that was put in a truck was an absolute slug. The same with the 6.2. They could not get out of their own way, and they were trying to sell them in 2500/3500 trucks that are regularily used for hard work. And, at that time, what did gasoline cost? Was anyone really looking at MPG?

The 3.0 is competing in a different time. We regularily have spikes where fuel costs over $4/gallon (or 5), the political atmosphere is pushing everyone to be "green" and CAFE standards are requiring manufactures to make significant improvements in MPG (and as good as the ecoboost may be in some areas, it is not a step forward in economy).

And, the 3.0 is going in a 1500 series truck - not a 2500/3500. I don't know the numbers, but I would venture to guess that the vast majority of folks that purchase a 1500 rarely pull. They spend more of their time commuting to/from work, Home Depot, or in the case of contractors, to and from the job site with a bed full of tools and supplies. You don't need 350 or even 300 hp to comfortably accomplish those tasks.

And even if someone does occasionally (or even regularily) pull something it will not be the slug the old GM diesels were. I had an '01 CTD that had similar output as this 3.0 (and less gears). Sure, it did not pull nearly as well as my 6.7 does, but even going up the mountains puling my 10,000 pound 5er it did fine. Towing my 4500 pound boat to and from the lake it did great, especially when it wasn't in the mountains.

I am certain that there will be a market for this. Time will prove one of us wrong.

And, since this thread is about the Cummins in the TItan, I will say I wish that RAM would have stuck with Cummins. My only guess as to why they did not is that the Cummins must be at a disadvantage to the 3.0 in both cost and efficiency.

BM,
I understand your points, but having said that the 6.2 GM diesel made great fuel economy during a time when diesel was much cheaper than gas, but it's poor performance and it's reliability to a lesser degree is what killed that engine option IMO.

Fast forward to today, and diesel is more expensive than gas, and the diesel engine option is way more expensive than a premium gas engine option. With all the added diesel emissions equipment and some of the issues $$$ that can develop from these emissions for the daily driver going to Home Depot, or the contractors that idle their engines for extended times at the job site any diesel engine in a half ton truck will have to be a great design to be as dependable as todays gas engines.