Toyo4x4

I helped one of my friends change his shocks yesterday on his '95 Nissan Hardbody 4x4 and could tell why Toyotas are more expensive...they are built much more sturdily than Nissans. The nuts and bolts are (I think) 4mm larger on my truck than his and I'm assuming this is standard throughout the truck. Also, his truck rattles more than mine even though mine is two years older and has about 40K more miles. Even so, I'd get one...they come in second, though, to Toyota .

superjoe83

I will drink to that!

Dan_90SR5

Yeah, but Toyota needs to go back to timing chains like Nissan.

mike_d

yeah, my brother's '95 hardbody rattles more than '90 (but not as much as my '89). toyota is probably a notch higher in quality than the nissans, but his old KA24 starts as fast and runs as well as my 22RE. we'll see who ends up with more milage on their underpowered 4cyls, but it'll probably be a close call.

2001Millrunner

I drove a 01 nissan pathfinder LE 3.5.. JESUS that thing hauls a$$! it is so fast, made me jealous as hell......

ilion

One thing: Resale Value.

With that said though, I do like my cousin's 2000 X-Terra. It feels quite competent in four wheel drive and the underside is nicely tucked out of harms way.

Of course, we'll have to look at it again when it hits 218,000 miles and see how things look.

I probably wouldn't hesitate to get an X-Terra (were I wealthy enough) but I wouldn't choose one over a Toyota any day.

Nissan was known as a company of engineers, at least according to a Times article a few years back. It was written about the time the head of Renault came in to 'shake things up.' Which, of course, just meant to make more annoying commercials that try to lure stupid, image obsessed people to buy cars for all the wrong reasons.

My girlfriend's Uncle had over 600,000 miles (with the same, though rebuilt engine) on his little Datsun/Nissan pickup before he finally gave it to a family member. Though, he is a mechanic.

kyle_22r

reinault seems to have a malignant touch, just look at the jeep line back in the 80s.

EDGE

I've owned 2 Pathfinders a 96 and a 2000, never owned a 3.5L Pathfinder but a friend or 2 does along with a QX4 with the 3.5, those are sweet but still not as nice as the V8 Runner.

I would say the overall hardware of the Nissans and Toyotas is the same, it's the other things that don't matter but do add up, the Pathfinders have this plastic skid plate that is held in by 10 small screws, the 4Runner has a heavy metal plate that would cut a finger off it it fell on your hand and the bolts are like 10x the size.

Their are a lot of little things that Toyota put real quality behind just look at the vehicles, you can easily park 2 similar models next to each other and notice differences, but Nissan has had to cut back in that area their in their revival stage, hopefully they will start putting the quality back into the cars to match that of Toyota.

EDGE

Renault has not done anything but help Nissan get back on track, their are no renault vehicles rebadged as Nissans and their are no Renault parts in Nissan vehicles.

But on the other hand Toyota had the sludge problems and head gasket problems all by themselves

Fink

Toyota's rule...plain and simple. Although for a sports car, that 350Z is niiicce..I drove one around for a few days, whew!

Fink

EDGE

Toyota Trucks rule, Toyota Cars still need more Hp, now Lexus rules but needs more Hp either way it's all good

Fink

I'm sure with that V8 of yours you are not starving for more power! But my Toyota Truck could definately use some more ponies!

Fink

934rnr

I can say from experience I had less problems with the 2 nissan trucks I owned than my 93 4 runner.
I hydrolocked my old 86.5 Nissan V6 VG30i Hardbody at Paragon in July of 2003 it was funny I pulled the plugs cranked engine over pumped the water out of the cylinders put the plugs in and it fired right back up I went over to wally world and changed the oil and drove it the 370 miles back home with no issues.
My 86.5 Nissan HB was 16 years old on the orginial motor it had about 113k on it I bought for $650. I sold it in August and bought my toyota. As far as I know the guy I sold it to is still beating on it and wheeling the piss out of it.

Overall they are about the same quailty I think the bodies and frames last longer on the older nissans.
Hardcore aftermarket sucks for nissans they have stout rear H223B 31 spline axles but the gears are about $450 for one set. You can still get ARB's for them and lockright's for the older H223b axles.
Most of them come standard with LSD's in thier rear axles.
As far as power I thought my old V6 VG30i 135hp put out more low end than my 3VZE did.

Here's my old nissan site if anyone cares: http://www.cardomain.com/id/shadowman2k

kyle_22r

i've noticed nissan stuff is quite a bit more expensive than toyota parts as well. a set of 4:1 t-case gears for a hardbody pickup is over 700$ if i'm not mistaken! i wouldn't mind buying a 720, putting some smallish boggers on it and having it as a stress reliever beater truck though. they're the only 4x4s around here that ever go for less than $1500 it seems(i got VERY lucky on my yota, only paid $650 for it. go figure). however they tend to rust far worse than any toyotas i've seen, though

however nissans can still be outfitted with manual hubs easily(i think so anyway) and they're available with manual transmissions in the xterra, unlike what the geniouses at toyota decided to do to the 4runner to each their own i guess,kinda like comparing chevy and ford

934rnr

I had both Warn and milemarker manual hubs on my nissans they are way better than the automatic crap hubs that came on it.
Actually Calmini makes a 3.92:1 transfer case set for the nissan TX10 T-case it's about $1095 though. They also sell a R200A LSD unit for the front for $450.
The reason I got rid of my 86.5 HB was the cab was rusting out in the front. I think it was due to the windsheild leak the previous owner hadn't fixed. The frame was totally fine on it even being 16 years old. The frame had some kind of wax crap all over it I think back when they were doing the rusty jones treatments on them using that waxy spray stuff to prevent rust for salty enviroments.

kyle_22r

don't nissans use aisin transfer cases like toyotas? i know the older ones were divorced and the newer ones were married to the transmission. don't think they used aisin hubs, the manual hubs i've seen on them look like they have a smaller body and dial. good trucks, but i wouldn't trade my toyota for one

TR Graham

Over the years I've owned 2 Toyota and 4 Nissan trucks. Although there are differences, in my experience overall quality is similar with both. Both have there good and bad points. Although the Nissan engines are torquey, they are a bit underpowered (and the 3.3 V6 is thirsty). The Nissans are also geared rather high, and there are few aftermarket parts available. The Toyota engines have much more "get up and go" with better gas mileage and have MUCH better aftermarket support. Both trucks are relatively trouble free with minimal maintenace. For example, I put over 150,000 miles on a '91 Nissan Hardbody and a little over 100,000 miles on a '96 Toyota with no problems outside of normal maintenace.
However my last Nissan truck, a 2001 Frontier Desert Runner (comparable to my current 2002 Tacoma TRD PreRunner) was nicer equipped and to me, seemed to drive/handle better than my Taco. (I'd still be driving the Frontier, but it got t-boned by a booger-eating moron in a Suburban that ran a red light. Both trucks was totaled, but I walked away from it without a scratch. The moron went to the hospital - he wasn't wearing a seatbelt....<G>)
I like my Tacoma but if I could have my "perfect truck", it would be a Nissan with the Toyota V6 engine.....hmm, I wonder if this could be done?

TR Graham
2002 Taco TRD PreRunner w/a few mods

FirstToy

I think the performance characteristics are debatable but if you are talking about actual build quality; Toyota has no peer in overall material quality, build quality and assembly. They have very good standards required from suppliers and they really are quite a bit better than Nissan in any of these parameters (before or since Renault).

I am always impressed by the engineering quality of Toyota and Lexus products.

It says alot that other auto companies cannot copy Toyota's best offerings in manufacturing and assembly quality. It's not they don't want to, they simply can't.
Neither do they meet Toyota at target price points either.

Some people don't necessarly care--Huge gaps and a hard plastic dash with exposed flashings don't concern them as long as it functions. Attention to detail, or solid engineering standards that go a step above...maybe not as important as styling to some.
It's legitimate. People have different concerns and criteria but I appreciate those things as a customer so I really like my Toyota.

Dan_90SR5

I'm assuming that by your comment about the manual tranny in the Xterra versus the 4Runner means that the new 4Runner doesn't come with a manual tranny option (I honestly haven't given the new Runner a second look). Anyway, I use to have this company on my favorites list that makes custom bell housings for lots of applications. These are used for doing odd engine swaps that are evidently popular enough for them to produce them. Anyway, they will make bell housing if they do not already offer them. A "W" series tranny could always be dropped into the new Runner if someone wanted it bad enough.

Just some food for thought. Most people are probably waiting for warrenties to run out before getting too heavily involved in their new Runners.

JSharp

My '87 Pathfinder was quite a bit heavier than my 2K 4Runner. The diffs and frame rails are huge on that truck. The new Pathys are more carlike and are unibody...