2004 Nissan Titan King Cab - Can it Keep Up to the Big Boys?
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| The Titan is one tough looking truck, with a bold chrome grille and muscular bulges and swells in all the right places. Still, it incorporates a refined country club demeanor that reaches a level previously not seen in this class. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Do you ever feel like car companies are sometimes just messing with us? When Nissan unveiled the Alpha T concept back in 2001, many thought it represented the next generation full-size Nissan pickup. Hello? What were these automotive 'experts' thinking? While out-of-this-planetary-system-cool, the 'space invaders' concept would have had middle-America lunging for their collective 12-gauge shotguns hanging in their F150 rear window gun racks before its occupants could say, "Take me to your leader." In other words, the radical Alpha T couldn't seriously begin to contend in the conservative light truck vertical. But hold on, the all-new 2004 Titan can.
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| Think what you want about the Alpha T concept truck that debuted in 2001. Space aliens may have rejoiced but conservative middle America, the backbone of the U.S. light truck industry, would have never been seen in one. (Photo: Nissan) |
While there's a hint of Alpha T in the grille, and in the new pickup's functionality, that's about it. The Titan is much more mainstream, a good thing, but still edgy enough to attract Nissan's traditionally hip and youthful clientele. A bold chrome grille and lower center fascia dominates its frontal styling, surrounded by body-color bumper ends incorporating integrated fog lamps just below a set of wrap-around-and-over headlamp clusters, distinctively formed to meld in with the bulging hood.