Pickup trucks are synonymous for their immense proportions and their amazing ability to survive almost any detrimental conditions that might prevail. But above all, pickup trucks, especially Japanese ones, are known for their rugged reliability, which is almost legendary. One such massive and tough pickup, is the Titan, made by Nissan. For their 2016 model of the Titan XD pickup, Nissan decided to pull out all the stops on its testing.
This pickup endured lot’s of battering by the engineers.
The variant being tested here, is the XD variant of the Titan and comes powered with a Cummins-developed diesel heart. The 2016 Nissan Titan XD pickup, weighs in at almost 4 tonnes and can tow over 5 tonnes of stuff, behind it. That’s not a biggie for this bruiser, because its diesel engine isn’t a scrawny little four-pot. The Cummins powerplant that’s under the bonnet of this vehicle, is a 5.0-litre turbocharged V8 and pumps out 310 rhinopower, oh sorry, horsepower and a crushing 752 Nm of almighty diesel torque. With its brute size, tyrannous mass and power, we wonder how much damage this thing caused to that proving ground. Quite a bit, we reckon.
Testing grounds can be harsh, but looks like this truck is breaking no sweat.
The video clip you are about to watch, was filmed inside the North American Technical Centre in Arizona, where Nissan has their own testing facility. The tests for this Nissan, included the vehicle going through some deep water to mimic a flooded road, some rash driving which saw the pickup hitting several kerbsides etc. The company also simulated durability tests of various components on the vehicle, such as the doors and the bonnet. Such important parts of the vehicle were opened and shut thousands of times, thus simulating over a decade’s-worth of regular use by a customer.
Even hitting kerbs did nothing significant, that air-splitter didn’t even budge.
Though such toughness is expected out of vehicles of this calibre, it is amazing to witness the amount of punishment that the various components can actually take. Nissan is confident that their new pickup, can easily survive 20 years or more in the hands of a customer. If you are the one who has never watched a vehicle being put through its paces before certification, you gotta watch this video. Leave us your opinions and thoughts on all of this. Tell us if it’s cringeworthy or interesting, in the comments section.