Will a Nissan Titan NISMO Take Down a Ford F-150 Raptor?

It seems like every other month, we’re hearing about a new factory effort to take down the king of OEM Off-Road; the Ford F-150 Raptor. This time, we’re hearing it from Nissan’s Chief Designer Shiro Nakamura where he made a comment on a Reddit Ask Me Anything session.

He was there with Kazunori Yamauchi of Polyphony Digital where they were talking about Gran Turismo 7, but someone asked Shiro about a NISMO Titan. He responded with some interesting enthusiasm and I’ll talk about what the NISMO Titan will need if they really do it.

First, let me be upfront and let you know that I preference in manufacturers by region and vehicle choice. Ford will always be my domestic truck and pony car preference, Jeep I will always look towards for ultimate accessibility and rock-crawling, Nissan is my JDM of choice.

You can thank my dad for my love of Nissans and Fords; he is not only a Ford Master Tech but the first modified vehicle I encountered was his Datsun 720 pickup. I’ll never forget that truck and still desire to make another one day.

So, when I heard news that Shiro Nakamura got really enthusiastic on a Nissan Motorsports, or NISMO, Titan; my eyes lit up. NISMO has been the ultimate form of Nissans outside of their Autech line, think Autech as Shelby and NISMO as Ford Motorsports if you want to do a comparison. The US never saw Autech’s Version cars, so if you are familiar with Nissan but only what’s offered in the US that’s why.

Nissan has been trying to get a foothold in US truck sales since the release of the Titan 1/2-ton pickup. It hasn’t been the most successful between it and Toyota’s Tundra. However, unlike Toyota and its TRD models of late, when Nissan releases a NISMO branded vehicle it does so without compromise.

The NISMO GTR is more than just a body kit, but is a full tuning upgrade with aerodynamic parts, engine tuning, brakes, suspension, and tires. Hopefully, well, hopefully to me being a fan of the make, they will take a look at the lackluster efforts put on by Dodge, GM, and Toyota and make a real effort.

What will a Titan need to really be a NISMO in my eyes? You can look at the Raptor and know where you need to start and that is the suspension. Where TRD puts on some Bilsteins and hopes to call it a day, I think Nissan needs to talk to King Shocks and put on some true, 2.5-inch shocks on it with increased travel in the suspension.

To fit that longer travel suspension, the Titan will need some fender clearance and they should consult with Fiberworx, who makes great off-road capable body parts. They already make fenders for the Titan. I think it should follow the Raptor’s route of King Cab and a Regular Cab frame with a shortened bed. It just looks awesome and really fits the Trophy Truck look that a NISMO Titan needs.

Tires should probably come from either BFGoodrich or they can look towards one of the two Japanese tire companies. Falken is going to release the Wildpeak M/T later this year and Nitto Tire has won the King of the Hammers with their Trail Grappler.

Those tires will need to be attached to some really tough wheels to take the abuse of off-road driving. Like many Japanese works aftermarket wheels, NISMO gets their wheels manufactured by Rays Wheels. I could see a set of Volk Racing branded TE37 Large PCD wheels in 18×9.0 +0, which roughly a 4.5-inch is backspacing.

I’m sure it will be branded as a NISMO wheel rather than a Volk Racing wheel, though. Brakes will need to be upgraded and could get a set from the Nissan GTR from 2012 with a new brake hat for the six-lug pattern.

The Titan’s VK56DE 5.6-liter V8 has been used since 2004. It’s also the engine that is based on the motorsports version used in the FIA GT1-class GTR and Australian V8 Supercars Altima, though AVESCO uses a reduced displacement version of 4.9-liters.

The FIA GT1-version VK56 produces 600-horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque while the road version produces up to 317 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque. However, the 4.9-liter from AVESCO produces 650 horsepower and 485 pound-feet of torque!

All without supercharging or turbocharging, so there is room to make more power from a NISMO Titan with the VK56 in Naturally Aspirated version, though I wouldn’t say no to a turbo NISMO Titan. However, they could go a completely different route and use the rumored 5.0-liter IVS V8 engine from Cummins. That makes 500 pound-feet of torque with 300 horsepower and could really make some big waves in the off-road world.

Finally, the interior is probably the least complained portion of the Titan. It’s roomy and ergonomic, so the only refinement is to bring that NISMO flair with gauges, technology, and that awesome red-metallic they have been using.

One thing they could bring over from the NISMO GTR is something similar to their DampTronic suspension system. It has the ability to change shock dampening with the push of button and a similar system inside the NISMO Titan would only make sense, though instead of Track, Race, and Race Plus modes, we could have Trail, Rock, and Desert modes instead.

Will Nissan listen to me and build a NISMO Titan. Probably not. Actually, no, most likely not. However, one can dream and that dream would force Ford to continue Raptor production. Competition breeds better results and we want Ford and the Raptor to stay on top, right?

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