My son is visiting from CA. He rented an F150 from Avis. It's a comfortable, quiet, nice truck except the transmission just does not shift as smoothly as it should. It's more noticeable coasting down with a little jerk every time it drops down a gear. After several Mustangs he feels he is ready for a truck and he's been considering a Ford or Ram. I think this transmission has turned him against Ford. We stopped by a dealer that had a 2022 RAM Rebel that he is considering. It was used with 5k miles on it. When started there was a loud clicking from under the hood. A lifter has failed already on this truck so he didn't drive it. What can you do?

 

Not much of a choice - GM uses the same transmission. Hate to say it, but maybe a used Tundra? The new Tundras now only have a turbocharged V6 but the previous V8 and transmission is pretty solid. Wouldn't wish a Nissan on my worst enemy.

 

I think the previous owner of that RAM Rebel traded it for a Tundra because it was on the Toyota used car lot. The salesman said the RAM was purchased new locally.
I have a 2005 Dodge Magnum 5.7 V8 bought new and it has 120k miles on it with no issues and it has MDS where 4 cylinders get shut down at low load. The lifters started failing in these Hemis when they added variable cam timing in 2009. You might think they would have fixed the issue by now but nope. And the chevy V8s have lifter/cam problems too that started when they added their "active fuel management" which is the same as Chrysler's MDS. So the chevys have cam/lifter issues plus the 10 speed trans.
What problems do the Titan have? I don't know much about them.

 

Titans are not as reliable as Tundras, and the design and technology are old.

 

Well the 2021 F150 my son rented while he was home had a check engine light come on. He took it to Autozone to get the code read before just swapping it for another vehicle with Avis. It was a crankshaft sensor code. So he took it to Avis and got another vehicle. The F150 had about 50k miles on it. He said the Nissan Rogue that was exchanged for felt peppy and the transmission was really smooth. Don't they have a CVT transmission?
My wife's car a 2013 Infiniti EX37 the small crossover has a 7 speed transmission that works great. It's always in the right gear. And combined with the 325hp 3.7L V6, it really hauls butt. Totally trouble free so far with about 47k miles on it. "Knock on Wood"

 

​​​​​​​Yes, and I won't touch one with a 10 foot pole.

 

My wife has a 2014 Infiniti QX50, I think it's the same car as yours. 3.7 with 325 HP is definitely a mover. The 7 speed is great, except for steep mountain switchbacks where it is very slow downshifting to 2nd. It really bogs down unless you floor it. I have taken to driving all the switchbacks in manual mode.
I have rented a couple of Rogues in recent years from Enterprise. Surprisingly a great little SUV for the short time I used them. Peppy, smooth transmission and good on gas.

We just used a Nissan Armada (rental) for a 500 mile trip. Great highway car with the V-8, got 20 mpg and change on the highway, but was like sitting on a bag of marshmallows on a couch while driving twisty mountain roads. My 2017 F150 FX4 crewcab handles much better. It is a 5.0 with the 6 speed auto.

 

Yeah, I was amazed at how well that 2021 F150 XLT 4x4 Crew Cab cornered. My son took it around some corners demonstrating how well it corners and it handles more like a car than a truck.