[hemidakota]

NEW @ TCC: '04 Nissan Titan

(TCC Staff) The coming year will bring on a clash of titans, a poor pun, perhaps, but appropriate nonetheless. From Dearborn, Mich., comes the latest reincarnation of Ford's F-Series pickups, long the best-selling nameplate in the U.S. But the '04 model year also brings a very serious and very credible newcomer to the segment, the Nissan Titan. Nissan's not the first import to field a full-size pickup. That distinction goes to Toyota - sort of. Its Tundra is undersized and underpowered and has never been a serious contender in the tough-truck segment. Not so with Nissan. Its Titan is big, bold, and aggressively innovative. Even so, making a dent in the full-size segment, the last real stronghold of the Big Three, won't be easy. So the automaker is starting out slowly, aiming to earn credibility and build word-of-mouth. As TheCarConnection discovered during a few days of driving through the wilds of British Columbia, the word on the street is likely to be quite positive.