Well, guys. I went down to the Nissan dealership today. Have been thinking about this for two or three months. I think I'm getting ready to trade in my Frontier on this new Pro4X. Drove the diesel, too, but I honestly feel like it's more truck than I need. I don't haul heavy equipment. Taking the Pro4 home tonight. Told the dealer I'd let him know in the morning. What do you think? It's pretty awesome.
As mentioned, the regen issues are the main cause i have heard guys getting rid of their xd's. Seems like the model is hit or miss. Either it is really good or really bad. If it were me, i'd get the vk56 version. Not knocking the cummins, plenty of potential there, but you know the 5.6 is an engineering marvel, will perform and meet/exceed your expectations.
I have a diesel, but it is in an F-350. You don't want to be doing short trips with a diesel. Soot buildup is accelerated by doing that and the regen never gets to finish. Plus, the maintenance on a diesel is higher. I'll never see the extended oil change intervals in my F-350 like I saw in my Titan.
If you don't NEED the pulling power of a diesel, get the gas version. I pull a toy hauler that is a minimum of 10k lbs up mountain passes that exceed 11,000' elevation. A gas engine would be quite unhappy doing that.
Two things in considering your choice- your budget and towing capacity needs. The gasser is proven and basically built proof. The diesel still needs time to get rid of it's shortcomings.
I got a diesel and tow once in awhile with it. Most of the bugs have been fixed with reprogramming the ECM and TCM. I drive my diesel in the city mostly and it does a regen once a month. So the rumors about being in regen all the time are false. Maintenance is higher price wise compared to the non-diesel but you can offset the cost by requesting free oil changes. I got lifetime free oil changes on my diesel so my dealer only charges me parts for fuel filter changes which is 100 bucks every 10k miles. I love my diesel and its a work horse when needed on the land.
We're seeing issues with turbos and long blocks on the cummins. Like others said, if your not doing a lot of towing stick with the VK56. The new direct injection is pretty badass as well.