2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 vs 2020 Nissan Titan – Bethlehem, PA

Engine Options

If you know your vehicles, then you can usually guess what kind of performance you should be getting out of a car or pickup based on the price you’re paying. It’s not a foolproof method, but it has some wisdom in it. Full-size pickups need to have engines that are capable of keeping the truck going when they are in the harshest of conditions. If they aren’t properly equipped, then they might not be able to get the job done.

2020 Chevy Silverado Engines

Since the starting MSRP of the Silverado is $28,300, you can expect the standard engine to be reasonable enough for the price you’re paying. Your standard fare under the hood will be a 4.3L EcoTec3 V6 engine with up to 285 hp and 305 lb-ft of torque. This isn’t a bad engine to start out with, and it will do just fine under most circumstances. The nice benefit of the Silverado, though, is the fact that you have a lot of different options to choose from.

Moving up slightly in power, you’ll find the 2.7L Turbo engine with up to 310 hp and 348 lb-ft of torque. Then it’s the 5.3L EcoTec3 V8 engine (available with Dynamic Fuel Management as well) with up to 355 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque. The most powerful option will be the 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine with up to 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. If that weren’t enough, there’s also a 3.0L Duramax Turbo-Diesel I6 engine with up to 277 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. If you aren’t familiar with diesel engines, just know that they have incredible fuel economy numbers and can generate a lot of torque, making them great options for long drives and big tows.

2020 Nissan Titan Engines

Interestingly, the Titan comes with just the one engine option, which is a 5.6L V8 engine with up to 400 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque. Overall, this is definitely appealing since the engine is quite powerful, but you’ll see that reflected in the starting MSRP of $36,190. The fact is, it’s a great standard engine to have. However, without any other options, you don’t have a say in deciding anything else. If you didn’t necessarily need that much power and would rather save some money with a different engine option, you wouldn’t be able to make that choice. It also goes the other direction if you wanted more power and similarly if you wanted something that would grant you greater fuel economy.

Towing and Payload Capabilities

While a mid-size pickup might be expected to be able to handle a decent load of work now and then, you’d most expect it to function at a lower level than a full-size pickup. Your bigger trucks are expected to handle whatever life might have in store for them, whether that’s a long drive with a hefty trailer in tow or an adventure with friends over rugged trails in the backwoods. For that to be the case, they need to have the capabilities to do so.

2020 Chevy Silverado Capabilities

There are many different configurations available across your 2020 Chevy Silverado lineup, but looking at the best options will give you the full picture of what this pickup is capable of. When properly configured, your 2020 Silverado can tow up to 13,400 lbs. Also, when properly configured, the maximum payload capacity is 2,250 lbs. If you know your trucks, you’ll know that these are some very impressive numbers the Silverado is putting up. Many full-size pickups will barely scratch the surface of the 10,000 lbs mark, so taking it even further is no small feat. The same goes for the maximum available payload.

2020 Nissan Titan Capabilities

The 2020 Nissan Titan, in its proper configuration, will have a maximum towing capacity of 9,400 lbs. The maximum available payload will be 1,680 lbs. These numbers are respectable, but they do fall very short of the Silverado’s capabilities. If it were only the difference of a few hundred pounds, then it wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but a 4,000-pound difference is massive. The difference in the maximum payload isn’t as large in terms of the number of pounds, but since we’re dealing with lower total amounts anyway, it’s still a sizeable difference. 

Comparing the Cost

You can really get to know more about a vehicle when you look through the different trim levels available and how they’re priced. The 2020 Chevy Silverado has a lot of different options to choose from between the eight trim levels that are available. With starting prices attached, they are the WT ($28,300), Custom ($34,600), Custom Trail Boss ($39,500), LT ($36,900), RST ($38,800), LT Trail Boss ($48,500), LTZ ($43,000), and High Country ($53,300).

The 2020 Nissan Titan’s trim levels, with prices included, are the S ($36,190), SV ($39,990), PRO-4X ($47,590), SL ($53,990), and Platinum Reserve ($55,490).

As you can see, compared to the Titan, the Silverado’s lowest trim will start at a lower price, and the highest trim will end at a lower price. This may be because of different features included on each of the trucks that will adjust the price accordingly, but overall there’s a lot more customization available on the Silverado. With eight trim levels compared to the Titan’s five and options for many different engine types, it’s really your choice as to what you want in your Silverado configuration. For example, 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot capability is either standard or available across the Silverado trims, which is something you’ll rarely see from other manufacturers.