Keep on truckin': Nissan Off-road Experience in Texas.(ONTHETRAIL)

Texas is known as the truck capital of the world and it's easy to see why. Heck, when we made the trip from our hotel to the riding area, our rough guess would be 70 percent of the vehicles we saw were trucks. With being the Lone Star state so pro-truck, Nissan decided to hold its Off-road Experience in an abandoned rock quarry outside of Bridgeport, Texas. They wanted us, and several dozen automotive mags and Web sites, to beat the snot out of their 4x4s! We've been testing ATVs in this manner for years, so doing the same with trucks and SUVs was right up our alley. In fact, during our trip, we were the last journalists testing at the end of the day. Once we got a taste for full-size four-wheelin', we wanted to keep on truckin' into the big Texas sunset.

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Our test vehicles consisted of the full-size Titan, mid-size Frontier and Xterra SUV. The test course was a real gem and made us wish we brought along a few quads, too. The old sandstone quarry featured water crossings, steep descents and climbs and open dirt roads. The Nissan crew even added a few banked berms for us ATVers. The course was gnarly enough to warrant the addition of spotters for the rough rock sections.

ATV VS. TRUCKS

Aside from an ATV not having a cab enclosure and the overall size of a full-size off-road vehicle, the ride was oddly similar. Sure, we couldn't see over the hood like we can over the front rack of a quad while scaling a steep grade, but that made the experience that much more enjoyable. Pounding through the water and powering through the switchback turns seemed pretty familiar for us, minus the steering wheel. However, the steering wheel made us feel as if we were motoring around the course in super Rhinos or Rangers.

When you ride off-road in a truck, there's no such thing as body English. You simply turn the wheel, alternate between the brake and gas pedal and hang on. On a quad, it's more about the rider's ability to control the ATV. At this test, we enjoyed a more relaxed ride.

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