2016 Nissan Titan XD Long-Term Road Test - Introduction

Edmunds.com

2016 Nissan Titan XD Long-Term Road Test - Introduction

A 2016 Nissan Titan XD joins the Edmunds long-term fleet, and it brings along a Cummins-built turbodiesel V8 and near heavy-duty capabilities.

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bohio

Questions: Did you pay MSRP? If not, then how much? Does the truck already have about 3,600 miles on it? Did Nissan have the guts to publish sales targets? If so, are they reaching them?

I waited over a year to buy a pickup truck, partially due to this new Titan's (delayed) release. And when I finally saw it in person, I was disappointed. I thought it was an abomination in virtually every way, other than while driving, because one wasn't available to drive at that time. I'd be amazed if Nissan isn't already heavily discounting their Titan... As to 0-60 with the diesel, I've heard it's in the 9 second range. As to fuel economy, I guess they don't have to publish the EPA figures, due to the weight of the beast in XD guise. Clever I suppose, but anybody wanting a 1/2 ton would expect to see such figures, and the XD is much less capable than a real 3/4 ton, and barely more capable than the Ford F150 with 3.5 EcoBoost. I'll be interested to hear more about this thing. I don't think I made a mistake passing it up (an SV model for $55k locally, with the dealer only willing to knock $500 off MSRP) to instead buy a RAM 1500 ED CrewCab 4WD, that in 7k+ miles is getting 24.7 MPG in mixed driving. (And I paid $41.4k out-the-door...)

Still, I'll be watching, and hoping that Nissan hasn't erred too badly. And here's to hoping Nissan finally come out with new versions of the Frontier and Xterra. Shame on Nissan for letting all of these trucks languish for a decade plus, while the competition was leaving them looking old and tired and obsolete. My 2006 Xterra was one of the best vehicles I've ever owned. Nissan shouldn't think they can rest on their laurels (whatever those are).

daryleason

If imitation is the sincerest form of flatterly, then Ford, Ram (nee Dodge), and GM must all three be blushing. To me, the Titan looks like Nissan took a plastic model of an F-Series Ford and microwaved for about 3 minutes, then scaled it up and built it. The use of the Cummings is a blatant "Let's see if we can steal some sales from Ram" move. And the "XD which splits the difference between a 1/2 ton and a 3/4 ton" is straight out of GM's playbook with the Silverado HD and (if you're old enough) the old '80s "Heavy Half" C-1500s. I like Nissan vehicles, for the most part, but they really aren't doing anything ground-breaking. I'm going to be curious what the sales numbers are going to look like, as well as incentives. Nissans are normally pretty good about holding their value on their "better" vehicles, so the used prices are going to be interesting as well.

farvy

@bohio
While Edmunds does buy some of their long term vehicles, they didn't buy this truck. Nissan provided it to them. If they bought it, they will mention that they did & provide the pricing info. If they didn't, they put this at the end of the intro, which they did for this truck:
"The manufacturer provided Edmunds with this vehicle for the purpose of evaluation."

misterfusion

This XD was released earlier in the year, and I am already reading reviews of the new half-ton Titan, so I'm surprised that Edmunds didn't go with that one (sure to be the volume seller of the lineup). I'm not rooting for Nissan to fail, but the XD seems like such an odd duck.

I've gotta say though, I still think the Frontier is a sharp-looking truck, even though it's ancient. It's too bad they barely updated its features over the years.

longtimelurker

"...the XD splits the difference between a traditional half-ton pickup and a true heavy-duty truck."

Yeah - it has the size and weight of a 3/4-ton, with the towing and hauling capacity of a 1/2-ton. Awesome!

allthingshonda

No, Nissan did not do any thing ground breaking or class leading with this truck. They readily admit the same fact because that's not what they intended for the new Titan. In a video they say their main goal for the Titan was to be a durable truck that may not be able to tow the most or have the most power but to do what you want it to do and do it well for years without asking for more than gas and simple maintenance. Nissan points out that their new 5.6 V8 gets the same fuel economy as the Ecoboost by using the VVEL technology. The jury is still out on the long term durability of the Ecoboost and Ecodiesel engines. However, there are a lot of Vortec, Triton and Hemi V8's still going strong with 200,000-300,000 miles on them.

Nissan did not choose the Cummins as a way to steal sales from Ram. Cummins or not I'm sure they want to steal sales from everybody. The 5.0 diesel was not built specifically for Nissan just like the VM Motori 3.0 diesel is not built just for the Ram. Cummins is an engine manufacturer that makes money selling as many engines as they can. Nissan will not sell nearly enough Titan XD diesels to cover the cost of developing and building this engine. That's why you will see this same engine in upcoming Tundras and anybody else who wants it. Nissan's agreement with Cummins allows them to be the first with the engine.

throwback

I continue to be amazed at how much trucks cost these days. As a car guy it is nice to have a truck every now and then (parts hauling) but I could never pay this much for a truck.

misterfusion

allthingshonda said:

Nissan did not choose the Cummins as a way to steal sales from Ram. Cummins or not I'm sure they want to steal sales from everybody. The 5.0 diesel was not built specifically for Nissan just like the VM Motori 3.0 diesel is not built just for the Ram.

IIRC, the Cummins V8 started out as a Chrysler-exclusive project. However, Chrysler dropped out when the FCA merger brought them the VM engine (VM being another FCA company). Cummins went ahead with development of the V8 on their own, and found an eager launch partner in Nissan.

desmolicious

"King Banana"? Nicely done Niebuhr, take the rest of the week off.

darthbimmer

Glad to see you bought a truck that's ready to play in the dirt. And your 12 month evaluation should answer questions about whether the new Titan neatly splits the difference between half-ton and three-quarter-ton trucks to deliver what customers need.

slick61

good gawd... but that's not the worst... saw an XD Platinum Reserve at the dealership a few months ago that stickered around $64k. yea... the price of trucks these days... I just went through it, replacing my 2000 Super Duty V10 4x4 supercab. Most were loaded with crap that I neither wanted nor wanted to pay for. I found what I wanted in a Ram 2500 crew cab... 6.4L V8, 4x4, and very few options. Was cheaper than all of the HALF TONS they had on the lot by several thousand dollars... but to each his own...

500rwhp

This thing is painfully ugly, but I think the real reason people won't buy it is the fact that regular half tons tow so much now and have such high capabilities that the idea of bridging the gap to a 3/4 ton ends up in this space between "way more than the average joe needs" and "not nearly the proven durability and too low of capability" for people who use their heavy duty trucks for commercial hauling and put on 100k+ miles per year.

thebiggestv

Brand new model, brand new engine? I'll pass, let's give it a year to sort out the gremlins and then come back

bohio

I realize this initial post from Edmunds is now old news, nor is there any update on this King Banana Behemoth. However, if Edmunds didn't buy this truck, i.e. if it was instead furnished by the mfg. as is noted at the very end of the article in italics, then IMO Edmunds shouldn't have these headers in the article sections: What Did We Buy? and Why We Bought It. For integrity and clarity, the article should start with the fact that the mfg. provided the vehicle, rather than implying that Edmunds bought it -- until the last sentence.