Pickup truck market is an interesting one due to the competition that is present in this segment. Ford, Chevy and RAM have been building trucks for as long as we can think. Toyota is out there somewhere as well and has had little success against the giants in the pickup truck market. Back in early 2000s, Nissan buckled up and dived nose first into this segment with little or no homework it appeared. Initial reviews were bad, customer reviews were even worst and we still remember our 2004 that had cheap interior, crappy gas mileage and not so great tow ratings.
So when we heard about an all new Titan coming out, we were not too thrilled. The new RAM is just fantastic, Ford has improved and Chevy/GMC have their following. Nissan had to do something special to keep the losing market share and to excite other brand owners to pay attention to this lost soul.
We were able to get our hands on a 2016 Nissan Titan XD with a Cummins diesel engine few weeks ago as part of our extended findings. One of the main problems with being on the top is that you get too comfortable because you already have market share, your staff is good at making so they somehow magically lose innovation and the result is same old boring products. However as we all know, customers are mostly loyal to a brand so for someone to switch brands, they must see value in the new product.
Pictures Gallery: 2016 Nissan Titan XD Diesel Pictures
From what we are able to see, Nissan really studied the market this time around, looked heavily at what the competition is providing and more importantly NOT providing and started working towards something which is truly amazing in our eyes.
When we spoke to other Titan owners, the major complain was about the powertrain. 5.6 V8 was not really known as a major success compared to Nissan’s other 6-Cyl counterparts. Back in 2013, Nissan and Cummins had an agreement where Cummins will supply 5.0L Turbo Diesel engine to the next-generation Titan. Most of us did not pay attention because we were not sure how far this partnership would go but we definitely got excited. The 2016 Titan XD we drove had the 5.0 Twin Turbo Cummins Diesel and produced 310 hp but most importantly 555 lb-ft of torque. Add the beefy Transmission to the mix and now this combo gives this Titan a 12314 pounds towing capacity!
Previous generation Titan really fell short on interior so Nissan decided to look more towards their luxury brand for help. It was interesting because when we jumped in the driver’s seat, for a second we thought we were driving an Infiniti and not a pickup truck. Interior is very well designed, comes loaded with NissanConnect with Navigation and mobile apps including a 7.0 multi-touch control color monitor. All the controls are easily reachable and the leather seats look very upscale. Driving around town or on the highway in this interior was a true luxury indeed.
One of the great features that most truck buyers would love is the gooseneck hitch embedded in the bed and it can also accept any large fifth-wheel or gooseneck trailers! This one got us by surprise because the amount of headache one has to go through just to hook up a fifth wheel to a regular truck if possible at all.
So there we have it, a pickup truck with a Cummins diesel, four-wheel drive, luxury car like interior and able to tow up to 12314 pounds and starting around $40,200 is a heck of an achievement.
2016 Nissan Titan XD impressed us with a short stay where we were able to drive it around town, pull our enclosed car trailer and take an off-roading trip and it barely broke a sweat. We are looking forward to our long-term Titan to show up soon so we can put it through our rigorous testing here at Autotalk.com!
We are sure our readers will agree with our decision to award Autotalk.com’s Truck of the Year award to the 2016 Nissan Titan XD! Congratulations NissanUSA!
