This week I am behind the wheel of the 2018 Nissan Titan XD Diesel pickup. I had the 2016 Nissan Titan when it first came out and found it to be somewhat confusing.
It is a ¾ ton truck by definition but without the towing capacity or horsepower of the heavy-duty diesels from Ford, GM, or Ram.
Under the hood, you’ll find a 5-liter Cummins V8 Turbo Diesel engine, a brand name made famous by Dodge and Ram trucks. This truck is rated at 310-horses, but more importantly, it has 555-pound feet of torque. By comparison, the F250 Powerstroke diesel has 450-horses and 935-pound feet of torque. Titan comes with a 6-speed automatic transmission.
My review truck is the Pro-4X version with the King Cab, or as some automakers call them, extended cab. It also comes as a Crew Cab with 4-full doors.
The leather seats with stitching are super comfortable, and Nissan left the gearshift on the steering wheel to allow for a huge center console. In the center of the dash is a driver info center that tells you everything you could want to know about the truck, including real-time fuel usage.
Above the center console and to the right of the power-adjusting steering wheel, is a 7” color display that operates the 10-speaker audio system, Nissan Connect with navigation and real-time apps, Bluetooth, and voice activation. I was a little surprised Nissan didn’t use a bigger screen, but it is adequate.
This 7100-pound truck comes standard with heated front seats, remote key fob start, pushbutton start, backup camera, front and rear parking monitors, 18” wheels, blind-spot monitoring, and trailer towing package. This truck sits extremely high off the ground, so make sure you get the optional running boards.
There are the two pretty cool lockable Titan boxes in the bed that can also be used as ice coolers for tailgating. There are even cup holders when the lid is open, and if you need more cargo room, they are removable. If you need your truck bed lit up at night, that is no problem for Titan. There are a total of eight LED lights in the bed, including lights under the bed rails.
This truck has $6800 in options including the Utility package, the Convenience package, and the Premium package. Those packages get you a power sliding rear window, heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel, the parking sensors, an electronic locking tailgate, and some other nice features.
This is an outwardly pretty and tough-looking truck with a great interior, although the back seat is pretty tight in the King Cab, but the question people who tow ask is how capable is it?
This truck, as equipped, is rated to tow 11,600 pounds, less than most of the half-ton trucks with gasoline engines. So, what about fuel economy? Since it is a ¾ ton truck, the EPA doesn’t require it to be rated, but in my own testing, the Titan XD got just over 17 miles per gallon in half city/half highway driving holding my speed to 65 miles per hour tops. Most of the time it was 14-15 miles per gallon.
MSRP on this truck as equipped is $58,915 but Nissan has been very generous with rebates. One real plus to this truck is the warranty, it comes with 5-years or 100,000 mile bumper to bumper coverage.
The Titan XD does drive very well, it has some neat features, and the engine is quiet inside the cab. There is no doubt it is the best Titan made so far, but if you are thinking of buying a ¾ ton diesel that will tow a huge trailer, this isn’t it.
