2016 Nissan Titan XD Road Test and Review

2016 Nissan TITAN XD exterior front angle with grille1

My wife and I own a pickup truck, a 20-plus-year-old ¾-ton Chevy 2500 that we use almost exclusively to tow horses and haul hay. The Chevy is a hard worker, but rides like an ox cart, which is why we leave it parked when we don't have a specific job for it to do. Now Nissan has a truck for people like us: The 2016 Titan XD, which Nissan claims can do the work of a heavy duty pickup while delivering the ride and maneuverability of a half-ton. And as a bonus, Nissan is offering it with Cummins diesel power. Is Nissan on to something? We gave our Chevy the week off and put the new 2017 Nissan Titan to the test.

Not HD, but XD.

Nissan’s new Titan XD is an intriguing idea: A truck with more towing and hauling capacity than a typical half-ton (150/1500) pickup, but without the hard ride of a heavy-duty (HD) 250/2500 truck. There are half-ton pickups that approach or even exceed the Titan XD’s maximum capacities (2,091 lbs payload and 12,314 lbs towing); properly equipped, a Ford F-150 can tow 12,200 lbs and haul 3,270 lbs. But Titan XD has one thing rarely found in half-ton: Diesel power. (Chrysler offers a diesel in their 1500, but it's geared towards fuel economy rather than pulling power.) And this is not just any diesel: A five-liter V8 from big-rig engine builder Cummins. Fitting a Cummins diesel to their pickups changed Dodge’s fortunes overnight, and now Nissan is hoping the big C will do the same for the Titan XD.

Putting Titan to the test.

My wife Robin and I took the Titan XD on a camping trip to Montana de Oro state park on California's Central Coast—with horses. Behind the Titan was our two-horse trailer with equine buddies Aiden and Bob aboard, plus a few hundred pounds of horse gear and supplies. The truck would have a 100-pound bale of hay and camping gear in the bed and rest of our stuff in the cab. Right away, we found that loading the bed was easy thanks to a fold-down step below the back bumper. Thank you, Nissan, for remembering that not all pickup truck drivers are burly 6-footers. We estimated the weight of the loaded trailer at around 6,000 lb., well within the capacity of today's half-ton gas trucks. But having a gas truck of our own, we know that the hills can be a strain on both the engine and the fuel budget. We were hoping that the Cummins diesel would give us the power we needed with lower fuel bills.

Help for drivers towing solo.

The new Nissan Titan makes hooking up a trailer easy: The backup camera's wide-angle mode gives a clear view of the hitch, with a guideline at the center of the screen that turns with the wheels. I had no problem hooking up the trailer without any assistance. Another unique feature for single-handed hook-ups is the trailer light test feature. Push a few buttons on the remote and the Titan cycles through parking lights, turn signals, and brake lights, so you can check the trailer bulbs without a helper. Nice!

Photo by Nissan

On the road: ¾-ton performance.

With the fuel tank full and Aiden and Bob ready to travel, we hit the road. Right away, we were impressed with the suspension: The ride was notably stiffer with the trailer hooked up, but the rear end felt as stable and planted as it is with our ¾-ton truck. As we hit the open road, higher speeds revealed no bad habits: No porpoising, no swaying, and no signs that the Titan's rear axle was anywhere near capacity. Power from the Cummins diesel was definitely not a problem; the truck climbed the hills with ease, though when we switched the 6-speed automatic transmission to Tow mode, it tended to favor 5th gear in the flats and 4th on the hills. We popped it back into Normal mode and used the toggle-type switch on the gearshift lever to downshift for the hills, which gave us a quieter ride.

A cab with a view.

During our long, slow ride to the Central Coast, we had plenty of time to enjoy the Titan’s cab. For the most part, we liked what we saw and felt: The seats are big and comfortable and the control layout, while not particularly novel, is attractively designed and very easy to figure out. One thing I really liked was the view out. Most modern HD pickup trucks have bulging hoods implying big muscles underneath, but the Titan doesn’t feel the need to show off: Size-wise, it feels like a half-ton truck, and that makes it a breeze to maneuver and park, especially for short folks like me. Ironically, many of those same burly trucks seem oblivious to the importance of good mirrors. Our Titan XD had extendable towing mirrors that provided plenty of visual area and a separate convex section that aided the view of next to the truck.

Fuel consumption: Higher mileage than expected.

One of the other advantages of towing with a diesel truck is fuel economy, but here we were disappointed. Because of its size and load capacity, Nissan isn’t required to publish EPA fuel economy estimates for the Titan XD. Still, we figured, it’s a diesel—how thirsty can it be? Answer: Pretty thirsty. We averaged just 12.4 miles per gallon when towing—only a couple of MPG better than we see in our old Chevy. With such a (relatively) moderate load and a gentle foot on the throttle, we expected significantly better fuel economy from the big Cummins.

DEF-con Five

Another unpleasant surprise was the truck’s thirst for diesel exhaust fluid. DEF is part of the emissions system, and if it runs low, the EPA requires the engine to be disabled. The Titan’s digital dash includes a DEF gauge, and our truck showed full when we got it, but by the time we got home—after around 600 miles—we got a warning that DEF capacity was at 15 percent. A day later we hit the 10 percent mark with a warning that the engine would soon be disabled. I bought a 2.5-gallon bottle of DEF (about $11 at our local parts store) and dumped it into the tank, which was easy as the DEF filler is right next to the fuel filler. (NEVER EVER EVER put DEF in the fuel tank; you’ll do extensive and expensive damage.) Though the tank holds 4.5 gallons, 2.5 gallons caused the digital gauge to show full, and that was no doubt part of our problem: We thought we had a full DEF tank when we only had half. Still, most truck manufacturers size their DEF tanks to be refilled at each oil change—that would be 10,000 miles for the Titan XD. If a half-tank lasted only 600 miles, then either the Titan's tank is too small, the DEF consumption is too high, or both.

Where half-tons struggle, Titan takes it easy.

We took the Titan XD’s engine largely for granted until we started talking trucks with one of our fellow campers. She complained about the lack of power from her gas-fueled Chevrolet Silverado 1500, even though it had a stout V8 up front and she was towing a smaller trailer with only one horse on board. She was dreading the steep dirt hill that led out of the park, which she said was always a struggle. With two horses in tow, the Titan XD climbed that same hill as if it was a speed bump. Given peace of mind like that, we can live with buying a few extra gallons of DEF.

Photo by Nissan

The right idea.

Overall, Robin and I were impressed with the Titan XD. The truck delivered what it promised: The towing confidence of a heavy duty truck with the compliant ride of a half-ton. The Titan XD was clearly a much more capable tow vehicle than our friends’ 1500-class trucks, but it saved us the back-side beating that accompanies a drive in a typical 2500-class pickup (including our own). Fuel and DEF consumption were a disappointment; the diesel engine carries a $5000 price premium, but at 12.5 MPG towing, Titan owners might save more money with the gasoline engine.

Photo by Nissan

Nissan is on to something.

How does the Titan compare on price to other trucks? Diesel Titans start at $41,485 with a crew cab, and our nicely equipped 4x4 test truck in Pro4X trim listed for $50,085. Chrysler will sell you a diesel-powered RAM 2500 for $41,970, but that’s a stripped-down model (we’re talking crank-down windows and no carpeting). A crew-cab Ram equipped like the base-model Titan XD diesel costs $50,165. And what about a burly half-ton? A Ford F-150 equipped for maximum towing (12,200 lb.) lists for $30,815 with a regular cab; if you want an extended cab, you’re up to $43,240. (And if you want a crew cab with that much towing capacity, you’re out of luck.) Looking at those numbers, the diesel Titan provides good value for its capacity and comfort. After a week working it hard, we're convinced that Nissan is on to something. If you want a pickup truck that looks good, you'll find better value elsewhere—but if, like us, you use your pickup truck for the heavy jobs, you'll find the Titan to be a hard worker with a strong back.