Conclusion:
The obvious question here is if the Titan XD had competed in our Texas Truck Showdown 2016 Max Towing competition, where would it have placed? For the sake of full disclosure, we tested the Nissan Titan XD at exactly the same time as our other 2016 Texas Truck Showdown competitors and it was judged by experts in comparison to other pickups as well.
From our tests, after recalculating all the scores to include the Titan XD, it looks like the Nissan would have been the top scorer in four of the 20 scored objective categories/tests (GVWR, GCWR, calculated max towing, and dyno'd max torque), but quite a bit behind the others in almost every other category, leaving it to finish in fourth place after the 20 tests (in front of the Ram and Toyota, but 154 points behind the GMC) and in fifth place (just ahead of the Tundra) after our judges scores were added. The Nissan finished in last place with our judges, finishing 78 points behind the GMC.
When judged against half-ton pickups — combining judges' scores with our test scores — the Titan XD would have finished in second to last place overall. Still, for a brand-new truck that's carving out new territory in the hopes of finding a new type of truck buyer, there are plenty of things to like here, many of which are only dependent on what you need and like in a pickup.
If you're looking for luxury comfort and a car-like ride, the Titan XD won't be a good choice. When compared to maxed-out half-tons, the Nissan offers a harsher ride even though it has max payload and towing numbers similar to some lighter-duty competitors.
These details are likely be the biggest challenges for salespeople dealing with smart truck shoppers: The XD has capabilities similar to half-ton pickups, it rides rougher, it doesn't have the power or strength of current three-quarter-ton diesel options and it's more expensive. That's going to be a tricky sale pitch.
But if Nissan measures success by sales volume, it's likely to be happy this time next year. Even if Nissan sells a good majority of the Cummins production run (about 40,000 engines), that would more than double the number of Titans sold last year.
One quick reminder: The Titan XD will get a gasoline V-8 in the next few months — a new direct-injection version of the Endurance 5.6-liter V-8 that should have more power and better fuel economy than before. Also, the light-duty Nissan Titan chassis will be shown to journalists later this year; that will offer a V-6 and the new V-8 as engine options with additional trim and cab configurations. We'll have more on those models later.
