Then our Nissan hosts lowered the Titan to the pavement so we could climb aboard. In every major dimension, the Titan stacks up within an inch or two of the 1/2-ton rigs offered by Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and GMC. There's plenty of spread-out room inside for five or six well-fed Americans and their gear. Nissan didn't tiptoe into the full-size market as Toyota did with the "bigger-than-midsize-but not quite full-size" Tundra. The Titan, in contrast, feels big.
The Titan is more than half a foot longer and at least three inches taller and wider than the Toyota Tundra. The new Nissan will hit the ground running with 1/2-ton models available in four levels of trim, including two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive, extended four-door King Cab, and four-door Crew Cab variants. Nissan's new full-sizer continues the trend of trucks to larger interiors, but shorter beds.
Because all Titans share the same 139.8-inch wheelbase and 224.2-inch overall length, the longer Crew Cab with its four full-size, front-hinged doors comes with the shorter 5-foot 7-inch bed, and the comparably shorter King Cab features the longest available 6-foot 7-inch bed. No 8-foot bed will be available, at least at start of production. Aside from the ease with which the rear seat can be accessed on the Crew Cab, that configuration also offers roughly eight inches more rear legroom and about an inch and a half more rear headroom than the already spacious King Cab.
But the King Cab is no slouch either in the ingress/egress department, thanks to rear-hinged rear doors that pivot nearly 180 degrees to allow unfettered access from the rear--even in tight parking spaces. It's an industry first.
Speaking of firsts, the Titan will be available with a factory-applied sprayed-in bedliner. Other options to customize Titan's bed include a sliding divider, slide-out tray, and sliding toolbox that move fore and aft on rails recessed into the floor and bed sides. Also making work easier and play more enjoyable is an adjustable, flip-down bed extender. Adjustable overhead racks for carrying such things as ladders and scaffolding are also available as accessories.
Nissan has dispensed with the usual full-size pickup ploy of offering a six-cylinder, manual-transmission price-leader hardly anyone buys. In fact, no manual transmission will be available on Titan at all. The base configuration moves straight to an all-aluminum 5.6-liter double-overhead-cam V-8 and five-speed automatic transmission. On five-passenger models with bucket seats, that includes a console and gated floor shifter. Although Nissan hasn't yet released final engine-output numbers, we're estimating 350 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque. That combination is good for towing up to 9400 pounds, 2200 more than Tundra.