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The Nissan Titan has always been something of an also-ran in the full-size pickup truck arena. While it’s always had the goods on paper to compete with the likes of the Ram, Silverado and F-Series — indeed, in measures like standard-issue horsepower, it’s often outdone them — it’s never come close to finding the sales success of the Big Three’s rigs. (Or even, for that matter, its fellow Japanese full-sizer, the Toyota Tundra.) The all-new second-generation model that replaced the painfully aged first-gen in 2015 was its own impressively large swing, adding a heavy-duty Titan XD (yes, like the old version of the eyes-shut-and-laughing emoji), a beefy turbodiesel V8 and a bold new front end.
For 2020, though, the second-generation rig received a surprisingly substantial midlife update. Nissan stripped away many of the choices for buyers, discarding the turbodiesel V8 and most body style configurations; it replaced the old seven-speed automatic with a new nine-speed one; and it gave both interior and exterior a refreshening that serves up better looks. To see how well this revised truck works in the real world, we took a Nissan Titan Pro-4X up to Vermont for a few days in the deep chill of winter, giving it a chance to test its mettle the way most trucks actually do: long road trips, dalliances down back roads and shuttling about in towns.
The revised Titan is just fine for the way most people will use it
Sure, it may not be able to match some of the marquee attractions of the Big Three’s trucks; it’s not as well-designed as the Ram, nor does it offer that ride’s optional air suspension, and its naturally-aspirated V8 can’t match the power of performance of the brawniest engines from Ford and Chevy. But realistically speaking, today’s full-size trucks are far more capable than most people need.
While the Titan’s max tow rating of 9,370 pounds is a little less than where the Ford, Ram and GM twins top out, most buyers using it to tow snowmobile trailers and Airstreams will only need two-thirds that at most; and if the Pro-4X off-road model I tested isn’t as badass as a Raptor or doesn’t have quite as much ground clearance as a Trail Boss or Rebel, its 9.8 inches of ground clearance and aggressive off-road tires mean it’ll keep up with them on all but the worst trails — which, again, most buyers will never dare tread upon.
