Can the ’20 Nissan Titan Pro-4X and Titan XD Hold Their Own?
On my third lap of a 10-mile-long, closed-loop, off-road course in Midlothian, Texas, I realized two things: I was having heap big fun motoring the refreshed ’20 Nissan Titan Pro-4X at speeds far faster than 90 percent of its buyers would ever think of driving it and the truck’s handling and performance was far greater than I expected.
Testing the Updated Titan
I was on a daylong testdrive of the updated ’20 Nissan Titan with two of its five trim levels to evaluate: the Titan Pro-4X and Titan XD. The ’20 Nissan Titan Pro-4X is set up with a collection of Nissan’s 4WD hardware to give it prowess for locations where the pavement ends; this 1/2-ton is designed for customers who use their pickup on rugged and rough terrain—both on the job and for recreational activities in the backcountry. The ’20 Nissan Titan XD has been engineered to tow heavy loads and is endowed with technologies that help buyers feel competent and safe when hauling payload, trailering, and towing. Nissan also provided an opportunity for me to pull a 9,500-pound load with this 3/4-ton variant in the Titan lineup equipped with a gooseneck trailer. Like my experience with the Pro-4X, this ride and drive portion of my day on two lanes and along stretches of highway offered valuable and positive real-world feedback. Deemed the “ambassadors” of the Titan lineup by Nissan, the Titan Pro-4X and Titan XD impressed more than expected.
Nissan’s light-duty trucks compete with the Toyota Tundra, Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, and Ram 1500 models. The Titan XD is in a class of its own, slotting between the light- and medium-duty trucks. While Nissan’s turbodiesel V-8 XD model is now discontinued, the offerings still available include configuration choices of King Cab or crew cab body styles—Titan XD only comes in crew cab—and five grade levels: S, SV, Pro-4X, SL, and Platinum Reserve.
What’s New?
I first saw the ’20 Nissan Titan when it was unveiled at the 2019 State Fair of Texas. The Japanese automaker called it “reinvented” and described it as a “huge minor change” because it has an updated exterior, enhanced interior, expanded safety, and improved driving performance. After seeing it at the reveal and driving the two new models, I consider it more of a “midcycle refresh.” I took note of its slightly modernized and somewhat toned-down outside styling. I personally found it more appealing than some of the previous looks that stamped it with more of a big-boy bravado in design and trim dimensions. Although the “Big and Tall Man’s Store” styling is not my personal taste in trucks, this type of emboldened persona has increasingly become more expected as the character of today’s pickups are adorned with more immense and aggressive grilles, bulging fender flares, bigger wheel and tire packages, and larger knobs and controls on the interior.
A team at Nissan Design America, in La Jolla, California, led the tailoring of this pickup from its origin, with the latest version themed “Powerful Warrior.” Designers accentuated the truck’s solid beam construction by striving to create cues that bring a more aggressive and stronger look. I like its more high-tech appearance that comes from large LED headlights and “double boomerang” LED daytime running lights, along with all-LED lighting that illuminates the pickup bed, and new LED tailgate finishers in the rear. Not only does this bring increased lighting over the previous generation trucks, but it’s also what the market describes as “jewelry.” Also new are the front bumper, interlocking frame grille and surround, foglights, badging, wheel designs, and three new colors. Additionally, there is more dif
ferentiation between grade levels, with three separate grille designs and five different wheels, giving buyers more opportunity to customize from the factory.
I was pleased to see the changes to the Titan’s cabin; it’s more family oriented, with crafted details and premium materials, and there are more places to store small- and medium-sized items. As the price-of-entry in today’s office-like cockpit environments, a high-resolution Integrated Command Center with 9-inch touchscreen with an internal Wi-Fi router dominates the cabin, while a 7-inch programmable driver information display is the centerpiece of the instrument panel—the big and attractive touchscreen is the largest in its class. Standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto also bests the F-150, Silverado, and Ram, although it comes standard on the Tundra. Next-gen NissanConnect provides over-the-air software updates, HD Traffic, and Google Places/Search, along with new safety and security features like remote access features and emergency response services that can be accessed from the truck, on a computer, on a smartphone or smartwatch app, and with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Also new is Nissan Concierge, which brings 24-hour access to a team of professional, live assistants who can help with tasks such as appointment scheduling, wake-up calls, restaurant reservations, and personal shopping.
Notable is the clever and flexible smartphone holder/charging system—one of my favorite features. A 12-speaker Fender Premium Audio System is available and crew cab models now get an available dual-panel panoramic moonroof, one of the largest in the segment measuring over 3-feet squared.
Standard on the new trucks is Nissan Safety Shield 360. This suite of six class-exclusive technologies comes on all trim levels and includes Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning, and High Beam Assist; class-exclusive Rear Automatic Braking is not available on all others in this class with the exception of Ram. Other class-exclusive technologies are Intelligent Forward Collision Warning, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and Intelligent Around
View Monitor. Additional systems include Intelligent Cruise Control, Intelligent Driver Alertness, Traffic Sign Recognition, and Nissan’s innovative Rear Door Alert.
Driver Impression:
’20 Nissan Titan Pro-4X
When pushing the ’20 Titan Pro-4X close to the limits at the TexPlex Motorsports Park, I appreciated a number of strengths. Weighing in at just under 3 tons, with a payload of 7,300 pounds, there is ample torque on tap to move it quickly, with nine gears now instead of seven. Carried over is a 5.6L gas engine that gets a slight bump in performance numbers and is now rated at 400/413, touted Best In Class by Nissan. Shifting with nine gears puts Titan ahead of Tundra that lags behind with a six-speed automatic, Silverado and Ram that have eight, while Ford comes out on top with 10.
What really impressed me is Titan’s new transmission: the larger final gear ratio of 4.083:1 (versus 3.692:1) provides more torque at the wheels in a given gear and it has smoother and faster acceleration. Nissan says all trucks have improved performance for standing starts and at cruising speeds.
Stops continue to come in a measured manner with a four-wheel disc system with 14.2x1.5 front/14.4x1.2 rear ventilated discs and hydraulic power assist. I was particularly impressed with its steering response and handling in tight and twisty maneuvers; it has a decent amount of suspension squat without bottoming out. Of note is its ground clearance of 9.8 inches, which is bested by GMC’s Sierra AT4 that has 10.9 and Tundra’s TRD Pro’s 10.6, but it tops the F-150 FX4’s 9.4 inches. This attribute helps with maneuverability in the backcountry on uneven terrain.