Nissan's press conference was a low key affair with Larry Dominique, the company's vice president of product planning, giving a 15-minute lowdown on the 2008 Titan, 2008 Pathfinder and 2008 Armada. Highlights include a new Crew Cab long bed Titan, the Pathfinder's first V8 engine and the larger 8-inch screen for the Armada's optional DVD Entertainment Package.
Add these refreshed trucks to the product onslaught Nissan is unleashing this year. The Altima, Versa and Sentra have just hit the streets and the Altima Coupe, Sentra SE-R, 306-hp 350Z and Rogue crossover are all just around the corner...
After that, all attention will be on the Skyline GT-R, which will debut in production form at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.
Maybe the company's move to Nashville wasn't such a bad idea after all. — Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief
ateixeira says:
02:06 PM, 02/ 8/07
Just 8"? The Tribeca and Odyssey got 9" DVD screens back in MY2006.
navigator89 says:
03:25 PM, 02/ 8/07
The biggest problem with the original Titan was the cheap interior and its good to see thats its been refreshed, and it looks a lot better now. The long bed versions look pretty good to me, they actually make the truck look better as a whole.
Come to think of it, Nissan is once again in a product roll. Now their oldest model is only the Murano from 2003. Can't wait to see the Skyline this year!!!
estreka says:
08:16 PM, 02/ 8/07
I always thought the Titan's interior was really nice (I know I'm in the slim minority on this). My friend has a '05 crew cab model with tons of goodies. Maybe it's just the goodies.
This one looks good too. I don't think wood trim really fits the persona of a truck (Lincon anyone?). I'm interested to see the other options.
thebigal says:
09:22 PM, 02/ 8/07
The 8 foot bed option will be a hard sell I think.... It makes the truck a little long when the crew cab is added in. Not that the utility is useful, but I don't think may buyer will bite... Chevy never did sell many of it's 1500HD which also had the full size bed with the crew cab and Ford never did have one unless it was a 2500HD and I haven't seen many Tundra crew cab long beds running around either.
True the usual trade off to getting a crewcab is the shorter bed, and this tries to give both, but makes the truck longer, which will make it harder to park and navigate through parking lots and in traffic. If I needed the longer bed, I would get just a regular cab, or an extended cab truck. But as I see myself needing the space a cewcab offers in the cabin more than I need the space in the bed, I would much rather have the shorter bed and live with it's shortcomings, rather than have a long ungainly truck.
jerrywimer says:
07:03 AM, 02/ 9/07
I've got to be up front first- I have (and will) always chosen the GM product first if it was anywhere close in overall capabilities, styling, design, or comfort. With the new 900 trucks that would be a no brainer for me if I hadn't already bought an Avalanche anyway. I have to admit my bias up front.
Now. I think this is a good move, and a decent update to the current version of Nissan full sized trucks. If I didn't have my built in bias present I'd give it serious consideration. I would definitely read up owners' experiences to see if Nissan has remedied the issues that early trucks had and take things like that into consideration.
But overall I think the Titan is a decent truck, and besides being crippled by attitudes like mine (biased toward specific brands of domestic trucks), the next issue that needs addressed is the minimal choice of available configurations. Toyota came out of the gate swinging with the new Tundra (which I dislike for other reasons) and addressed this issue up front with their first real full sized competitor. The addition of the extra bed length configurations to the Titan lineup and the cleaning up of the interior and exterior go a long way to making the Titan a more viable competitor. One that more open minded individuals than myself would do well to keep under consideration if they're shopping for a half ton truck.