2024 Nissan Titan Review: Ready For Retirement

The first-gen Nissan Titan sold nearly 87,000 units in the USA when it was still new in 2005, but sales have been on a downward trajectory ever since, with fewer than 20,000 of the second generation moved in 2023. So it's perhaps no surprise that Nissan is cutting its losses and is calling it quits in the local full-size truck market, ending Titan production in the summer of 2024. Those numbers are small fry next to the Ford F-150, which moved three-quarters of a million units last year. Even the Toyota Tundra, which can't challenge the Ford/GM/RAM top three, sold more than 125,000 last year. It doesn't help that the Titan is an eight-year-old truck now, it doesn't offer much choice with only a single engine and two body styles on offer, and can't match the trailering credentials or latest tech features found in rivals. Its durable 400-horsepower V8 engine provides strong performance and the truck comes with many driver assists, but its gas mileage is poor and the 2024 model is likely to fade into oblivion without much of a blip on the radar.

New for 2024

With production ending soon, the 2024 Titan is on its last legs and doesn't get many changes for the new model year. The S trim is discontinued, so the SV is now the base trim in the range, increasing the starting price of a new Nissan Titan by nearly $6k. To reflect the SV's newfound entry-level status and make its price more palatable, its Convenience package - which used to be standard last year - is relegated to the options list this year. The limited-run Bronze Edition appearance package is new, decking out the truck's exterior in blacked-out trim and adding various bronze exterior and interior visual enhancements, including its 20-inch alloys and cabin trim pieces. This package can only be applied to the SV trim.

2024 Nissan Titan Price: Which One to Buy

The starting price of the 2024 Nissan Titan SV Crew Cab is $46,040. Next in line is the SV King Cab at $49,410, the Pro-4X Crew Cab at $53,850, and the Platinum Reserve Crew Cab at $59,710. While the SV King Cab and the Pro-4X Crew Cab only come in four-wheel drive, the other trims are two-wheel drive by default, and upgrading to 4WD will cost $3,190 on the lower trims and $3,310 on the Platinum Reserve.

The Midnight Edition and Bronze Edition packages can be added to the SV, and it will cost you $1,990 and $2,980 extra, respectively. All these prices are MSRP, so they don't include Nissan's $2,010 destination fee.

Which Titan you buy will depend on what you want to do with it. If you want a no-nonsense workhorse, there's no longer a base S trim, so you can do far better for less money at another brand. The Pro-4X is the go-to trim for the adventure-minded who want a better equipment level and some off-road ability, while the Platinum Reserve is the most luxurious trim, though it's hard to justify going for the old Titan in the $60k price class. We'd keep it as cheap as possible and up-spec an SV with the features we'd most like to add.

Interior and Features

The controls are easy to use and comfort levels are bolstered by very comfortable seats compensating for mediocre ride quality, though noise levels are a little high.

The Titan still looks smart inside, despite its age, with chunky controls, a touchscreen mounted high up on the dashboard, and good ergonomics. But tellingly, some of the latest features rivals offer are missing and you get no digital gauge cluster, though there's a seven-inch driver-information display. Many of the materials are hard and durable, but the upper trims get plusher finishes that include wood effect and leather. The SV's unheated and manually adjusted cloth seats are basic, but the upper trims get supportive captain's chairs, heating, and power adjustment, with good comfort levels and interior space that's adequate, rather than generous, considering the Crew Cab's wheelbase falls nearly 20 inches short of that of the Tundra. With up to 10.6 inches of ground clearance, it's quite a step up into the Titan, but the flagship's running boards assist with getting up and in (they're optional on the others). You sit high up and there are big rearward blind spots, so you'll be thankful for the rear parking sensors and standard blind-spot monitoring.

Space

The cabin of the Crew Cab is reasonably roomy, with 38.5 inches of rear legroom and over 40 inches of headroom back there. These figures would certainly be very impressive in a normal car, but the Titan's rivals are all even bigger inside, with the Tundra and F-150 besting the Nissan's rear legroom by three to five inches. The King Cab is extremely cramped in the second row, which is only suitable for the smallest of children. The base SV Crew Cab has a 40/20/40-split front bench seat that can accommodate three people, taking its total seating capacity to six.

Cargo

The sole King Cab model has a 6.5-foot bed, which comes with the highest rated payload capacity of 1,710 pounds, and a length of 78.7 inches. The Crew Cab models all have a 5.5-foot bed (67 inches) with a maximum payload of 1,600 pounds. Both beds are 20.8 inches deep and 63.8 inches wide. Payload figures fall well short of the competition that also offers longer beds of over eight feet, with far more bed space. The F-150 can load as much as 2,900 lbs and even the Tundra, which isn't available in a Regular Cab, beats the Nissan with 1,875 lbs. At least Nissan enables you to make the most of it with four tie-down hooks, while the Platinum Reserve also gets the Utili-track Channel System, which gives you movable metal cleats that can be clamped in place in any positions along the bed's wall rails. Special Titan Boxes can be ordered that fit the bed, along with various options such as fixed or sliding bed extenders, or bed dividers.

The 60/40-split rear bench seat can be folded down to provide useful in-cabin trunk space, while the seat bases can also flip up, revealing configurable under-seat storage for valuables. No numbers are supplied for the total trunk volume available in the cab, but it's a lot with the seats out of the way. All configurations above the base SV Crew Cab have a smartphone holder and overhead storage console, even the King Cab. Both body styles have front and rear door pockets and eight bottle holders, while the Crew Cabs have eight and the King Cab six cupholders. Trims with the two front captain's chairs have a spacious storage bin in the center console.

Materials and Colors

The base SV Crew Cab has stain-resistant cloth on its seats, a choice of two interior colors - black or beige - and a urethane steering wheel, and chrome door handles. The King Cab adds a leather-trimmed steering wheel. The Pro-4X gets special Pro-4X cloth embroidered seats in Charcoal with contrast stitching on the seats, center console, dashboard, and armrest; Charcoal leather is an option. The Midnight Edition package comes with a black interior with a black headliner and Charcoal Metallic trim. The Bronze Edition package comes with a similar interior but with Satin Bronze Metallic accents. The Platinum Reserve is the only trim with standard brown perforated leather upholstery, the Platinum Reserve logo on the seats and center console, a leather-trimmed column shifter, a combination of Satin Bronze Metallic and open-pore wood-tone interior trim, and metallic kick plates with the Platinum Reserve logo.

Features and Infotainment

Standard features vary somewhat, not only according to trim, but also according to configuration, with SVs generally getting rear privacy glass, push-button start, manually adjustable and unheated cloth seats, a urethane steering wheel, regular air-conditioning, a manually tilting/telescoping steering column, and a seven-inch driver-information display. The King Cab gains a leather-trimmed steering wheel. Higher trims gain access to heated power front seats, leather upholstery, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, dual-zone climate control, and remote start, either as standard or as options on some of the lower trims.

The infotainment system comes in two flavors. All the variations of the SV come with a seven-inch driver-information display and an eight-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice recognition, Bluetooth with audio streaming, a hands-free text-messaging assistant, SiriusXM with a three-month subscription, two USB ports, and a six-speaker audio system. The Pro-4X and Platinum Reserve upgrade to a nine-inch touchscreen that also includes navigation, Premium Traffic, wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SiriusXM-powered NissanConnect Services, SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link, Wi-Fi, and two rear-cabin USB ports. Optional on the Pro-4X and standard on the Platinum Reserve is a 12-speaker Fender audio system.

Performance

The V8 pulls well and general ride refinement is acceptable, but rivals have now overtaken the Titan in terms of performance, efficiency, ride, and handling.

You'll find the same naturally aspirated 5.6-liter V8 engine in every Nissan Titan, whereas many rivals now opt for efficient turbocharged six-cylinder engines. The V8 produces a stout 400 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque, providing satisfyingly torquey performance and a lovely soundtrack, but it's no longer among the quickest in this class. The Nissan Titan has a 0-60 time of around 6.8-7.5 seconds, depending on the trim and configuration, and a top speed of 115 mph. The same nine-speed automatic transmission does duty in every Titan, but you have a choice of RWD or 4WD drivetrain configurations on most models - though the King Cab and Pro-4X come with the latter only. Trailering is important for trucks and here, the Titan puts in weak figures, with a maximum towing capacity of 9,290 lbs for the Crew Cab and 9,210 lbs for the 4WD King Cab. The Tundra can tow up to 12,000 lbs and the F-150 up to 13,300 lbs. Off-road performance is good in Pro-4X, with up to 10.6 inches of ground clearance and features such as dual-range transmission, a skid plate, and Bilstein off-road dampers contributing.

The Titan's middle-of-the-road driving experience is adequate but far from exceptional. Bump absorption and general composure are decent, helped by the very comfortably sprung seats, without threatening the Ram 1500's superior performance on its coil-sprung rear axle. The powertrain is satisfying, with a refined V8 burbling away in the background and a slick nine-speed auto unobtrusively swapping the cogs. The weighting of the controls is fairly heavy, though, and this includes the steering and brakes, which require deliberate inputs. It's a fairly quiet and composed cruiser with ample passing power, but we were somewhat surprised at the climate control's noisy ventilation fan, which combines with wind rush from the blunt shape to keep the Titan's refinement adrift of the class best.

Fuel Efficiency

Gas mileage is, predictably, not a Titan strong suit. With a big, naturally aspirated V8, even the regular 2WD Nissan Titan's mpg figures are 15/21/17 mpg on the EPA's city/highway/combined cycles. Interestingly, the 4WD versions are no worse, but the Pro-4X on its all-terrain tires is, at 14/20/16 mpg. These figures compare rather poorly to the Tundra, which returns a combined figure varying from 19 to 22 mpg, depending on the configuration.

A fuel capacity of 26 gallons ensures that you'll get a total range of about 416 to 442 miles on a full tank.

Safety

Uncompetitive crash scores are offset by the standard fitment of the entire Nissan Safety Shield 360 driver-assistance suite, even on base trims.

The NHTSA's safety review of the Nissan Titan demonstrates that the big Nissan is falling behind the times in terms of passive safety as well. The agency gives the 2024 model four stars out of five overall. The IIHS has only partially tested the 2024 Titan, but the results are the same as the identical 2023 Titan, with mostly Good scores, but Acceptable for more demanding tests such as the small overlap front impact. The headlights are rated as Poor, and that holds true even for the top trims' LED headlights.

The Titan does make it easy to avoid accidents, though, with the Nissan Safety Shield 360 driver-assistance suite standard on every single trim. This system incorporates front-collision alert with pedestrian detection and automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure alert, rear automatic braking, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. Hill-start assist, trailer-sway control, and rear parking sensors are fitted to every trim, while the SV King Cab, Pro-4X, and Platinum Reserve get parking sensors in front as well (they're optional on lower trims). The Pro-4X is the only one with hill-descent control and the Platinum Reserve is the only one with a surround-view camera, an auto-dimming driver's mirror, and reverse auto tilt-down side mirrors (the camera and mirrors are optional on the Pro-4X), but both top trims get traffic-sign recognition and rain-sensing wipers.

US NHTSA Crash Test Result

Reliability

If there's a model of reliability, it's the Nissan Titan. JD Power gave it an excellent score of 88 out of 100 for its Quality & Reliability assessment. The 2024 Titan has not been recalled so far. The 2023 Titan was recalled twice only, for a possible tear in an inner tire bead that may cause a blowout and a transmission parking pawl that may fail to engage in Park, causing the vehicle to roll away.

The limited warranty of the 2024 Nissan Titan is valid for five years/100,000 miles - the same coverage that applies to the powertrain warranty.

Warranty

Design

The Titan follows the full-size truck recipe with a big, bold countenance, lots of chrome, and straight lines. The distinctive double-boomerang DRLs on the top trims are typically Nissan, but in profile, it's more anonymous and functional. Most trims are of the Crew Cab configuration with a 5.5-foot bed but there's one SV King Cab trim with a shorter cab and a 6.5-foot bed. Base trims get LED taillights, rear privacy glass, and gray 18-inch alloys, with the Midnight Edition getting blacked-out exterior trim, and black 20-inch alloys. The Bronze Edition gets darkened exterior trim too, but bronze 20-inch alloys.

The Pro-4X is distinguished by its higher stance, dark 18-inch alloys, all-terrain tires, Charcoal front bumper, black wheel-arch moldings and rocker panels, Pro-4X badging, and two-tone paintwork. Both the limited-edition Bronze and Midnight, along with the top two trims, get LED headlights. The Pro-4X and Platinum Reserve get LED foglights too. A dual-panel panoramic moonroof is optional on the top two trims.

Verdict: Is The 2024 Nissan Titan A Good Truck?

The Titan doesn't lead its class in any metric and its sales figures demonstrate how far it has fallen behind more modern and much more capable rivals. It still has bold looks, excellent reliability, a full suite of safety assists, and a hearty V8 in its favor, but all its rivals have left it in the dust when it comes to cabin space, efficiency, towing capacity, and available body and powertrain options. The 2024 Titan doesn't provide enough reasons to recommend it, nor will there be anything to replace it when Nissan stops making it towards the end of 2024; the reality is that it didn't quite manage to crack the full-size truck market for more than 20 years. If it were our money, we'd shop elsewhere.