By now you may be familiar with the 2016 Nissan Titan XD, a “hardcore light-duty” truck in between the half-ton and three-quarter-ton classifications. We knew a regular-sized half-ton version was coming, and here it is. I guess it’s “hardcore regular,” then?
Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand how pickup trucks are categorized, it’s confusing and archaic and illogical. The most simplistic way to break it down is to think of three categories; mid-sized (Tacoma, Colorado) half-tons (F-150, Tundra) and heavy-duties (F-250 and up, anything with “2500" in the name.) If you want to know more, look no further than our Complete Guide to Truck Sizes & Classification!
The new Titan basically looks exactly like the Titan XD but it’s significantly smaller; a Titan crew cab is more than a foot shorter than a comparable XD. Specifically, here’s how the two trucks compare on size:
| - | 2016 TITAN | 2016 TITAN XD |
| Wheelbase (crew cab) | 139.8 in. | 151.6 in. |
| Overall length (crew cab) | 228.1 in. | 242.8 in. |
| Overall width (crew cab) | 79.5 in. | 79.5 in. |
| Overall height (crew cab) | 77.2 in | 78.7 in. |
| Available engines | 5.6 Endurance V8 or V6 | 5.0 Cummins V8 diesel or 5.6 Endurance V8 |
Regular, extended and full four-door crew cab configurations will be coming out with 5.5 foot, 6.5 foot and 8 foot cargo beds. The same five trim levels you can get in the XD will also be available in the Titan; S, SV, PRO-4X, SL and the very fancy Platinum Reserve.The half-ton truck will be available in 2WD and 4WD with the same 5.6 liter 390 horsepower Endurance V8 that Nissan uses in the Titan XD, Armada and Infiniti QX80 with a yet-to-be-detailed V6 as standard equipment.
Pricing, pulling power and other specifications haven’t been released yet.
Nissan will have its work cut out for it trying to steal buyers away from Ford, Chevy, Ram and Toyota to which they’re likely to have hardcore brand loyalty. But if Nissan can be competitive on price, payload, fuel economy and towing capacity (the measuring sticks that matter most in this segment) the long-overdue Titan redux could be worth looking at.
The new Titan is built in Mississippi, and will be for sale all over the U.S. by summer 2016.
Images via Nissan
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