2017 Nissan Titan

2017 is the first full model year of the half-ton Titan (the second-generation line launched as the heavier Titan XD for 2016), and it arrived with a single engine: the VK56VD 5.6-liter naturally aspirated DOHC V8 at 390 hp on every cab and trim. The V6 Nissan publicly promised for the half-ton was still 'to follow at a later date' and never reached production, and the 400-hp version of this V8 did not arrive until the 2020 refresh.

394 lb-ft reads respectably for a naturally aspirated gas V8 but it peaks at a high 4,000 rpm, so the half-ton Titan lacks the off-idle shove of the turbocharged and turbodiesel full-size rivals it launched against. The figure is specific to the half-ton — the Titan XD's version of the same 5.6L is tuned to 401 lb-ft, and secondhand sources routinely mix the two up.

Consumer Reports' instrumented test of the 2017 Titan Crew Cab recorded 6.7 seconds to 60 mph, with MotorWeek's heavier PRO-4X 4x4 taking 7.3 — quick in absolute terms but only mid-pack in a 2017 full-size field where turbocharged rivals were already dipping into the fives.

The naturally aspirated, direct-injected 5.6L V8 has no turbo to lag and no hybrid handoff to fumble, so throttle response is immediate and linear, and 2017 reviewers consistently named the engine the best part of the truck. It gives points back for needing revs to reach its 4,000-rpm torque peak, which leaves it sounding busy under load where turbocharged rivals stay quiet.

The 7-speed Jatco automatic shifts smoothly enough in ordinary driving but was one to three ratios short of the 8- and 10-speed units 2017 rivals used, and the very tall 2.94:1 final drive leaves it reluctant to downshift promptly. Nissan's own 2020 refresh swapped it for a 9-speed and shortened the axle ratio to 3.69:1 — a direct admission of the shortfall.

9,740 lbs properly equipped is the best any 2017 half-ton Titan configuration manages, and it takes the stripped Single Cab 4x2 that arrived partway through the model year to reach it — the volume Crew Cab tows 9,390. Every domestic half-ton of 2017 (F-150, Ram 1500, Silverado/Sierra) was rated above 11,000 lbs, leaving the Titan with the weakest tow rating in the full-size class at launch.

Payload tops out at 1,940 lbs in the lightest Single Cab and falls to 1,610 lbs in the Crew Cab most buyers actually take. Half-ton rivals of 2017 cleared 2,300 lbs and in some configurations 3,000, so hauling capacity is a real deficit rather than a rounding difference — and the separate, heavier Titan XD existed precisely because this truck could not reach those numbers.

The core kit is present for 2017 — an available integrated trailer brake controller, Trailer Sway Control (standard on all but the base grade), Tow/Haul mode with Downhill Speed Control, a trailer light check operable from inside the cab or the key fob, factory 4- and 7-pin connectors and an available Around View Monitor. But the brake controller is a package/trim-dependent extra rather than standard equipment, and there is no trailer backup steering assist, no trailer-specific camera views and no onboard scales — all of which Ford, Ram and GM offered on 2017 half-tons.

Part-time 4WD with an electronically selected low range is offered across the 2017 trim walk (S, SV, PRO-4X, SL, Platinum Reserve) and is the only configuration on PRO-4X, backed by Hill Start Assist range-wide and Hill Descent Control on PRO-4X. It is a conventional part-time system, though — there is no automatic or full-time 4WD mode for mixed-traction pavement, which Ram and GM both provided in 2017.

PRO-4X is a genuine off-road trim rather than an appearance package: Bilstein monotube off-road shocks, an electronic locking rear differential, hill descent control, 275/70R18 all-terrain tires and skid plates for the radiator, transfer case, oil pan and fuel tank. It stops short of the segment's halo trucks — no long-travel suspension, no front locker, no disconnecting sway bar — so it sits a clear step below the Raptor/TRD Pro class.

One engine, one transmission, no choice: the 5.6L V8 with the 7-speed automatic is the entire 2017 half-ton Titan lineup. The V6 Nissan advertised at launch as arriving 'at a later date' never materialized, the 5.0L Cummins turbodiesel was exclusive to the separate Titan XD, and there was no electrified variant — while domestic rivals of the same year fielded three to five powertrains apiece, including V6s, turbo V6s and diesels.

18 MPG combined from the naturally aspirated 5.6L V8 sat at the bottom of the 2017 full-size half-ton field, where turbocharged V6 rivals on eight- and ten-speed transmissions were posting 19–22 MPG. EPA records no cylinder deactivation and no stop-start on this engine, so there is nothing to lean on in mixed driving.

15 MPG city is the same figure for rear-drive, four-wheel-drive and PRO-4X alike — a 5.6-liter V8 hauling a body-on-frame full-size truck around town with no stop-start and no cylinder shutoff to soften the cost.

21 MPG highway is the Titan's strongest showing, helped by the very tall 2.94:1 final drive that lets the V8 loaf at a cruise — the same gearing that blunts its responsiveness around town. The PRO-4X gives one back to its all-terrain tires.

A generous 26.0-gallon tank partly rescues the Titan from its thirst: poor economy over a large tank still returns roughly 468 miles of combined cruising range, which is mid-pack rather than embarrassing for a full-size truck.

$3,450 a year at EPA's standard 15,000-mile assumption places the Titan at the expensive end of the half-ton segment, and the PRO-4X adds another $200 on top. EPA scores it 3 out of 10 for both fuel economy and greenhouse gas.

The 5.6L V8 runs on regular unleaded, so there is no premium-fuel surcharge stacked on top of the poor consumption, and nothing exotic is required — no diesel, no DEF, no charging infrastructure, unlike the Cummins-powered Titan XD sold alongside it. It loses a little only because the sheer volume consumed makes the pump visit frequent regardless of grade.

The volume Crew Cab earns 4 of 5 stars overall from NHTSA, dragged down by a 4-star frontal result (driver leg/chest readings) against a clean 5-star side performance.

Good in every legacy test but Marginal in the small overlap front for most of the model year — a key structural test — and no award, because the Titan also lacked the front crash prevention and Acceptable headlights a TSP required. Buyers must read the door-jamb build date to know which structure they have.

The volume SV leaves the factory with nothing beyond stability and traction control — no AEB at any price, no lane assist, no adaptive cruise, and a backup camera that is still an option box in 2017. Rivals like the F-150 already offered AEB and adaptive cruise that year.

There is no automatic emergency braking to evaluate on a 2017 half-ton Titan at any trim level, so there is nothing to rate above the floor.

Alert-only BSW and RCTA are available across most of the range and the Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection genuinely helps a truck this tall, but there is no active intervention, no trailer-aware coverage, and nothing at all on the base S.

No lane-related assistance of any kind is offered on the 2017 half-ton Titan.

Fixed-speed cruise control only, with no radar following distance, no stop-and-go, and no highway assist layer.

No hands-free driving capability is offered or was available on the 2017 Titan.

Every headlight the Titan offered in 2017 rated Marginal at IIHS, and the volume SV's halogens come without even automatic on/off unless the option package is ticked. No adaptive or auto high beam is available.

Typical full-size-truck sightlines — workable ahead and to the sides, poor immediately around the body — and the 360-degree camera that would compensate is locked to trims above the volume SV.

The Crew Cab's wide rear doors and flat, roomy bench make seat installation straightforward and the anchors are easy to find, but only the two outboard positions have full LATCH, front-facing installs are fiddly, and lifting a child into a cab this tall is the real daily friction.

The volume 2017 Titan Crew Cab SV ships with the 40/20/40 front split bench, giving six belted positions — the maximum any half-ton crew cab offers.

Generous front headroom for a full-size crew cab, and because the 2017 half-ton Titan option sheet carries no moonroof there is no configuration that trades it away.

41.8 in sits near the bottom of the full-size truck range — the second-generation Titan cab gives its length to the rear seat rather than to front stretch-out.

Rear headroom is a genuine Titan Crew Cab strength — 40.4 in sits toward the top of the full-size truck band and there is no moonroof to eat into it.

38.5 in seats adults without complaint and MotorWeek called the crew cab's back seat 'incredibly roomy', but it trails the class leaders — the 2017 F-150 SuperCrew and Ram 1500 Crew Cab both clear 43 in.

The volume Crew Cab is locked to the short 5.5-ft box; a 2017 buyer who wants a longer bed has to give up the full-size rear doors entirely, which the domestic rivals do not force.

Nissan's 2017 spec table prints the bed length but leaves cargo volume as TBD; scaling the 59.6 cu ft quoted for the 6.5-ft box by bed length (67.0 in vs 78.7 in) across an unchanged cross-section gives ≈50.7 cu ft.

A large center console, a lockable flat-floor bin under the flip-up rear seat cushions, six cupholders and eight bottle holders plus the lockable, watertight in-bed Titan Box are genuinely clever, but on the volume SV the console, its 12-volt outlet and the rear 110-volt outlet are all option-package items rather than standard equipment.

Nissan's Zero Gravity front and rear seats are a real long-haul asset and the driver gets 8-way power with lumbar from the SV Comfort & Convenience Package up, but the volume SV leaves the factory with a 4-way manual driver's seat and the split bench trades shape for the sixth seat.

The double-wishbone front end with twin-tube coil-overs gives the half-ton Titan one of the better unladen rides among leaf-sprung trucks, but 2017 launch-year reviews singled out the 20-inch wheels for a ride that is 'easily perturbed by poor quality paving' and a teeter-totter response over bigger dips.

Laminated windshield and front side glass make the half-ton Titan noticeably quieter than the Titan XD, but 2017 reviews list cabin noise as an outright con and note the V8's rumble persists at a cruise in a way the class leaders' cabins do not allow.

The volume SV needs the $1,990 Comfort & Convenience Package to get dual-zone automatic climate, heated front seats, rear HVAC vents and a heated leather wheel; cooled front seats and heated rear seats are confined to PRO-4X and Platinum Reserve, and remote engine start is an SV option rather than standard.

2017 is the launch year of the second-generation half-ton Titan, and the Single Cab — announced after the Crew Cab and on sale in the fall of 2016 — is the cheapest way into the lineup. Genuinely low entry money for a full-size truck that ships a 390-hp V8 as its only engine where rivals started on a six.

Volume lands on the SV Crew Cab 4x4 — the cab, drivetrain and grade most full-size buyers take, one step above the fleet-oriented S. About $1,500 below the equivalent 2018 SV Crew Cab 4x4, which is the model-year price walk rather than any content difference.

Published estimates sit below the full-size-truck norm because the Titan's 5 yr/100,000 mi warranty absorbs repair events that rivals' 3 yr/36,000 mi coverage leaves to the owner — CarEdge puts 5-year maintenance and repair at about $3,070 (~$614/yr) explicitly excluding warranty-covered work. This figure adds the tire, brake and wear expense a 5,600-lb V8 half-ton accumulates over roughly 75,000 miles, which those estimates under-count.

Depreciation is by far the biggest drag on this category and the Titan is among the worst in its segment for it, shedding roughly half its value where the full-size pickup class average loses about 42%. The heavy launch-period discounting that helped 2017 sales (below, and in cat10) is the same money that comes back out of the resale figure. Note that the 2017 cohort hit its five-year mark in 2022, at the peak of the pandemic used-truck spike, so realized values that year beat this projection — the residual estimate quoted here is the model's normal trajectory, which by 2026 it has rejoined.

2017 is the model year Nissan introduced this coverage, and it is the Titan's single clearest ownership advantage: every domestic full-size rival shipped 3 yr/36,000 mi basic coverage, so the Titan roughly doubles both the term and the mileage. This tops the 3–5 yr normalization band.

Five years is the floor of the 5–10 yr normalization band and scores accordingly, but the years figure badly understates the coverage: for 2017 Nissan lifted powertrain to the same 100,000-mile term as basic, where the class norm — including Nissan's own passenger cars — is 5 yr/60,000 mi.

No complimentary scheduled maintenance of any kind — the first oil change is the owner's, where Toyota bundled two years of included service and most of the segment followed later. What the buyer does get is 36 months/36,000 miles of roadside assistance (towing extended to 60 months/60,000 miles) plus trip-interruption benefits, which is basic-roadside-only territory rather than a meaningful perks package.

$41,895 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (51% retained, or about $21,366) leaves about $20,529 in depreciation. Add the projected $4,600 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $25,129 in total.

Squarely average predictions on an all-new truck, which is exactly what the mid-band describes. 2017 is the launch model year of the half-ton Titan — the second-generation A61 arrived first as the Titan XD for MY2016 and the light-duty Crew Cab only reached dealers in August 2016, with King Cab and Single Cab bodies phased in through the model year — so there was no service history for the forecasters to draw on and J.D. Power's model-level predicted reliability sits at 3 out of 5, 'average,' where the settled 2018 and 2019 trucks earn 3.5. The hardware behind the forecast is the most conservative in the segment and is what keeps this at the segment median rather than below it: the naturally aspirated 5.6-liter Endurance V8 with the seven-speed automatic on every half-ton, no turbocharging, no cylinder deactivation, no CVT anywhere in the Titan range, and four model years before the Jatco nine-speed that drags the 2020 truck down to 58. What holds it under the 2018 and 2019 trucks is the owner record this launch build actually produced: 247 complaints logged for the 2017 Titan, 83 of them NHTSA engine complaints — roughly double the 2018 truck's 41 and the highest engine-complaint count of any second-generation year.

Mid-pack on every study that matters, and a step behind the unusually strong 2018 backdrop. In the J.D. Power 2017 Initial Quality Study — the one that actually surveyed 2017 model-year owners — Nissan posted 93 PP100 against a 97 PP100 industry average, tied for tenth place behind Kia (72), Genesis (77), Porsche (78), Ford and Ram (86) and a three-way tie at 88. Better than average, but nowhere near the top five the 80-100 band requires, and eight points worse than the 85 PP100 the brand would post a year later. Long-term dependability was no stronger: the 2017 Vehicle Dependability Study, covering three-year-old 2014 vehicles, saw the industry average worsen to 156 PP100 from 152, with Lexus and Porsche tied at 110, Toyota 123, Buick 126, Mercedes-Benz 131 and Hyundai 133 — Nissan appears in none of those leading positions. Consumer Reports' October 2017 annual survey likewise placed Nissan in the middle tier, outside a top nine of Toyota, Lexus, Kia, Audi, BMW, Subaru, Infiniti, Buick and Honda and clear of a bottom group of Lincoln, Volvo, Dodge, Ram, GMC and Cadillac. As in later years most of the brand's dependability drag traces to Xtronic CVT passenger cars that share no hardware with a body-on-frame V8 pickup, which is why this sits at the segment median rather than below it.

Typical activity with nothing systemic, but a slightly busier sheet than the settled years that follow — three NHTSA campaigns cover the 2017 half-ton and two of them are real physical remedies rather than paperwork. 17V268 is unique to the launch build: 44,264 Crew Cabs failed to conform to FMVSS 201 because a rear occupant's head could strike the seatbelt D-ring bolt trim cap in a crash, and dealers had to add energy-absorbing material to the C-pillar finishers and replace the bolt and cap. 19V495 is the generation's one genuinely safety-critical defect — an alternator harness damaged during engine installation that can short and cause a stall or an engine-bay fire, 91,319 trucks across 2017-2019. The third, 18V240, is a 483-unit FMVSS 110 labeling recall over a missing load-carrying-capacity label on accessorized trucks. Crucially, 2017 carries none of the later campaigns: no parking-pawl rollaway (22V457 and the 22V671 re-recall, 2020 build onward), no engine wiring harness stall/fire (20V759), no back-up camera software recall (19V654, 2018-2019), no over-cured Continental tires (21V169, 2018-2021). It lands four points under the 2018 truck because 2018 shares only the alternator and label campaigns, not the 44,000-unit crash-protection noncompliance, and because launch-year TSB volume is high — 356 bulletins logged against the 2017 Titan.

The category's strongest item and the reason this launch-year truck still grades above the segment median. Every 2017 Titan half-ton uses the 5.6-liter VK56VD 'Endurance' V8 at 390 hp with the seven-speed automatic — a naturally aspirated design already several years into service in the Nissan Armada and Infiniti QX56/QX80, both of which outlived the truck, with a well-established high-mileage record and none of the turbocharging, cylinder deactivation or 48-volt hardware that creates failure modes on rival full-size trucks. There is no CVT anywhere in the Titan range, and 2017 predates the Jatco GE9R01A nine-speed by three model years, so none of the hesitation, valve-body trouble or class-action exposure that pulls the 2020-2021 trucks down applies here. It sits five points under the 2018 truck and six under 2019 on the same hardware for one reason: the 2017 build's own engine record. NHTSA logged 83 engine complaints against this model year alone, roughly double the 2018 count, with owners reporting knock from the number seven cylinder, cylinders dropping out and degraded engine power around 49,000 miles. Those are launch-year execution problems on a proven engine family rather than an architectural flaw — which is why it stays well clear of the 0-49 band, and equally why it cannot reach the 80-100 one. The widely publicised crankshaft failures on this generation belong to the Titan XD's 5.0L Cummins diesel and have nothing to do with this truck's gasoline V8.

The best price-to-materials ratio any Titan model year posts, and still only just into the mid-band because the A61 cabin leaned on hard plastic from the day it launched. The volume SV Crew Cab 4x4 opened at $40,700 plus $1,195 destination — $41,895 delivered, about $1,500 less than the identical 2018 truck and roughly $5,000 less than the refreshed 2020, on materially the same interior — which is the whole case for scoring it above the 51 the 2018 truck earns and the 42-48 the later years do. Reviewers found the cabin honest rather than rich: Consumer Guide judged the work-spec Titan S interior sturdy and nicely assembled but short on frills, and the consensus is that soft-touch plastics and a padded dash appear at the top of the range while cheaper plastics are mixed into the lower trims a volume buyer actually orders. Supple leather and open-pore wood are confined to SL and Platinum Reserve, roughly $8,000 to $14,000 above the SV. That is competitive with the segment's expected hard plastics rather than class-leading, which is what the 50-79 band describes, and it is why this cannot climb higher despite the favourable price.

The clearest launch-year penalty in this category, and the one item where 2017 is measurably the worst second-generation Titan. In the J.D. Power 2017 Initial Quality Study the Titan finished last of six large light-duty pickups — Silverado, Ram 1500, Tundra, F-150, Sierra, then Titan — on a study that surveys exactly the 90-day defect experience this item measures, for exactly this model year. The contrast with the same truck two years later is stark: the 2019 Titan ranked highest in that segment at 66 PP100, which is why it scores 74 here and this one does not. The brand backdrop was ordinary rather than bad, at 93 PP100 against a 97 industry average, and independent testers echoed the ranking rather than contradicting it — Consumer Guide graded the 2017 Titan's fit and finish a C against other large pickups. The causes are the usual ones for a first-year body: the Canton, Mississippi line was in its first model year of half-ton production, with King Cab and Single Cab bodies still being phased in through the year. It stays in the middle of the 50-79 band rather than falling below it because the owner record shows no structural cluster — only 3 body/paint problems and 2 NHTSA body complaints against the 2017 truck, with the volume concentrated in engine and electrical categories instead.

Above mid-band on reach, with a small launch-year deduction. Nissan runs roughly a thousand US franchises — genuinely nationwide coverage that includes the rural and small-market areas a work truck lives in — and the company made trucks the centerpiece of the 2017 push it branded the 'Year of the Truck,' with the Titan, Titan XD, a new Armada and a redesigned Pathfinder arriving together, so dealer attention and stocking commitment were at their peak. What holds this two points under the 70 the 2018 through 2021 trucks earn is that in 2017 the network was learning an all-new product rather than servicing a settled one: the half-ton Crew Cab only reached showrooms in late August 2016, Single Cab and King Cab bodies were priced and released separately through the fall, and technician familiarity with the light-duty A61 was necessarily thin in its first year — the same first-year effect the IQS result registers from the other side of the transaction. It does not go lower because the network itself is unchanged and the warranty behind it was the best in the segment, and it does not go higher because J.D. Power's Customer Service Index published only mass-market and premium brand rankings in this era, with no truck-segment breakout until the 2023 study, so there is no service-satisfaction finish to cite in either direction.

Running costs are genuinely low and this is the model year that introduced the best warranty in the segment. Nissan announced 'America's Best Truck Warranty' alongside 2017 Titan pricing — 5 years/100,000 miles bumper-to-bumper, roughly double the usual 60,000-mile powertrain cap — and on a launch-year truck whose owner record centers on engine faults appearing around 49,000 miles and LED lighting failures around 72,000, that coverage absorbs a large share of what actually goes wrong inside a typical ownership window. RepairPal puts the Titan's average annual repair and maintenance bill roughly 40 percent below the full-size-truck average, helped by a body-on-frame layout with cheap wear items and a V8 shared with the Armada and Infiniti QX80, which keeps engine components in production long past the truck itself. It sits a point under the 2018 through 2021 trucks for a launch-year reason: in 2017 the light-duty A61 was brand new, so dealer parts depth and the aftermarket were building from zero rather than drawing on stock accumulated over several model years. It cannot score higher in any case because the second-generation Titan never approached Nissan's stated 100,000-unit annual sales target, leaving an aftermarket a fraction of the F-150's or Silverado's, with body panels and trim effectively dealer-only.

The volume SV leaves the factory with a 5.0-inch non-touch display, and even the largest screen on offer — 7.0 in — sits below the bottom of the full-size truck normalization band.

NissanConnect is logically laid out and keeps real volume and tune knobs plus A-B-C radio presets, but the volume SV's 5.0-inch non-touch display is tiny for a full-size truck launched in 2017 and the 7.0-inch system it can be upgraded to was already a generation behind Ford's SYNC 3 and FCA's Uconnect.

Neither Apple CarPlay nor Android Auto was offered on any 2017 Titan in any form, wired or wireless — Nissan added both only for 2019 — and the closest the 2017 truck gets is Siri Eyes Free and the NissanConnect Mobile Apps layer.

Nissan Voice Recognition is a rigid command-list system that is absent entirely on the S and on the volume SV unless the Comfort & Convenience Package is ordered, and factory navigation is tied to the same package — a 2017 SV bought without it has no native maps and no voice control beyond Bluetooth phone dialling.

The Rockford Fosgate-powered 12-speaker system with subwoofer is a credible premium truck audio option, but it is confined to SL, Platinum Reserve and the PRO-4X option sheet, leaving the volume SV on a six-speaker display-audio unit.

Every 2017 Titan uses analog speedometer, tachometer and water-temperature gauges, with only the small colour Advanced Drive-Assist Display between them (and even that is absent on the base S); no full-digital cluster was offered at any price.

No over-the-air software capability of any kind on a 2017 Titan — navigation map updates are a purchased SD card or a dealer operation, and vehicle software needs a service visit.

NissanConnect Services — the app-based remote lock, locate and alerts layer — is standard only on SL and Platinum Reserve and cannot be ordered at all on the S or the volume SV, so a typical 2017 Titan owner's only remote function is the key fob's remote start, itself an SV option.

A single USB media port serves the whole cabin with no rear charge ports at all, and while a rear 110-volt household outlet and a bed-mounted 110-volt point are available they are option-package items on the volume SV; there is no wireless charging pad on any grade.

Nissan Intelligent Key proximity entry with door-handle request switches is standard from PRO-4X up but is a $1,990 package item on the volume SV, so plenty of 2017 Titans still use a conventional key; remote start is likewise an SV option, and there is no phone-as-key of any kind.

Even the plain RearView Monitor is an option on the volume SV rather than standard equipment, front/rear sonar comes only with the Comfort & Convenience Package, and the genuinely useful Around View Monitor could not be ordered on an SV at all in 2017 — it is a PRO-4X option and Platinum Reserve standard.

No head-up display was offered on any 2017 Titan grade, up to and including the $43,290-plus Platinum Reserve Crew Cab.

The Crew Cab has wide rear doors, a flat floor, 40.4 in of rear headroom and flip-up rear cushions that open a lockable load floor, but IIHS rates the LATCH hardware only Acceptable — two complete positions plus a tether-only third — and a 23.3–25.1 in rear step-in height means small children have to be lifted in.

This is the weakest safety year of the second-generation Titan: no 2017 Titan could be bought with automatic emergency braking or forward collision warning at any price, headlights rate Marginal across all trims, and Titans built before September 2017 rate only Marginal in the driver-side small overlap crash — Nissan modified the front structure mid-year to fix it.

Zero Gravity front and rear seats, a well-isolated cabin and a 26-gallon tank make multi-hour trips pleasant, and the 60/40 rear bench with flip-up cushions swallows luggage, but rear HVAC vents and heated rear seats live in packages the volume SV rarely has, and the only rear entertainment is a Platinum-Reserve-only headrest DVD system.

The 390-hp naturally aspirated V8 and 7-speed automatic make low-speed progress effortless and the tall seating position helps in traffic, but there is no adaptive cruise control on any 2017 Titan and reviewers found the steering heavy and the truck feeling bigger than it is in tight confines.

Every 2017 Titan is a 5.6-litre V8 — the promised V6 never arrived — so there is no economy engine to step down to, and 18 mpg combined puts it well behind an EcoBoost F-150; MotorWeek's own test returned 16.2 mpg.

A 48.0-ft turning diameter on a 228.1-in body is poor even by full-size crew-cab standards, and in 2017 the 360-degree camera that would help most could not be ordered on the volume SV at all — even the plain rear camera is an option on it.

9,390 lb of tow rating and roughly 1,600 lb of payload in Crew Cab form are honest half-ton numbers behind a torquey naturally aspirated V8, but all of it trails the best F-150, Silverado and Ram configurations, and the short 5.5-ft bed limits what the volume body can actually carry.

A fully boxed ladder frame, the long-serving VK56VD V8 and the segment's best warranty back the Titan up, but 2017 is the launch year of this half-ton body with no service history behind it, and the Titan's very small fleet presence leaves its under-abuse reputation unproven next to the domestics.

The Utili-track channel system with movable aluminium cleats, spray-on bedliner, lockable removable Titan Box in-bed storage, a bed-mounted 110-volt outlet, LED bed-rail lighting and a damped removable tailgate make a genuinely well-provisioned work bed — though on the volume SV most of it is optional rather than standard.

Zero Gravity seats, laminated front glass and roughly 470 miles between fills make the Titan a capable tourer, but with no adaptive cruise, no lane departure warning and no lane centring on any 2017 grade, the driver does all the work — and reviewers flagged cabin noise as a limiter on long stints.

The PRO-4X is a properly equipped off-road grade — electronic locking rear differential, Bilstein monotube off-road shocks, skid plates, hill descent control and an off-road gauge with pitch and roll readouts — and every 4x4 gets a new transfer case, though ground clearance of 8.9–10.6 in is ordinary and the short bed limits camping payload.

An open bed with a channel-and-cleat tie-down system, flip-up rear seat cushions over a lockable flat load floor, and a receiver hitch from PRO-4X up swallow awkward gear that a closed SUV cannot, but the 5.5-ft box is the shortest in the full-size class and there is no in-bed trunk of the Ridgeline sort.

The double-wishbone front end and 34 mm front anti-roll bar give the half-ton Titan better body control than its mass suggests and MotorWeek called it impressively maneuverable for its size, but 2017 reviewers also found it 'easily perturbed' by broken pavement on the 20-inch wheels and heavier-feeling than its curb weight.

Engine-speed-variable rack-and-pinion assist is accurate and predictable and Edmunds found it lighter than the Titan XD's, but at 16:1 and 2.97 turns lock-to-lock it is slow-geared, and 2017 reviews repeatedly called the effort unnecessarily heavy at parking speeds.

Large four-wheel vented discs — 13.78 in front, 13.58 in rear — with EBD and brake assist give strong, easily modulated stops with little dive, and braking is among the attributes reviewers single out favourably on the launch-year half-ton.

The naturally aspirated VK56VD is smooth and eager with no turbo lag to manage and the 7-speed automatic shifts cleanly, though the tall gearing blunts initial response and MotorWeek's 7.3-second 0–60 is mid-pack rather than quick for 390 hp.

The V8 has a deliberately pleasant hard-throttle voice and does not shake through the controls, but 2017 reviewers noted the engine's rumble persists at a cruise in a way the turbocharged domestics do not, and it is the single thing keeping the cabin from being properly quiet.

48.0 ft is a poor figure even among full-size crew cabs and is the complaint 2017 reviewers raise most often about threading the Titan through car parks.

A tall commanding seating position, large physical knobs and a sensible control layout work well, and step rails plus a 21.4–23.2 in front step-in height keep ingress manageable; the catch is that the volume SV's driver seat is 4-way manual with tilt-and-telescope by hand unless the Comfort & Convenience Package is ordered.

A 390-hp naturally aspirated V8 with a real soundtrack gives the launch-year Titan more character than most half-tons of its era and MotorWeek found it 'solid and formidable', but heavy slow steering and a 7.3-second 0–60 keep it short of genuinely entertaining.

Generous on hardware, thin on screens and empty on driver assistance. Every 2017 Titan comes with the 390-hp 5.6L Endurance V8 and a 7-speed automatic where an F-150 XL or Silverado WT started on a six, plus a damped tailgate and the new class-best 5 yr/100,000 mi warranty on every truck including the work-spec Single Cab. Against that, base infotainment is a 5.0-inch non-touch display with no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto at any price, and no automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning or adaptive cruise was offered on any trim — Blind Spot Warning and Around View Monitor were the extent of the assistance list and both were options rather than standard on the volume SV.

The Titan asks slightly under class-average money — about $41,900 delivered for the volume SV Crew Cab 4x4, roughly $1,500 less than the same truck a year later — and returns above-average standard power and a warranty worth real money, against below-average capability and no driver-assist content. The advertised 9,740 lb maximum belongs to a Single Cab 4x2 almost nobody buys; the Crew Cab that is the volume truck tows 9,390 lb (4x2) / 9,230 lb (4x4) and carries 1,610 lb, where a comparable V8 crew-cab F-150 or Silverado 1500 is rated around 10,800 lb and the F-150 hauls up to 2,910 lb. The per-dollar case rests on the V8 and the coverage rather than on the work ratings this segment shops.

Broad by the end of the model year but not at the start of it: the half-ton launched in August 2016 as Crew Cab only, with the King Cab and the first-ever Titan Single Cab arriving through the fall, so a 2017 shopper's choice depended on when they walked in. Once complete the range ran three cab styles, 4x2 and 4x4 and five grades from a $29,580 work truck to a $55,400 Platinum Reserve, with the parallel Titan XD line adding a Cummins 5.0L diesel. It still falls short of the domestics' near-limitless bed, cab, engine and axle permutations, and the Titan offers only one bed length per cab and only one engine.

The best year the nameplate ever had, and still a distant last in the segment — which is the whole story of this truck. 52,924 US units in calendar 2017, up 141.9% on 2016 as the half-ton lineup filled in, against an F-Series near 900,000, Silverado around 585,000 and Ram around 536,000. That is roughly 2% of a full-size segment selling some 2.5 million trucks, and about half the 100,000-unit, 5%-share target Nissan had publicly set. Scored above the 2018 and 2019 model years because the trajectory here is still sharply upward; the decline to 50,459 and then 31,514 had not started.

Nissan is a neutral mainstream badge in most segments, but full-size pickups are the most brand-loyal corner of the US market and Nissan has no standing in it — buyers cross-shop Ford, Chevrolet, GMC and Ram and rarely put a Titan on the list. Even in the Titan's peak sales year the badge subtracts rather than merely failing to add, and it feeds the depreciation problem.

Scored as buyer benefit, and strong even in the launch year — Nissan was discounting the half-ton within months of it reaching dealers rather than holding launch pricing the way a segment leader can. Slightly below the later model years because 2017 demand was rising fast and the truck was new, so the truly desperate incentive stacks came afterward; still, $3,000 in cash back on a freshly launched truck with a standard V8 and the segment's best warranty is real money, and nothing about 2017 Titan transaction pricing resembled the at-or-over-MSRP conditions some rivals enjoyed.

As fresh as this nameplate ever got. 2017 is the launch year of the all-new second-generation half-ton Titan — new F-Alpha-derived platform, new 390-hp 5.6L Endurance V8, new 7-speed automatic, new body and interior, replacing a first generation that had run essentially unchanged from 2004 to 2015. The 2020 refresh was three years out and no replacement was in sight. The only marks against it: the 7-speed automatic and 5.0-inch base display were already a step behind a 2017 F-150 with a new 10-speed, and fully redesigned Ram 1500 and Silverado 1500 were coming for 2019.

The best-received year of this generation, and the only one with silverware — but the awards came from truck-specialist and regional juries rather than the mainstream comparison tests, where reviewers still ranked it behind the F-150, Ram 1500 and Silverado on capability, powertrain choice, fuel economy and driver-assistance content. Truck Trend named it 2017 Pickup Truck of the Year over seven rivals, the Texas Auto Writers Association gave it three awards including Full-Size Truck of Texas, and it made the NACTOY Truck of the Year final three — where it finished a distant third with 72 points to the Honda Ridgeline's 364.