This is a tale of the Nissan Titan. A vehicle that was a part of RMAP’s annual RMDE18 event. A truck which was unfortunate enough to be the second truck in the RMDE18 fleet. The second (and only other) truck? The dark horse… the new RAM 1500. Before I get too ahead of myself, let me stress this article won’t be about the 1500. As the title suggests, this article will be about the Titan. Let’s talk about the Titan then, shall we?

• The Interior Looks Dated

Full disclosure. I didn’t know what to expect with the interior of the Titan. I haven’t really looked at images of the interior nor had I seen the interior just by passing a Titan in a parking lot. What I found shocked me even with my lack of expectations. The center console looks like it came out of a truck from ’08. Not ’15 (as a 2016 model year vehicle). That is to say, the center stack looks outdated. This is supposed to be the “updated” Titan and Nissan seems to have done a worse job updating it than Chevy did with the new Silverado. I just looked up what the previous Titan’s interior looked like and… yikes. From that perspective, the new Titan’s interior is definitely an upgrade. However, it still falls behind the competition. It really is a subpar interior at best, and a “plastic fantastic” interior at worst.

To be fair to the Titan, we had the Midnight Edition (think “blacked out” edition from any automaker). Obviously, the interior was going to be all black.

• The Ride Could’ve Been Worse

Another area where I had no idea what to expect. The best thing I could do was use the 1500 I rode in the previous day as a benchmark and see how the Titan would stack up. Here’s how it stacked up: It was comfortable and smooth. For the most part, the ride wasn’t jittery, bouncy, or treating my spine like a punching bag… Until we got to a certain section of road. I never thought the road was as smooth as James Bond’s pickup lines but I didn’t think it was that bad. Clearly, I had never been on that road in a Titan before.

The Titan was treating my spine like it was a paddle ball. It was a bit faster than the gif but otherwise, this is an exact representation of how it rode on that particular stretch of road. It was humorous, annoying, and odd all at the same time. I don’t recall experiencing anything like that before. There is but one word that truly captures the majesty of the event and that word is “remarkable.” Not necessarily in a good way but it was a remarkable event nonetheless. Moving away from that, the handling was decent too. It didn’t roll too hard in the turns (not that we were pushing it) and it was pretty good for a truck of its size. However, the Ram did better. Why? The Titan’s handling made the truck feel really big. Almost cumbersome. Whereas the RAM’s suspension made it feel more agile than it might actually be. Not a deal breaker, but you’ll definitely notice it if you drive the two trucks back to back.

• The Engine Was Pretty Good

It wasn’t anything exceptional, but it was smooth and provided enough power to make merging into the highway pretty easy. I don’t have much to say about the exhaust note, however. Given that I didn’t hear it that much.

The verdict? It’s a good truck that ends up getting outdone by the RAM 1500 in nearly every area. Thanks for reading. More of these are on the way. Until then, stay tuned and see you later!