New Nissan Titan Crew Cab Starts At $34,780 If You Don't Need A Diesel

The freshly redesigned 2017 Nissan Titan and its heavier-duty sister the Titan XD are supposed to revive the automaker's relevance in the truck market. Now we know where these trucks will be positioned, and contrary to some speculation, it's not the "absolutely cheapest" slot.

The Cummins diesel has been Nissan's big headline grabber with the Titan's relaunch, but the 5.6-liter "Endurance V8"—aptly named because it's been around so long—is still going to be the premium option on the standard Titan and the "bargain" option on the Titan XD. The engine's been uprated for 2017 to 390 horsepower at 5,800 RPM and 401 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 RPM.

At least as far as currently-available pricing data goes (not entirely fair since only Nissan and Chevrolet have published 2017 pricing) the new Titan crew cab falls pretty much in the middle of where half-ton four-door gasoline-powered trucks start today.

The cheapest 2016 Ram 1500 crew cab seems to cost the least with a $32,960 base, a 2016 Ford F-150 crew cab is close second at $33,055. The 2016 Toyota Tundra crew cab is $34,465, just under the lowest Titan crew cab MSRP of $34,780. The cheapest 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 crew I could spec out is $37,130.

Crew cab pricing on the Cummins-diesel powered Titan XD were published back in December, 2015. As of Monday Nissan has only published base prices for the various trims of crew-cab Titan and Titan XDs with the gas engine:

TITAN

TITAN S Crew Cab 4x2$34,780 USDTITAN SV Crew Cab 4x2$37,670 USDTITAN SL Crew Cab 4x2$46,380 USDTITAN Platinum Reserve Crew Cab 4x2$52,310 USDTITAN S Crew Cab 4x4$37,810 USDTITAN SV Crew Cab 4x4$40,700 USDTITAN PRO-4X Crew Cab 4x4$45,020 USDTITAN SL Crew Cab 4x4$49,460 USDTITAN Platinum Reserve Crew Cab 4x4$55,400 USD

TITAN XD

TITAN XD S Crew Cab 4x2$36,290 USDTITAN XD SV Crew Cab 4x2$40,200 USDTITAN XD SL Crew Cab 4x2$48,460 USDTITAN XD Platinum Reserve Crew Cab 4x2$53,830 USDTITAN XD S Crew Cab 4x4$39,320 USDTITAN XD SV Crew Cab 4x4$43,180 USDTITAN XD PRO-4X Crew Cab 4x4$47,180 USDTITAN XD SL Crew Cab 4x4$51,490 USDTITAN XD Platinum Reserve Crew Cab 4x4$56,910 USD

Pricing on the XD is a little harder to analyze since the truck effectively created its own segment between what we call half-ton and three-quarter ton trucks. In order to determine its true value proposition, you have to put it spec-for-spec against products from other manufacturers that have the most overlap.

A Titan XD crew cab powered by Nissan's 5.6-liter V8 can tow 11,200 pounds and carry 2,500 pounds in the bed with certain equipment. You could find half-ton and three-quarter ton trucks that would get close to those specs, but really figuring out which is the "better deal" would require a very exacting look at certain comparable configurations.

But Nissan is hoping you look at more than just prices when you shop their trucks—the company is tossing a generous new warranty on the hood that covers the truck, the entire truck, bumper-to-bumper, for 100,000 miles or five years. That's a pretty aggressive strategy to mitigate concerns about reliability, and helps make a pretty strong case for the truck that's just been majorly redesigned.