Car and Driver Puts the 2023 Nissan Titan in Last Place
The world of full-size trucks is quite a competitive place. Brands like Ford and Ram invest a serious amount of money and resources in order to offer the best half-ton pickup. But as with everything, there has to be something in last place. For 2023, it looks like the Nissan Titan might win that unfortunate prize, despite not being an objectively awful truck.
Why is the Nissan Titan so expensive?
For the 2023 model year, the Nissan Titan got a $900 price hike for the base model, and it is not really clear why. Sure, we can point to things like inflation; nearly every vehicle had a price increase. But the 2023 Nissan Titan is essentially the same full-size truck that it was for 2022.
The Titan S is not the only Titan that is experiencing a price hike. MSRP across the board has gone up. And it seems like the only feature Nissan added to the upper trims is wireless Apple CarPlay.
All of this comes as the Titan struggles to sell even half as well as rivals like the Ford F-150. A full-size truck that essentially prints money for the Blue Oval.
The 2023 Titan lags behind rivals
With rumors that Nissan has plans to kill off its half-ton pickup in the coming years, it makes sense that the Titan might lag behind the competition. At the same time, it is not something that I would call a bad truck. You get a standard V8 engine with 400 horsepower and a fairly simplistic driving experience.
According to Edmunds, the Nissan Titan appears to have fairly high owner satisfaction ratings. And because of the lack of a turbocharged engine, longevity might be on the side of this full-size truck, even if it is not the most capable vehicle in its segment.
Is Nissan’s full-size truck that bad?
The Titan might not be the best truck on paper, but that does not mean it’s bad. Although Car and Driver put this vehicle in last place for its segment, it still gets a rating of 6.5 out of 10. But for context, the next best truck on the list, the 2023 Toyota Tundra, has a rating of 8 out of 10.
What might be holding the 2023 Titan back is its pricing and lack of competitive capability. Unless you opt for the XD model, the standard Nissan Titan struggles to break a 10,000-pound towing capacity.
I would say that it’s not that Nissan is building a bad half-ton pickup; it’s just that the competition has become noticeably better. And in some cases, those brands are charging less than what Nissan is charging for the 2023 Titan.
This Japanese automaker has proven that it can make a compelling pickup in the form of the third-generation Nissan Frontier. And I can’t help but wonder what would be possible if a similar effort was given to the Titan. Of course, because sales are so low, that might not be viable financially.
