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photos courtesy Nissan

Making Tracks

It‘s nice to be able to roll your big quad into the bed of the new Nissan Titan 4x4 and close the tailgate. It‘s equally gratifying to point the truck at an ugly section of muddy, rocky, backwoods real-estate someone with a sense of humor called a “road” on the map and have the confidence you‘ll make it to the other end with ease—and in a level of comfort not experienced in the older models.

Nissan has been off the radar of the majority of full-size pickup buyers for a couple years as all of the big changes and new entries from GM, Ford, Dodge and Toyota claimed the brightest and biggest blips. So, it‘s nice to see the freshened 2008 pickups hitting the road—especially the all-new Long Wheelbase (LWB) model and a new Titan PRO-4X off-road option that‘s sure to bring smiles to Titan‘s loyal following of blue-collar workers and adventure seekers. The new offerings should also bring a few pickup huntin‘ tire-kickers in from the other camps.

At least that‘s my take after spending a couple days running around in the hills of southeastern Tennessee, driving various models of the new trucks equipped with the 317 hp Nissan 5.6L V8.

The ‘08s get a minor face lift from a revised front clip with new headlights, black fender trim and new wheel styles for a sportier look. Inside the change from the ‘07s is much more pronounced. The biggest and most noticeable from the old truck is a new seat design with much better side bolsters, a refined gauge cluster and a redesigned center console that actually holds the kind of stuff us truck lovers seem to bring along for any drive. Titans also make Bluetooth, XM Satellite Radio, upscale Navi system and, you have to love this, a heated leather-appointed rear bench seat available as upgrades.

It is the new PRO-4X off-road package I found the most appealing, because the upgrade is designed for those who need a pickup that will take them to the end of the road and back come hail or high water.

The PRO-4X “off-road” package is simple in content, but sophisticated in design. It raises the front about 3/4-inch, includes specially tuned Rancho shocks, 33-inch-tall BFGoodrich Rugged Trail T/As, and 3.357:1 axle ratios. Those additions, coupled with the Titan‘s shift-on-the-fly 4-wheel drive system that has an electronic-controlled part-time transfer case for 2WD/4HI/4LO modes, give you a highly capable four-wheel-drive pickup.

The PRO-4X model also gets the benefit of a low-range programmed with a softer electronic throttle “tip-in”, so it‘s quite easy to drive the new Titan smoothly over the roughest road surfaces—or over slippery surfaces.

Should traction begin to fall apart, you just push a button on the new console and a full-locking electric locker instantly activates to provide maximum traction at the rear tires. This is a really helpful item off-road and around unimproved boat ramps.

Overall, these little changes add up to making a big difference in the 2008 Nissan Titans.

—Bruce W. Smith