2020 Nissan Titan Debuts with more powerful V-8; Diesel engine discontinued

After three years on the market, the second-generation Nissan Titan was revised for its mid-cycle facelift. The 2020 Titan truck was unveiled at the 2019 State Fair of Texas with an updated exterior design, a revised V-8 engine, and extra features inside the cabin and in the technology department. Let's have a closer look at what's new.

Powerful look with better differentiation between trims

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The Titan's "new Powerful Warrior" exterior design isn't all that new, but Nissan actually made notable changes front and rear. The truck's front fascia looks more powerful indeed, thanks to a thicker frame for the grille, more chrome on the inner slats, and revised LED lights with C-shaped patterns. The bumper is also a tad bigger, while the foglamps boast a new design.

The new Titan also offers a higher degree of differentiation between trims. There are three grille designs on offer, as well as different shades for the inserts. Around back, a big plastic element covers most of the tailgate on certain trims. On Platinum Reserve, for instance, it's satin silver. You can also order it in black on some trim or you can simply customize the truck without this trim piece. The LED taillights with a new design round off the rear fascia.

The profile remains pretty much unchanged, but there are a few new wheel options on offer. Nissan also added new LED lights in the bed and three new colors. You can now pick from Red Alert, Baja Storm, and Cardinal Red Metallic alongside six existing paints.

Body configuration choices include only King Cab and Crew Cab models, which means that the Regular Cab version was discontinued.

New tech and larger infotainment display

The interior carries over mostly unchanged as far as design goes, but Nissan added some new tech. The standard eight-inch display remains the largest standard screen in this class, but Nissan now offers a new, nine-inch display with WXGA resolution, which is better than HD. The revised infotainment system comes with an internal Wi-Fi router, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto.

The package also includes an enhanced Off Road Gauge that displays vehicle angle, relative pitch, and roll angles. Unlike the old gauge, it doesn't use a gyroscope, as Nissan developed a new method to calculate the vehicle's orientation using accelerometer data and G-force. Nissan claims that this new gauge is the most accurate in its class at higher speeds.

The facelifted Titan also provides enhanced interior storage and it's available with a new dual-panel panoramic roof, a premier for this truck.

Enhanced V-8 and off-road performance

The Nissan Titan carries over with the familiar 5.6-liter gasoline V-8 engine, but the Japanese firm made some important improvements. Thanks to some revised internals, the V-8 now produces 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of twist, an extra 10 horsepower and 19 pound-feet over the old engine. More importantly, Nissan dropped the old seven-speed transmission in favor for a new nine-speed automatic unit.

If you're a fan of diesel engines, then we have bad news for you: Nissan reportedly discontinued the 5.0-liter Cummins V-8 offered in the Titan XD.

As before, 2020 Titan is available in a choice of 4x2 or 4x4 drive configurations. The 4x4 models feature a transfer case designed to provide maximum power distribution in every gear by distributing torque when added traction is needed on snow, ice, sand, mud, dirt, water, or gravel. Features such as Hill Descent Control, Hill Start Assist, Brake Limited-Slip Differential, and the electronic locking rear differential will also help you tackle the great outdoors.

As far as safety goes, the Nissan Safety Shield 360 package comes standard now. It includes Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning, High Beam Assist, and Rear Automatic Braking. The latter is a class-exclusive technology. Safety options include Intelligent Forward Collision Warning, Intelligent Around View Monitor, Intelligent Cruise Control, and Intelligent Driver Alertness and Traffic Sign Recognition. Nissan's innovative Rear Door Alert is standard on all grade levels. The truck now comes with eight air bags instead of six and with four seat belt pretensioners instead of two.