Final time Nissan redesigned the Armada it was a giant deal, and never only for the Nissan sellers who desperately wanted one thing that wasn’t greater than a decade previous within the lineup. You see, for the 2017 mannequin yr, Nissan introduced over the SUV identified in worldwide markets because the Patrol and gave it the Armada badge. Whereas the Patrol title may not imply a lot right here, in different markets and amongst lovers, it’s a legendary off-roader that offers the Toyota Land Cruiser an actual run for its cash.
Besides the 2017 Nissan Armada didn’t include a lot of the off-road goodies that made the Patrol right into a Land Cruiser rival. You possibly can at all times modify it and add these issues in the event you actually wished to, however the Armada was way more targeted on getting a pile of children round city than bashing sand dunes and crawling up rock faces.
For the brand new third-generation Armada, nonetheless, Nissan listened to the complaints, and now you can get an Armada Professional-4X that comes with an air suspension, steel skid plates and a locking rear differential identical to the remainder of the world will get with the Patrol. Clearly, Nissan isn’t messing round right here. In the event you don’t plan to go off-roading in Moab anytime quickly, although, does the most recent redesign supply sufficient of an incentive for consumers to decide on the 2025 Armada over extra established rivals such because the Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Tahoe? And simply how good is that this factor off-road?
Full Disclosure: Nissan wished me to drive the brand new Armada so badly, it provided to fly me to Nashville so I might drive it on the launch. I as an alternative elected to drive myself to avoid wasting time. Sadly, Nissan didn’t have a Z within the Atlanta fleet that I might use. Nissan additionally put me up in a really good room at a flowery resort in Franklin that grows its personal greens, purchased my meals and supplied loads of drinks.
From the surface, the 2025 Nissan Armada is what I’d name generically good-looking. It seems to be good, however there additionally aren’t quite a lot of design parts that actually stood out to me as notably distinctive or enticing. I even see a little bit Kia EV9 within the rear three-quarter view. All of it comes collectively in a reasonably cohesive design that, once more, I do like, at the very least so far as three-row body-on-frame SUVs go. Moreover, whereas exterior design is essential, the cabin and the way the designers used the accessible house is way extra essential.
In that regard, I’m glad to say Nissan undoubtedly succeeded. You don’t need to take my phrase for it, both. Simply have a look at the photographs. To borrow a automotive author cliché, that cabin simply seems to be like a pleasant place to spend a while, and after spending a while behind the wheel I can verify the Armada crew didn’t pull some form of bait-and-switch on us with inside supplies. It is good in there, particularly in the event you spring for the highest trim ranges. A lot of the surfaces are coated in high quality supplies that each feel and appear way more premium than you’d count on from an Expedition/Tahoe competitor. Plus, Nissan isn’t mendacity when it talks about how snug its so-called Zero Gravity seats are. These issues are incredible.
That stated, the brand new Armada doesn’t precisely make its Infiniti QX80 sibling irrelevant. Some consumers could have a look at a loaded Armada and resolve that it’s good sufficient, however whether or not we’re speaking concerning the quilted leather-based seats or the supplies on the doorways and the sprint, you’ll be able to inform Nissan didn’t go all-out on luxurious. If that appears like a backhanded praise, it’s not imagined to be. I’d argue it was an acceptable selection not solely to separate the Infiniti from the Nissan but in addition as a result of the Armada is more likely to drag household responsibility, and children destroy the whole lot they contact. Whereas a lot good, the leather-based and different supplies really feel like they strike a pleasant stability of being sturdy and simple to wash whereas additionally nonetheless feeling nicer than you most likely want.
Until you don’t like piano black. There’s a great little bit of piano black within the middle console, and after I talked to one in all Nissan’s workers about why that’s, they instructed me designers adore it, prospects adore it and because the fingerprints are comparatively straightforward to wash off, the individuals who really don’t prefer it are a small minority. Personally, I feel all piano black plastic seems to be low cost, however perhaps that’s a part of why I failed at turning into a automotive designer, and the individuals who receives a commission to decide on inside supplies didn’t.
Fortunately, the Armada didn’t actually develop a lot between generations. It was already a large automobile and didn’t must get any larger, if solely from the attitude of the pedestrians who would get pleasure from not getting splattered everywhere in the entrance finish like six-foot-tall grasshoppers. That stated, there actually is sufficient house to suit six adults, and the third row is large sufficient that three adults might sit considerably comfortably in the event that they actually wanted to. After I piled into the Armada with a gaggle of different auto journalists, we match a 6-foot-4 journalist within the driver’s seat, my 5-foot-10 self within the second row, and a 6-foot journalist within the third row with out anybody’s knees banging towards the seat in entrance of them. The third-row man’s head brushed the ceiling, however it was tremendous. He stated it was tremendous.
In the event you do resolve to take 5 of your closest buddies on a highway journey in your new Armada, although, they’re most likely going to wish to pack mild. With the third row up, there’s actually solely room for 2 carryon luggage and some smaller objects. Then once more, that’s not a difficulty that’s distinctive to the Armada, and I don’t know if I wish to drive an SUV that’s sufficiently big not just for six adults but in addition all of their baggage for a whole weekend. That’s what cargo containers are for.
Then once more, Nissan says the 20.4 cubic toes that you just do get behind the third row is about 25 p.c greater than you bought within the outgoing Armada, and with all three rows down, there’s a stable 97.1 cubic toes of house on your stuff. The Tahoe and Expedition do nonetheless have the sting on whole cargo quantity, though it’s price declaring that the Armada has the Expedition beat with the third row in place. You may also decrease each the second and third row seats from the rear of the Armada, though solely the third row is power-operated, so that you’ll need to manually raise the second-row seats again into place whenever you want them.
Below the hood you not get a V8, which might be disappointing for folks whose total persona is constructed round proudly owning a automobile with a V8, however it’s arduous to think about many different folks will care. The dual-turbo 3.5-liter V6 makes 425 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque, and the engine is form of associated to the V6 used within the venerable GT-R. It’s been up to date for truck responsibility, so it’s not such as you’re getting the GT-R’s precise engine in your loved ones hauler, but when anybody offers you a tough time about driving a six-cylinder SUV, you don’t have to inform them that. Simply say it’s the GT-R engine and drive them to determine how a lot of an exaggeration that’s.
In each on- and off-road driving, in addition to whereas towing, the engine and the nine-speed transmission it’s paired with make loads of energy. I wouldn’t name the Armada fast, however it will get out of its personal method with ease, and whereas it doesn’t sound fairly nearly as good because it most likely would with a V8, it ought to get higher gasoline mileage. The outgoing Armada received 15 mpg mixed, which formally Isn’t Nice even in the event you’re the type of upper-middle-class household that may afford to drop $70,000 on a household automobile. The brakes, alternatively, get the job finished however have the lengthy journey within the pedal that you just get in quite a lot of vans and SUVs, so that you’ll have to regulate your type in the event you’re used to efficiency automotive brakes that seize arduous as quickly as you contact the brake pedal.
Talking of towing, each 2025 Armada comes with a tow score of 8,500 kilos and may have the ability to deal with boat and journey trailer responsibility with ease. With a shiny and scarily dear Airstream hooked as much as the again, we weren’t precisely testing the bounds of what the Armada might tow, however it was nonetheless a great demonstration of how the SUV would behave whereas towing. I may verify that whereas no quantity of know-how makes it so you’ll be able to’t really feel a trailer behind you, even dummies with restricted expertise ought to have the ability to tow safely. Whether or not that must be allowed with out extra driver coaching is a wholly totally different query, however it’s not like Nissan wrote the legal guidelines that permit anybody who efficiently parallel parked a decade-old Toyota Corolla after they have been 16 to haul a ship or a journey trailer 20 years later.
Know-how is, in fact, a giant deal today, and Nissan has no plans to repeat the identical mistake Infiniti made when it launched the QX50 with an outdated infotainment system and no assist for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. If you’d like tech options, the brand new Armada has them in spades. For instance, along with extra commonplace options — like assist for wi-fi CarPlay and Android Auto, a surround-view digicam system that helps make parking simpler, and heated, cooled and massaging entrance seats— the Armada additionally presents one thing that Nissan calls Biometric Cooling that makes use of infrared cameras to detect which passengers may have a little bit further air con after they get in. Supposedly, it will assist your youngsters settle down after they get in after soccer apply, which is a neat concept, however I additionally drove the Armada on my own, so I don’t know if it really works.
One notable function that I used to be in a position to check was Nissan’s newest suite of superior driver-assistance applied sciences that it calls ProPilot Help 2.1. Solely provided on SL, Platinum and Platinum Reserve trims, it permits for hands-free driving on mapped highways, and whereas I’d wish to do extra in depth testing earlier than I say an excessive amount of, however it at the very least dealt with to restricted freeway driving nicely sufficient that I wasn’t fully freaked out after I took my fingers off the wheel, and I get the sensation Tesla stans could have a tough time believing {that a} legacy automaker is even able to providing one thing like this. On Armadas with out ProPilot Help 2.1 or on roads that haven’t been mapped, you continue to get extra conventional ADAS options however need to maintain your fingers on the wheel when you’re driving.
I’m additionally a giant fan of the elective head-up show that you could get on the brand new Armada. It’s brilliant, straightforward to learn and most significantly, it shows turn-by-turn instructions even in the event you’re utilizing Apple CarPlay or Android Auto for navigation. You may most likely dwell with out the HUD, however you’re already spending some huge cash on a giant SUV, so why would you? It’s going to make your life higher and likewise maintain you a little bit safer.
As for the precise screens, you get a 12.3-inch driver show and a 12.3-inch infotainment display commonplace, however in the event you improve to the PRO-4X, Platinum or Platinum Reserve trims, these screens each develop to 14.3 inches. Possibly that’s extra display than you need in your loved ones SUV, however Nissan skipped the development of tossing a mega-screen into the middle, and I admire that. Because of this, you additionally get precise bodily controls, which makes me, a loyal knob-turner, very glad. If solely Nissan had additionally taken my love of column shifters and distaste for push-button shifters under consideration when deciding how it is best to put the transmission into gear.
Ultimately, it was time for my favourite a part of any press journey — the off-road course. As a automotive blogger, I’m robotically an out-of-touch coastal elite, however as somebody who grew up within the South all I actually wish to do with any automotive I’m given is take it mudding. If solely it had been heat sufficient for me to put on my Budweiser tank prime and American flag shorts. The frustration continued when Nissan’s crew instructed us it had rained an excessive amount of to do a lot of the course they’d initially deliberate. Contemplating how slick the bottom was within the sections we have been nonetheless in a position to drive, they have been most likely proper to name off the extra critical stuff, however that doesn’t imply I used to be glad about it. I suppose I’ll simply need to plan an overlanding journey for when an Armada Professional-4X hits the Atlanta press fleet.
Whereas I wasn’t allowed to drive up the big hill that also regarded completely climbable, we have been at the very least in a position to do a couple of issues that demonstrated simply how succesful the Professional-4X actually is. We’re speaking a few 6,000-pound, three-row SUV right here, so physics isn’t precisely your buddy, however locking the rear diff made straightforward work of what seemed to be a few 45-degree incline, and the front-facing digicam made it straightforward to put the wheels even after I couldn’t see over the hood. In actual fact, you’ll be able to even activate an invisible hood mode that reveals the bottom beneath your automotive overlayed on a show that’s additionally sharp sufficient to essentially see the place you’re going and what obstacles to keep away from.
One other part of the course concerned getting two wheels off the bottom, and even with all of the mud, the Armada barely even blinked. The air suspension additionally did a powerful job of smoothing out impacts and serving to the Armada really feel beneath management. I’m nicely conscious we have been in a fairly managed surroundings driving over man-made obstacles that have been particularly designed with the Armada’s capabilities in thoughts, so it’s not like we have been pushing the bounds of what it might do at any level, however I’m at the very least snug saying the Armada will go far additional off-road than the overwhelming majority of Professional-4X consumers will ever want it to. Will it have the ability to sort out Hell’s Revenge with the identical sense of ease? I don’t know, however perhaps Nissan ought to help me to find out.
If I needed to guess, although, the most important situation with off-roading the brand new Armada — other than most house owners not wanting so as to add desert pinstripes to their paint — is solely going to be its dimension. This factor is huge, and whereas I didn’t hit something, a part of the path included a tree that I got here uncomfortably near scraping. Different drivers additionally got here inside a couple of inches of that tree, too, so it wasn’t simply me. This can be a lengthy, large SUV, and whereas that might not be an issue within the desert, different trails are going to be a difficulty.
If solely Nissan had a smaller, narrower body-on-frame SUV in its lineup, maybe primarily based on the Frontier. , like a brand new Xterra. Since I couldn’t actually get a straight reply to why there’s no new Xterra, it most likely has to do with cash and inside politics, however come on, Nissan. A brand new Xterra would print cash, and I imply that severely, not tongue-in-cheek like my earlier plans for a Miata However Greater and the truck-like Challenger Rampage. Possibly if sufficient folks purchase Armadas, Nissan will lastly find the money for to offer us the Xterra we’ve been clamoring for. Both that, or it’s popping out quickly, and everybody who instructed me they wished that was within the playing cards is only a rattling good liar has one heck of a poker face.
Contemplating how a lot nicer the brand new Armada is, you’d most likely count on it to be a great bit costlier than the outgoing mannequin, however the base SV mannequin truly has the identical beginning value no matter whether or not you get rear ($56,520) or four-wheel drive ($59,520). Nonetheless, Nissan says it expects the SL model to be the amount vendor, and that one begins at $62,970 plus an additional $3,000 if you’d like 4WD. The Professional-4X, alternatively, begins at $73,740, whereas a 4WD Platinum Reserve will set you again $79,900.
These costs actually aren’t precisely low, however they’re additionally in step with what you’d count on on this section. A base Tahoe is a couple of thousand {dollars} extra, whereas the Expedition begins about $1,000 under the Armada. And in the end, I get the sensation Nissan goes to have a more durable time getting folks to check drive the brand new Armada than it would convincing those that do to drag the set off. The advertising and marketing line about it being a extra reasonably priced Infiniti QX80 could have come straight from Nissan, however I purchase it. The 2025 Nissan Armada simply feels nicer than its rivals, and that can most likely promote extra of them than the locking rear differential, underbody safety or the truth that it’s now only a Patrol with a distinct title.
