The Nissan Armada is OLD! But Does that Matter? We Test a Midnight Edition to Find Out

Hey folks and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. In the landscape of full-size SUVs, this Nissan Armada is really starting to feel like a bit of a dinosaur. But is that a bad thing? Well that's exactly what we're going to find out in this video. We'll take this thing for a drive, we'll talk about the Midnight Edition, and then we'll compare it to the other big SUVs and decide is it worth it? The only engine you can get under the hood of an Armada is a 5.6 liter V8. Now this thing makes 400 horsepower, 413 pound-feet of torque, and that is sent through a seven-speed automatic. And I should mention that those numbers are with premium fuel. So I mentioned off the top two, this Armada you're looking at is the Midnight Edition. Pretty self-explanatory, it's blacked out. But Nissan does it different. Rather than sort of blacking out all the accents, it gives you all the black main bits and then you get the chrome and the sort of white Nissan badge. I think it looks okay. I'm not in love with the styling, but that's just me personally. Of course I want to hear from you. So go in the comments and let me know what you think of just the look of this Armada Midnight Edition. Now we're at the back of the Armada, so let's start by talking about towing. This thing can pull up to 8,500 pounds, and here in Canada that hitch is standard, along with a standard integrated trailer brake controller. Those are nice features. The payload on the model you're looking at right here is 1,477 pounds. Pretty decent numbers for a full-size SUV, so you can pull a pretty nice big trailer. Now let's take a look inside the back end. I do have to point out the glass here does not open, unlike a lot of its competitors. Now first of all, yes we're doing a little bit of hauling today. Dad actually got himself a new little Nissan outboard motor. We thought it was totally appropriate to show off the space back here. This is a vehicle where you're really choosing whether you're using the third row or you're hauling cargo, because behind this third row there's not a ton of space. But then of course if you don't have anyone back there, go ahead and fold that down. Now the numbers on the third row, you're only getting 28.4 inches of legroom. In the second row you're getting 41 inches of legroom, which is pretty good. So the third row is quite small, and like I just mentioned you're gonna have to choose whether you want to haul people or stuff. It'll do a little bit of both, but you do have to kind of make the choice. And now it's time for another episode of, is Steve gonna fit back there? I'm not gonna subject myself to the third row. This is only 28.4 inches of rear legroom back there. If I'm under 30 inches of legroom, I'm basically not gonna fit. So the third row in this Armada, definitely only for kids or people you don't like. But I will try out the second row. This is 41 inches of legroom, and I have tons of knee room, no problem at all. A decent amount of headroom. This seat is fixed, so it doesn't move forward or back. Although if you pull the handle down here, I can actually recline, which is pretty nice. And then look at this monstrous center console. Half my arm fits in there, a couple cup holders right there, and then down below there's also another huge storage. So basically it's all about storage, but for the second row passengers you can get a lot of stuff in here. Down in front of me I also get controls for the HVAC, which is pretty nice as well. So yeah, full-size adults in the second row of the Armada, absolutely are gonna be comfortable. Alright, now here we are driving in this Armada. Now like I kind of mentioned off the top, the Armada is feeling a little bit old in its sort of recipe. This is body on frame, it's a big V8, there's no other options available either. There's no small displacement turbos, there's no diesel, there's no hybrid. These are things that all the other brands are kind of doing. Nissan's not doing any of that, at least not right now. In this SUV you get one configuration, and like I said, it feels pretty old school. So from behind the wheel, dad, what do you feel when you're driving this Armada? This thing is big, it's trucky, I mean you feel that you're on a full frame. You know, you're sitting up high, the steering is heavy, and just this truck lumbers. Lumber's a great word. It's probably the best word to use with this thing, it just lumbers along. Now for me, what I'm going to say is it's familiar, because honestly this is exactly the kind of stuff that I've been driving for the last 20-30 years. It's really only been the last five years or so that a lot of the other larger SUVs have really kind of vaulted forward in their technology. How they drive, how they ride, the kind of suspensions that they're using. This thing is, you know, we've been calling it a dinosaur, and it is that. You know, which leads me into the next bit, which is, so what? Is that necessarily a problem? Looking at it from Nissan's point of view, they have limited development dollars, and so when they're putting something together, they're literally going to the shelf and saying, what have we got? Yeah, that's exactly what they did here. So when the new Titan came out in 17, rather than re-engineer the Armada on the Nissan Titan frame, the Titan-based Armada went away, and they shipped in what's called the Nissan Patrol. This was their full-size SUV that's sold around the world. It is built in Japan, and that's what you're looking at right here. This is just a re-skinned Patrol, and yes, it's still built in Japan, even though the engine is built down in Tennessee. So like that said, they definitely looked at it and said, we're going to do this in the most economical way possible. Now since then, they have updated the interior, so we have the new big touchscreen. It looks pretty nice in here, pretty modern. I don't think the interior makes it feel old per se, but with that information in mind, yeah, this is an old platform. It's old technology, and to be quite frank, that is happening kind of everywhere at Nissan right now. Kind of happened with the Frontier, happened with the new Z sports car. Nissan is doing their best with what they have, but not throwing a whole bunch of development dollars anywhere but EVs. That's the only thing I've seen them doing recently that's kind of new and exciting, is coming out with some EVs. Yeah, and you know, and to that point, they're smart enough to realize that, you know, they threw the 5.6 V8 in here, because that's what we want in North America. You're getting a motor that you could say is, you know, got a decent reputation, but it's a pig on gas. Yeah. It is. So, once again, you want to go old school, you're gonna need a bank loan, because this thing definitely sucks up fuel. Yeah, so in a lot of ways, we can see how it's lacking a little bit next to the competition, and actually, Dad, it's big, but frankly, the Chevy Tahoe has more legroom in the second and third row. So, where the other SUVs grew for this generation, this one's actually not quite as big. So, lots of kind of negatives, but there is one sort of positive, and it's the price. Now, here in Canada, you can only get two different trims of Armada. You can get the SL or the Platinum, and even the SL, even though it's the base model, it comes with all kinds of things built into it. So, the base price of an Armada in Canada is $70,000, and then if you go up to Platinum, it's about $76,000. For the model you're looking at right here, this Midnight Edition, $74,000. So, that's not inexpensive, but here's the part of the story that's important. A fully loaded Chevy Tahoe High Country, easily $85,000, and with a couple options, it's $90,000. So, the Nissan at the top luxury kind end of things is a decent bargain sitting next to the domestic brands. So, that's one thing I think Nissan is doing correctly, is they're saying, you know what, maybe we're not keeping up in all these other areas, but hey, if you come to us, you're going to get quite a few luxury features, and you're not going to pay quite as much either. So, that's the one thing I will say the Armada has going for it. It's a little bit less expensive. Well, that and the fact that, you know what, it does quite a few things well. You've got decent towing capacity, you've got the integrated trailer brake controller, this wheelbase, and with this weight, it's going to do a good job whether you're hauling a boat or a travel trailer. So, and the, you know, and the engine is suited to it. Yeah, you know what, it's the same strategy they played with Frontier for so many years, which they said, yeah, it isn't the newest, it isn't the shiniest, but it is the cheapest small pickup out there. There is another system here on the Armada that you're probably only going to like or really dislike, and that is the fact that it is full-time four-wheel drive. Now, you get an auto setting, you can put it in four high, which is going to lock, you know, even power to all four wheels, and then you do have four low, so there is a low speed transfer case, which is cool, but yeah, full-time four-wheel, and that's mostly just going to result in worse fuel economy. We're running 14.7 liters per 100 kilometers right now, and I definitely think that's an average you could expect. So, again, it's going to feel sure-footed, especially in the winter and in some sloppy weather. There is a snow mode here too, that's the one drive mode you do get, besides tow haul, but yeah, I don't know, Dad, I would prefer it if I could choose two-wheel drive. Yeah, and, you know, and to your point, they're giving you a snow mode, which is probably just deactivating your acceleration to modulate it so that you don't get the wheel slippage, whereas everybody else is giving you four or five different modes now. So, once again, you know, they don't have that money, they're just going with what they got. Yeah. Well, folks, we're coming to the end of this one. So, what's the verdict on this Armada? Well, if you want the latest flashy tech in your big SUV, you probably don't want to go to Nissan, but if you're okay with tried, true, and reliable, this Armada could be for you. So, like I said, that's it. Now, go below, let us know what you think of this Nissan SUV. While you're down there, don't forget to hit like, hit subscribe, hit join to become a member of our channel, and then come right back here to Truck King to see what we're testing next, because you never know what it might be. See ya.