Here’s a simple question: what’s the only 2017 diesel half-ton pickup truck you can buy today?
If you answered the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, you’d be out of luck because the Ram is currently under stop-sale waiting for its EPA Emissions Certificate.
If you answered the new 2018 3.0L Ford-150, you’d have to wait until the summer of 2018 to buy the truck. Of course both Chevy and Toyota don’t currently produce a half-ton diesel trucks which means the only possible answer is the 2017 Nissan Titan XD with the 5.0L V8 Cummins diesel engine.
OK, so technically the 2017 Nissan Titan XD Cummins is not a half-ton truck. But let’s face it, it is about as close to half-ton diesel truck as you can currently purchase. If you want a diesel pickup and you need the towing capacity of a half-ton truck without stepping up to a heavy duty truck, the 2017 Nissan Titan XD Cummins is your best option. This “Tweeener” truck is somewhere halfway between a half-ton and a heavy duty truck. In other words, it is XXL half-ton truck with a 5.0L V8 diesel engine making it an attractive option for half-ton diesel pickup buyers. In fact you could easily argue it is the only option. The GM mid-sized truck twins with the baby Duramax diesel don’t have the room, towing or hauling capacity to seriously compete in the half-ton truck class.
Does this mean that the 2017 Nissan Titan XD Cummins has the half-ton diesel market all to itself?
Yes, it currently does but there are very dark clouds on the horizon. As you may know FCA, the parent company of Ram, is suing Cummins for $60 million dollars for installing defective emissions devices on the Ram Heavy Duty Trucks with the 6.7L Cummins diesel.
“EPA and CARB have been pushing for a recall on 2013-2015 Ram 2500 pickups with a 6.7-liter Cummins diesel which both agencies say has an SCR that can malfunction in the presence of moisture and lead to increase in nitrogen oxide”, according to Reuters.
Currently the 5.0L V8 Cummins in the Nissan Titan XD is not under investigation and there’s no dispute between Nissan and Cummins. But you have to wonder how long before the emissions issues with the big brother 6.7L Cummins spill over to the smaller 5.0L Cummins? Perhaps never or perhaps tomorrow. The point being that if you want (or need) a diesel half-ton truck you only have one reasonable option today.
Check out our towing review of the Nissan Titan XD Cummins below. My advice would be to consider giving this Nissan Tweener diesel truck a second look. Until Ram is back in the business of selling half-ton diesel trucks it is the only game in town. How long will Nissan Titan XD Cummins be an option? Your guess is as good as mine, but we’re certainly living in interesting times…at least when it comes to diesel trucks and the EPA.
Editor’s Note: Please let us know in the comments below if you would consider this truck as an option if you are in the market for a half-ton diesel. Is Roman right or is he breathing too many diesel fumes for his own good?
