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a giant deal, and never only for the Nissan sellers who desperately wanted one thing that wasn’t greater than a decade outdated within the lineup.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 fanatics, it’s a legendary off-roader that provides 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 might all the time modify it and add these issues when you actually needed to, however the Armada was way more targeted on getting a pile of youngsters round city than bashing sand dunes and crawling up rock faces.
For the brand new third-generation Armada, nevertheless, Nissan listened to the complaints, and now you can get an Armada Professional-4X that comes with an air suspension, metallic skid plates and a locking rear differential similar to the remainder of the world will get with the Patrol. Clearly, Nissan isn’t messing round right here. Should 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 needed 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 a substitute 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 elaborate lodge 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 might name generically good-looking. It appears to be like good, however there additionally aren’t plenty of design components that actually stood out to me as notably distinctive or enticing. I even see a bit of 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 vital, the cabin and the way the designers used the accessible area is much extra vital.
In that regard, I’m joyful to say Nissan undoubtedly succeeded. You don’t should take my phrase for it, both. Simply have a look at the images. To borrow a automotive author cliché, that cabin simply appears to be like like a pleasant place to spend a while, and after spending a while behind the wheel I can affirm the Armada staff didn’t pull some form of bait-and-switch on us with inside supplies. It is good in there, particularly when you spring for the highest trim ranges. A lot of the surfaces are lined in high quality supplies that each feel and look 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 mentioned, the brand new Armada doesn’t precisely make its Infiniti QX80 sibling irrelevant. Some consumers could have a look at a loaded Armada and determine 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 possibly can inform Nissan didn’t go all-out on luxurious. If that seems like a backhanded praise, it’s not alleged to be. I might argue it was an applicable selection not solely to separate the Infiniti from the Nissan but in addition as a result of the Armada is more likely to tug household responsibility, and children destroy the whole lot they contact. Whereas loads 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 in all probability want.
Until you don’t like piano black. There’s a superb little bit of piano black within the heart console, and once I talked to certainly one of Nissan’s staff about why that’s, they instructed me designers find it irresistible, clients find it irresistible and for the reason that fingerprints are comparatively straightforward to wash off, the individuals who really don’t prefer it are a small minority. Personally, I believe all piano black plastic appears to be like 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 greater, if solely from the attitude of the pedestrians who would take pleasure in not getting splattered everywhere in the entrance finish like six-foot-tall grasshoppers. That mentioned, there actually is sufficient area to suit six adults, and the third row is broad sufficient that three adults might sit considerably comfortably in the event that they actually wanted to. Once I piled into the Armada with a bunch 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, nevertheless it was high quality. He mentioned it was high quality.
Should you do determine to take 5 of your closest mates on a street journey in your new Armada, although, they’re in all probability going to wish to pack gentle. 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 packing containers are for.
Then once more, Nissan says the 20.4 cubic toes that you simply do get behind the third row is about 25 % greater than you bought within the outgoing Armada, and with all three rows down, there’s a strong 97.1 cubic toes of area in your stuff. The Tahoe and Expedition do nonetheless have the sting on whole cargo quantity, though it’s value mentioning 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 should manually carry the second-row seats again into place while you want them.
Below the hood you now not get a V8, which might be disappointing for folks whose complete character is constructed round proudly owning a automobile with a V8, nevertheless it’s laborious 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 provides 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, nevertheless it will get out of its personal manner with ease, and whereas it doesn’t sound fairly nearly as good because it in all probability would with a V8, it ought to get higher fuel mileage. The outgoing Armada acquired 15 mpg mixed, which formally Isn’t Nice even when 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 accomplished however have the lengthy journey within the pedal that you simply get in plenty of vehicles and SUVs, so that you’ll have to regulate your fashion when you’re used to efficiency automotive brakes that seize laborious as quickly as you contact the brake pedal.
Talking of towing, each 2025 Armada comes with a tow ranking of 8,500 kilos and will 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, nevertheless it was nonetheless a superb demonstration of how the SUV would behave whereas towing. I may affirm that whereas no quantity of know-how makes it so you possibly can’t really feel a trailer behind you, even dummies with restricted expertise ought to have the ability to tow safely. Whether or not that needs to be allowed with out extra driver coaching is a wholly completely different query, nevertheless it’s not like Nissan wrote the legal guidelines that permit anybody who efficiently parallel parked a decade-old Toyota Corolla once they had been 16 to haul a ship or a journey trailer 20 years later.
Know-how is, in fact, a giant deal nowadays, and Nissan has no plans to repeat the identical mistake Infiniti made when it launched the QX50 with an outdated infotainment system and no help 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 normal options — like help 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 affords one thing that Nissan calls Biometric Cooling that makes use of infrared cameras to detect which passengers might have a bit of further air-con once they get in. Supposedly, this can assist your children calm down once they get in after soccer apply, which is a neat concept, however I additionally drove the Armada on my own, so I do not know if it really works.
One notable characteristic that I used to be capable of take a look at 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 intensive testing earlier than I say an excessive amount of, nevertheless it at the very least dealt with to restricted freeway driving properly sufficient that I wasn’t utterly freaked out once I took my fingers off the wheel, and I get the sensation Tesla stans can 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 should preserve your fingers on the wheel whilst you’re driving.
I’m additionally a giant fan of the non-compulsory head-up show that you could get on the brand new Armada. It’s vibrant, straightforward to learn and most significantly, it shows turn-by-turn instructions even when you’re utilizing Apple CarPlay or Android Auto for navigation. You may in all probability dwell with out the HUD, however you’re already spending some huge cash on a giant SUV, so why would you? It should make your life higher and likewise preserve you a bit of safer.
As for the precise screens, you get a 12.3-inch driver show and a 12.3-inch infotainment display screen normal, however when you improve to the PRO-4X, Platinum or Platinum Reserve trims, these screens each develop to 14.3 inches. Possibly that’s extra display screen than you need in your loved ones SUV, however Nissan skipped the development of tossing a mega-screen into the middle, and I respect that. Consequently, you additionally get precise bodily controls, which makes me, a loyal knob-turner, very joyful. If solely Nissan had additionally taken my love of column shifters and distaste for push-button shifters under consideration when deciding how you need 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 routinely 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 high and American flag shorts. The frustration continued when Nissan’s staff 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 had been nonetheless capable of drive, they had been in all probability proper to name off the extra critical stuff, however that doesn’t imply I used to be joyful about it. I suppose I’ll simply should 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 seemed completely climbable, we had been at the very least capable of do a couple of issues that demonstrated simply how succesful the Professional-4X actually is. We’re speaking a couple of 6,000-pound, three-row SUV right here, so physics isn’t precisely your pal, however locking the rear diff made straightforward work of what seemed to be a couple of 45-degree incline, and the front-facing digicam made it straightforward to position the wheels even once I couldn’t see over the hood. In reality, you possibly can even activate an invisible hood mode that exhibits the bottom below your automotive overlayed on a show that’s additionally sharp sufficient to actually 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 formidable job of smoothing out impacts and serving to the Armada really feel below management. I’m properly conscious we had been in a fairly managed surroundings driving over man-made obstacles that had been particularly designed with the Armada’s capabilities in thoughts, so it’s not like we had 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 largest subject with off-roading the brand new Armada — other than most homeowners not wanting so as to add desert pinstripes to their paint — is just going to be its measurement. This factor is massive, 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. It is a lengthy, broad SUV, and whereas that will 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 based mostly on the Frontier. You already know, like a brand new Xterra. Since I couldn’t actually get a straight reply to why there’s no new Xterra, it in all probability has to do with cash and inside politics, however come on, Nissan. A brand new Xterra would print cash, and I imply that significantly, not tongue-in-cheek like my earlier plans for a Miata However Larger and the truck-like Challenger Rampage. Possibly if sufficient folks purchase Armadas, Nissan will lastly manage to pay 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 in all probability count on it to be a superb bit costlier than the outgoing mannequin, however the base SV mannequin really has the identical beginning value no matter whether or not you get rear ($56,520) or four-wheel drive ($59,520). Nevertheless, Nissan says it expects the SL model to be the quantity vendor, and that one begins at $62,970 plus an additional $3,000 if you need 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 according to what you’d count on on this phase. A base Tahoe is a couple of thousand {dollars} extra, whereas the Expedition begins about $1,000 under the Armada. And finally, I get the sensation Nissan goes to have a more durable time getting folks to check drive the brand new Armada than it can convincing those that do to tug the set off. The advertising and marketing line about it being a extra inexpensive Infiniti QX80 could have come instantly from Nissan, however I purchase it. The 2025 Nissan Armada simply feels nicer than its rivals, and that can in all probability promote extra of them than the locking rear differential, underbody safety or the truth that it’s now only a Patrol with a unique title.
