Class of the Titan

Here's how my Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines the word “Titan” – (noun) of very great power, importance or strength.

Listed right underneath, you'll find “titanic” – (adjective) huge; gigantic; colossal.

Then there's this dictionary definition: Gas hog – (noun) Nissan Titan pickup truck.

Okay, okay, so I made that last one up. But if the nozzle fits …

The 2009 Titan is certainly powerful, with a 32-valve, 5.6-litre V8 producing 317 hp at 5,200 rpm and an impressive 385 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,400.

And it's strong, capable of carrying a payload of 867 kg in crew cab long box form and of towing up to 4,218 kg (the five-speed tranny has a useful tow/haul mode).

As for being huge, gigantic or colossal, it's right up there with the biggest half-tons, at least in the as-tested Crew Cab form. (Titan also can be ordered in a smaller two-door King Cab version.) As tested, our Crew Cab LE 4x4 tips the scales at 2,562 kg, and looks even more massive than most competitors' pickups because of its chunky styling and all that chrome on the grille.

The LE's interior appointments are every bit as good a an upscale family sedan, with leather surfaces, dual zone A/C, remote keyless entry, power locks/doors/mirrors, and a 10-speaker Rockford Fosgate audio system with AM/FM/six-CD and MP3/WMA playback.

A rotary dial for shifting from 2WD to 4H and 4LO is conveniently mounted to the right of the tilting steering wheel.

Cruise control functions are located on the wheel and are dead easy to use – on/off; set/coast, accel/resume. However, at night there's severe glare from the radio dial on the rear view mirror and from the instrument panel's gauges on the driver's door glass.

Despite its amenities – power seats with memory, sunroof, auto headlamps, heated seats, etc. – this is still a working truck; the kind that's more at home on the job site than going out for a night at the opera.

There are big, useful door pockets plus lots of bins for storing pens, phones, whatever.

And since working men are always hungry, there's a deep well under the centre armrest into which you can drop a lunch bucket. A nice touch is a locking outside storage bin located in the fender and accessible from just behind the left rear wheel.

The Crew Cab really does have room for your crew – with full-size rear doors and vastly more rear seat head, shoulder and hip room than Nissan's Maxima sedan. And you'll find lots of storage space under the free-standing rear seats which also flip up and back, creating even more room for cargo when you don't have people riding back there.

Riding on its 20-inch Goodyear Wranglers, the Titan is a tall truck and accessory running boards might be a welcome addition to help everybody to gracefully get in and out of the cab.

But a truck is meant to carry cargo as well as people, and with the short box Crew Cab there's always a bit of compromise.

I have to deliver the floor pan from a sports car to a fellow several hundred km away, so the Titan is put to good use during this test. With 1,270 mm between the rear wheel wells, the platform would have been able to lay flat in the long box version, but our test truck's bed is almost square (1,710 mm long and 1,520 mm wide) so it has to be carried on an angle, with one end resting on the tailgate. However, thanks to handy aluminum rails on the box sides, with sliding stanchions for securing things down, it's not a problem.

Delivering an entire car instead of just the floor pan is also not a problem, as the short box LE is capable of towing a full-size vehicle on a trailer.