2011 Nissan Armada Review

The 2011 Nissan Armada.  A huge SUV in a changing automotive world.

It's always good to remember when reading (or writing) an auto review that of all the resources manufacturers have at their disposal, a crystal ball is not one of them. Work begins on the next generation of vehicles sometimes before the first hits the showroom floor, and designs and dimensions get locked in early. When the game changes, often the player has to remain the same.

That's pretty much the story of the Nissan Armada. It was designed when full-size SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe, Ford Expedition, Toyota Sequoia and GMC Yukon could do no wrong in the marketplace.

And then everything changed.

As a result, the Nissan Armada feels a bit like a time machine, something of a different age (though its competitors listed above are in exactly the same boat).

The 2011 Nissan Armada. Room for 8 people and 28 gallons of gas.

Speaking of boats, my dad would have called something this big a "boat". But Nissan named this the Armada, which means "whole fleet of boats". It's really not significantly larger than any full-size SUV we've reviewed, but the packaging makes it feel like it is. It's long, wide and tall, seats 8, weighs 5,346 pounds (without the 8 people) and has a 317-horsepower 5.6 liter V8 to move all that.

All things considered, the engine does a good job moving the weight at a reasonable pace and the handling isn't bad, either. Not sporting, but not bad. That's most likely thanks to rack and pinion steering, 4-wheel independent suspension, and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS are an important part of the package...helping stop the kind of momentum that an Armada at speed has.

With a 5-speed automatic transmission and 634 pounds shy of three tons to move, however, gas mileage is not part of the good news. The EPA says 12 city/18 highway, and what we saw in our week at the wheel tells us that's probably about right. You'll get decent range out of a tank because it's a big tank...28 gallons. But at $3.50 a gallon, re-filling an empty tank will set you back $98.

2011 Nissan Armada: The view from the deck.

The Nissan Armada we drove was the SL 4X4, middle of the three trim levels (SV, SL and Platinum). At $2,450 above the SV 4X4's MSRP of $44,090, it adds some fairly serious towing capability (9,000 pounds), leather-appointed seats, 20-inch aluminum alloy wheels replace the SV's 18-inchers, plus fog lamps, heated front seats, a chrome grille, roof rack, power liftgate, side molding inserts and exhaust finisher, a rear-view camera, an upgrade to a Bose audio system with SiriusXM Satellite Radio, keyless entry, Bluetooth, a four-way power front passenger seat and a power flat-folding third row seat.

That strikes us as a fair deal. And if you want to go full-boat (sorry), the Platinum 4X4 will take $7,250 more of your money than the SL and add navigation, DVD, sonar, a moonroof and a bunch more goodies. But that's $53,790.

The Nissan Armada SL we had strikes me as the best choice at an MSRP of $45,640 and an as-tested sticker of $46,810 ($950 delivery charges and only one option...floor and cargo mats for $220).

But should you choose the Armada? Well, if you need a full-size four-wheel-drive SUV (and many folks truly do), yes. The fact is that the entire segment is made up of fully mature vehicles, closing in on either a major re-freshening, re-design or re-think. At this stage, the Nissan Armada isn't really any less advanced than the others. Choosing between them is really a matter of personal taste.

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The feds say they've had 110 complaints, 37 confirmed by dealer inspections. Full details from Automotive News (free registration required).

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Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ 4WD Review

Timing is everything. Especially when it comes to money and demand.

So, as the economy as a whole, car sales in general and the SUV market in particular comes crashing down, it's more than a little disconcerting to walk out to the freshly-delivered Chevrolet Tahoe, reach in the glovebox, pull out the photocopied Monroney (the price sticker found in the window of all new cars) and find an as-equipped price of:

$58,635.

For a Chevy.

One that doesn't say "Corvette" on it.

Regular TireKicker readers know that I believe there is a legitimate need and place for fullsize SUVs and that the Suburban and Tahoe (really a shortened 'Burban) should be granted survivor status once the great shaekout is over and the former Starbucks-weilding soccer moms are behind the wheel of something smaller holding McCafe's. They are simply excellent vehicles of their type.

But $58,635 is crazy...even for the top of the line, which the LTZ is.

Base price for that trim line is $52,350 (almost $15,000 more than a base LS model)...and that buys you what would have been an unimaginable array of features in a Tahoe five years ago.

But GM loaded this one further...$4,790 for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" Package (navigation, upgraded audio system, rear seat DVD system and a sunroof); $1,095 to step up to the 6.2 liter V8 from the 5.3 liter (which drops the EPA city estimate from 14 miles per gallon to 12 and the highway figure from 20 to 19); $500 for 20" chrome clad wheels (the same size as the standard polished aluminums); and the non-negotiable $950 destination charge.

Yeah, GM figures in a $900 "package savings" for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" thing (otherwise, this would have bottom-lined at $59,535), but c'mon.
What we have here is a Chevy selling for just about $5,000 less than the base price of a Cadillac Escalade.

As GM lops of the heads of dealers to try to stop cannibalization within markets, they need to really consider how close Chevrolet can get to Cadillac both in terms of features and price-point.

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Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid Review

Would a 38 percent increase in fuel economy put a full-size SUV back on your shopping list? Chevrolet is hoping the answer is yes, because that's what they've done with the Tahoe Hybrid.

Putting a gasoline/electric hybrid system under the hood of the Tahoe runs the EPA estimated gas mileage up to 21 city/22 highway. Hybrids' ability to run on purely electric power at low speeds and to shut off at stoplights and in drive-throughs means bigger gains in city driving than on the open road.

Driving the Tahoe Hybrid is like driving any other Tahoe...very pleasant...made more so by the fact the gas gauge is taking a lot longer to move off of "F"...and by the silent running on pure electric power in parking lots and slow-moving traffic.

My only objection was a cosmetic one...the test vehicle came with no fewer than nine "Hybrid" badges...including three huge tape graphics (across the top of the windshield and along the bottom edge of each side). The week we had it, I took it to a church picnic, where one of my friends, a senior GM engineer, just smiled and said "Marketing."

Admittedly, those badges might reduce the dirty looks in the Whole Foods parking lot, but I bet three of them would work just as well as nine.

The main thing about the Tahoe Hybrid is that it's a first...the first full-size hybrid SUV. Hybrids need to move beyond compact cars to be profitable for the automakers and helpful to the environment. The Tahoe Hybrid is a terrific example for every automaker to follow.

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