2017 Nissan Armada: First Impressions
CARS.COM — With its big trapezoidal chrome grille, the redesigned 2017 Armada is instantly recognizable as a Nissan, and the full-size SUV’s new styling, with its focus on smooth body sides and clean lines, gives it an upscale appearance that its predecessor lacked.
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Nissan showed the top-of-the-line Platinum trim level of the Armada, and the cabin has the same upscale feel that’s in the Infiniti QX80 (the Armada now shares its platform with Infiniti’s full-size SUV). The stitched dashboard has a premium look; there’s nice woodgrain trim on the center console, and there’s plenty of soft-touch surfaces on the doors to rest your arms. Materials quality remains high in the second row, which is a place where cheaper materials are sometimes used.
Second-row seat comfort is good for adults, with adequate legroom. The seat doesn’t slide forward and backward, but it does recline, and it flips forward with a pull of a handle for third-row access.
Third-row comfort, however, is only passable for adults, who likely won’t want to be there for anything longer than a short trip. In this way the Armada is like other non-long-wheelbase full-size SUVs; one of the few exceptions is the Ford Expedition and its impressively comfortable third-row seat.
Though big on the outside, the Armada doesn’t have much cargo room when all three rows of seats are up; there’s just 16.6 cubic feet of space behind the third row. That’s less than the prior Armada’s 20 cubic feet but more than the Chevrolet Tahoe’s 15.3 cubic feet. The Armada’s cargo liftover is high, too, which could make it difficult to load heavy luggage.
The QX80 is one of the better driving full-size SUVs around, which bodes well for the new Armada’s driving manners. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but Nissan says it doesn’t expect a big jump in price when the 2017 Armada arrives this summer. The prior Armada’s starting price was just less than $40,000 including a destination fee, and if the redesigned Armada’s price stays close to that it will undercut competitors such as the Tahoe, Ford Expedition and Toyota Sequoia by a significant margin.
