New long-bed models have been added, and are longer than most competitors, along with more bed space, payload, and fuel capacity.

Inside, the 2008 Nissan Titan sports a thoroughly redesigned interior that is at once more attractive and user-friendly. There's plenty of room for a growing family of five or four big sportsmen off for weekend recreation. Titans range from utilitarian models with crank windows to leather-lined cabs befitting a luxurious sport-utility.

Titan's proven and powerful V8 and automatic is the only choice, and it's a stout engine raced at more than twice its street-legal 317 horsepower. Nothing like this gets good gas mileage and if you have no plans to haul stuff around or tow anything, the Titan will be overkill and you should check out a van, or maybe a Pathfinder for those Nissan faithful in need of four-wheel drive. When you do haul and tow, you'll find the features added for such activities very useful and that it's surprisingly capable for a half-ton pickup.

In part because of the engine, the Titan leans to the sporty and heavy-user ends of the pickup truck spectrum. Obviously it can be used on a daily basis and perhaps on an overcast day it might just blend in, but the Titan is more outgoing than that and would prefer a home with an adventurous family, busy independent contractor or landscaper, hard-core four wheeler towing a buggy, or on the job site tending to fickle foremen and agitated architects: At least on the weekdays.

If you need a full-size pickup with power to perform and plenty of room, the Nissan Titan should be on your shopping list.