2025 Nissan Armada Platinum Reserve
Price: $104,998 CAD
Colour: Everest White Pearl
It’s a strange thing being an automobile journalist and a human being. As a journalist I am committed to fairness, objectivity and a fierce defence of my opinion. As a human being, I’m forced to admit that opinions can and do change. Perspectives shift over time, this is just how we are as people. Imagine then when yours truly read a review of the previous generation of the Nissan Armada (MY 2022) that I wrote three years ago where I begged Nissan to drag the Armada design kicking and screaming into current times with things like a modern drivetrain, updated tech and exterior styling. I wasn’t kind to certain aspects of that car. Having spent a week driving the all new 2025 Nissan Armada I’m stunned by the fact that Nissan must have read my review, took the criticism to heart and gave me everything I asked for. How can it be than that the new car makes me nostalgic for the previous generation I was so critical of? Because perspectives change.
Power & Performance
In the three years since I last drove the Armada, the war on the V8 engine has continued unabated. So many cars once lauded for their V8 power plants have been replaced with turbo-charged 6 and 4-cylinder options. Most of these engines are okay but they lack the charm and charisma of a big V8. The 2025 Nissan Armada has said goodbye to its longstanding relationship with the 5.6L V8 of previous generations and is now equipped with a 3.5l Twin Turbocharged (because one is never as good as two) V6 engine. This engine delivers comparable power and torque figures (a bit more of each to be honest), so it moves the Armada around just fine. It’s how it goes about that task that I can’t really abide. While the new engine does everything it can to tame the nature of its turbocharged power delivery, it can’t in any way replicate the lazy swell of power you’d get from that old 5.6L. That engine made you feel like it could do anything. It wouldn’t be fast or precise, but it would get the job done in its own time. The 3.5L V6 is always spooling one turbo or another and struggles to deliver that power smoothly through the 9-speed automatic transmission. As a result, the power delivery is much less smooth and relaxing. What is an enormous, over-sized 7-passenger SUV if it isn’t at least smooth and effortless.
You might be thinking at this point “well, at least it’s better on gas! That’s gotta be worth the compromise!” Unnecessary exclamation points aside, you’d be wrong. The old 5.6L (if you drive like the old man that I am) would return 15-17 L/100kms. An appalling number I know but it was at least having fun as it drained you of all hope of a financially solvent future. Imagine my surprise then when the new 3.5L V6 with all its fancy turbos produced a number very similar at 14.5-16L/100 kms. This makes the sacrifice of the lazy V8 something not worth making.
For all its complexity and modern features, the 3.5L still has to lug around a car that weighs more than a small asteroid as you head to Wendy’s to redeem the coupon for a spicy chicken combo that just arrived in the mail. It’s a lot of car, and the engine is working hard. Something I couldn’t stop thinking about as I drove around in the new Armada was how that engine would hold up over time. While that 5.6L V8 wasn’t sophisticated or a light sipper it was pretty reliable. It would just go and go from one discount drive-thru experience to another. I’m not sure the same can be said for its successor.
Exterior
It’s not all doom and gloom with the new 2025 Nissan Armada. This new exterior design is a handsome brute. The previous generation had a love/hate sort of look to it mostly focused on the bubble butt rear end. I didn’t mind it so much and I think the design matured quite well over time. This new Armada has been on a diet and has been spending time in the pilates studio because while it’s still enormous, it’s looking much more trim and fit. The big rear end is gone for the most part with only a little bump left behind. The doors are massive with a lower roofline giving it interesting proportions. The exterior is cleaner and quite modern on the new Armada and it’s a nice piece of work.
Interior
The previous generation Armada felt like it was birthed in 2006 and Nissan simply forgot to update anything for the ensuing 15 years. Everything worked and you had anything you needed but from the pleated leather door cards to the vintage steering wheel you knew this car was from another time. The new Armada is truly all new. T to B and L to R this thing is bang up to date and is a lovely place to be. The leather is high quality and used throughout the car to great effect. The infotainment system (a common weak spot in Nissan vehicles) is a lovely integrated unit with quality cameras and good functionality. There is an overall feeling of higher quality with this car that has been missing from a lot of Nissan’s recent vehicles. It’s nice to see them fighting to stay relevant in a world that keeps trying to write them off.
Quality
The new Armada has shed a few of the quirks that made the previous model special, but the replacement gear is pretty good. I have concerns over that lifespan of that turbo engine but otherwise, the Armada feels like a good quality vehicle.
CQI – 8.
Value
So, here’s the thing with the previous generation Nissan Armada. It was cheap. Clocking in at around $78k CAD for a top shelf trim it had few real competitors at that price point. I would accept the cost cutting trade-offs for that dollar figure. The 2025 Nissan Armada has no such value proposition. This top tier Premium Reserve Trim with 2nd row Captain’s Chairs clocks in at just under $105K CAD. That’s a more than 30% price increase compared to the previous generation from just 3 years ago. I like some of the changes and all the new and I know new car pricing is insane and doesn’t look to be getting any better (unless you’re talking EV’s), but that’s a bitter pill to swallow. It pushes this car so far into the firing line of its closest competitors you’d have to seriously consider your options when making a decision.
Final Thoughts
The new 2025 Nissan Armada is a good full-size SUV. I like it a great deal. It’s given me everything I thought I wanted for the Armada based on the previous generation. Curiously though, it also makes me miss the old one in a way I didn’t think was possible. All the updates and modern design, while great, demand so much more money from us I’m not sure I can square the price increase. A car with a six-figure price tag is no small decision. It makes me ask myself if I were in the market for such a car, would I buy the Armada? I don’t know.
