In October 2015 I purchased a 2016 Nissan NV 3500P V8 passenger van with the V-8 engine. It now has 13,500 miles on it. More than ¾ of this is trailer miles. The NVP seems to have been positioned as a full size passenger van targeted at the hotel and airport shuttle market. Recognized competitors are the outdated GM full sized vans, Ford Transit and the Mercedes Sprinter. It is also is competitive with the Ford Expedition and GM Suburban/Yukon XL as a vehicle for persons needing extra seating and trailer towing capacity. It is interesting that this forum is all about people who tow. I didn’t see any posts by people who use it as a shuttle. An obvious but completely overlooked market would be for a cab and chassis unit for up fitters. In my own case, I am retired and bought the NVP for towing a trailer (RV) and to use the space pickup trucks waste. I tow an Oliver LE 2. weight under tow is only about 5200 lbs. The GVW, however, is 7000 lbs and I wanted to be able to tow the 7000 if necessary. The NVP without some of the seats makes a great "spare room". The only reason that the NVP looks so good is because everyone else’s offerings in this market are so abysmally poor. The GM full size van design is 20 years old and badly in need of an update. Ford’s transit van has serious drawbacks, which is why they are still building the (also 20+ year old) E-series vehicles for up fitters and other truck customers. The passenger versions of the Mercedes Sprinter and Ford Transit wagon are not contenders for this market because the towing capacity is inadequate. Most often a GM Suburban/Yukon XL, or its smaller brother the Tahoe/Yukon are the vehicle of choice for trailer towing. Ford Expeditions are also sometimes used, but I know nothing about them. Suburbans now sell for $65,000. The Nissan “pros” are its greater interior space, greater towing capacity (with the V-8), lower price, and better warranty. These features are what make it superior to the competition and are why I bought the NVP. I also love the large adjustable trailer mirrors with the smaller “blind spot” mirror. The Nissan “cons”, however, are serious and the company should address them in future models. The most serious is the lack of a diesel engine competitive with to the Power Stroke in Fords, Cummins in the Ram, and Duramax in the GM. The Nissan Titan offers a smaller diesel originally designed for compact trucks, but even that is unavailable in the NVP. The competitor’s diesels are commonly used for trailer towing and are almost universal in airport shuttles. For the shuttle market, Nissan needs a diesel high roof NVP. For the private buyer, a diesel and a power sliding door (or two power sliding doors) is needed. A power retractable running board option is also needed for this high a vehicle. Other notes are that a trailer brake controller should be included in the towing kit and integrated into the dashboard. The trailer’s rear camera should be able to integrate into the car’s rear view camera display. Outfitters like canoe tour companies would find the NVP ideal for their needs except that there is no four-wheel-drive available. Four-wheel-drive is available from aftermarket suppliers but should be available as a factory option. In summary, Nissan in 2016 has a really fine vehicle base in the NVP series, but more design work is needed.
