The Nissan Armada Nismo Turns Performance Up a (Small) Notch

• The 2026 Armada Nismo marks the first time Nissan has offered its largest SUV with a performance package in the U.S.
• The Armada Nismo makes more power than the standard model, has stickier tires, and plenty more.
• There's also a Nismo-exclusive love-it-hate-it body kit.

The Armada Nismo is a higher-performance version of the brand's largest and toughest SUV. This is more than just an appearance package; the Nismo team has made a few meaningful changes that should make the Armada genuinely sportier to drive, if only just.

What's new?

The first thing you'll notice about the Armada Nismo is that body kit. The Nismo team redesigned the front and rear fascias, plus added fender flares (that look just a little too wide), exclusive side steps, a rear spoiler, and a positively massive grille. There are also red accents around the exterior, as well as unique 22-inch wheels. The look won't be for everyone, but it certainly plays into the performance image Nissan is going for, and supposedly enhances the chunky SUV's aerodynamics too.

Under the hood is the same 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 you'll find in other Armadas, but it's been retuned to make 460 horsepower — 35 more ponies than other trims, and even 10 more than the Armada's more luxurious cousin, the Infiniti QX80. Nissan says the extra power was achieved through revised engine programming and fine-tuning of valve clearances. Additionally, and unlike other Armadas, the Nismo requires premium fuel to unlock maximum power. The extra 35 horsepower in a vehicle that weighs 6,102 pounds is unlikely to yield much in the way of quicker acceleration, but at least it's something.

Should you feel like mashing the throttle to test the Armada Nismo's speed, though, you'll be rewarded by a returned exhaust note. There's also an Active Sound Enhancement system in the cabin that amplifies things even further. I'm not usually a huge fan of engine sound piped in through a vehicle's speakers, but to each their own.

Nissan says the steering has been retuned for a sportier feel, and the same goes for the standard adaptive air suspension. Perhaps the most important change in the handling department, though, is the addition of higher-performance all-season tires than what's available on regular Armadas. 

Nissan hasn't upgraded the brakes (aside from painting the calipers red), but in our testing the Armada Pro-4X (the off-road model with all-season tires) stopped in a very impressive 117 feet — on par with the current M5, believe it or not. The stickier rubber should only make stops even better.

Stepping inside

The cabin is largely standard Armada-fare, and that's not a bad thing: This is easily one of the nicest Nissan interiors in recent memory (if not ever). Nismo-specific elements include attractive two-tone red and black seats with quilted faux-suede inserts, aluminum pedals, and a steering wheel with a red center marker. Plus, the front seats now feature adjustable side bolsters, so you can keep yourself in place should you feel like tossing your behemoth of an SUV into a corner at speed.

Reality check

This is not the first time Nissan has offered a higher-performance variant of its body-on-frame SUV. In the rest of the world, the SUV we know as Armada is called Patrol, and in 2015, the first Patrol Nismo hit the streets. Designed and built for the Middle Eastern market and boasting several Nismo performance enhancements, the SUV proved quite popular. Now, it's America's turn.

While it's nice to see a full-size SUV with a performance package that's more than just a body kit, this is still a huge, three-ton three-row SUV. Fortunately, the Armada Nismo can still tow up to 8,500 pounds, so perhaps it's better suited to towing your actual sports car to a track day than it is at tackling the track itself — at least you'll show up looking the part.

Pricing for the Armada Nismo will be announced later this summer, but don't expect a starting price of less than $80,000. Will it be worth it? We'll have to get behind the wheel to find out.