The
Nissan Murano combines the smooth ride and responsive handling of a car, the cargo space of a wagon, and the high driving position of a sport utility. Named after the region of Italy known for its famous glassware, the Murano reflects an emphasis on refinement and over-the-road confidence over off-road ruggedness.
The Murano is a good example of a crossover vehicle: It's designed to haul cargo like a sport-utility, but ride and drive like a car. However, this crossover handles better than a Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander, and it drives more like a sports sedan.
Murano integrates aerodynamics and high fashion, with a sleek front end, smooth lines from front to back, and a greenhouse that slopes rearward, ending in a large but graceful C-pillar. Inside, Nissan resisted the temptation to cram in three rows of seats like the Highlander and Pilot do. Instead, like a car, the Murano has just two rows of seats, accommodating four (or at most five) passengers in comfort.
The Murano delivers hearty performance, boasting the same 3.5-liter V6 engine used in the 350Z sports car, tuned here to produce 245 horsepower. It comes with a continuously variable transmission, a high-tech automatic that's smooth and responsive while offering superior gas mileage within its class. Murano's road-tuned suspension offers smooth and sporty handling. Murano shares basic underpinnings with the Nissan Altima and Maxima sedans. (Murano is not at all related to the Infiniti FX, a popular misconception.) All-wheel drive is available for the Murano, giving it good grip and stability in wintry weather and hard rain.
For 2006, the Murano's styling has been freshened with a new grille design, a chrome lower grille insert and other subtle changes. It also gets LED taillights that look distinctive and illuminate faster to better alert drivers behind you when you apply the brakes. next page