2016 Nissan Murano - Review

The 2016 Nissan Murano mid-size crossover is at once a charming outlier and a carefully designed inside job that, whichever way you see it, breaks out of the crossover mold in meaningful ways.

The flamboyant, head-turning Murano is quite the icebreaker. Elegance, style, and luxury-like ambiance—not ruggedness and trail prowess—are the focus of the Murano. It’s not aimed so much at diaper-changing parents and carpool duty, either. Those are the roles of Nissan’s Rogue and Pathfinder, after all. And performance might take second stage to comfort, but to the older, albeit style-conscious empty-nester couples Nissan is targeting more than ever with this Murano, that’s quite alright.

The Murano takes some of the style of the Pathfinder and amplifies it, with a look that is very close to the Resonance Concept that Nissan rolled out at auto shows in 2013. Nissan designers aimed to counter the heavy, chunky look of traditional sport-utility vehicles with the Murano, and we think they brilliantly succeeded, not only in that, but in producing a vehicle that nearly everyone will agree is one of the best-looking contemporary crossovers.

With the fully realized ‘V-motion’ grille, 'boomerang'-style headlights, and a 'floating' roof with blacked out pillars, the Murano looks like no other crossover on the market from the outside. The details are abundant. The grille's lines continue upward and onward into the hoodline, the headlights and taillights frame some of the most expressive creases and curves in any production model today, and a distinct ‘arc’ in the beltline pinches the bodywork upward near the tail. Inside, it’s not quite as daring, but its ‘jet-age’ inspiration and 'panorama’ layout is grander, swoopier, and a little bit more daring than in rivals. We appreciate the simplicity of the Murano’s control interfaces, as they’re clean and well-conceived, with some physical buttons where they make sense.

Although the exterior is as extroverted as can be, it doesn’t cut into interior space and usability. Inside, you’ll find a lot of passenger space, reasonably good cargo versatility, and a quiet, refined ambiance. The driving position is just right, and the rather low-set dash should allow even shorter drivers to feel comfortable, while there’s plenty of headroom above, even for tall drivers with the available moonroof. Not everyone will love the so-called Zero Gravity seats, but the outboard back seats in the Murano are true comfort zones, contoured for adults and with plenty of space—ideal for the double daters and Wine Country tourers that Nissan profiled as targets.

To some, the Murano’s expressive exterior may hint at an engaging, emotional driving experience, but that’s not so much the case. The empty-nester types that the Murano is taking aim at want confident performance, but things like ride quality and cabin quietness take priority over that. The Murano's engine has powered mid-size Nissan cars and crossovers for years. It's a the 3.5-liter double-overhead-cam V-6, making 260 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque. It’s paired to the latest iteration of the automaker’s ‘high-torque’ continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), here omitting things like a tow mode or a low range. In front-wheel drive or AWD form, the Murano delivers what matters to its target buyer: strong, confident, refined performance, all without sacrificing too much comfort along the way.

The Murano is offered in S, SV, SL and Platinum models. For the S and SV models, the feature list is quite robust, especially if you gauge it on value, as the Murano comes with a price tag that undercuts the Lexus RX and Acura MDX by ten grand. Move up to the SL and top-of-the-line Platinum models, and you get a lot more, albeit at a price that approaches those luxury-badge models.

The Platinum has features like heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats, and power-folding rear seats. It is an attempt to offer a model that truly competes with the RX 350 and MDX—in all but the cachet of the luxury badge itself, of course.

All models except the Murano S include an upgraded infotainment system with a larger eight-inch multi-touch screen, voice recognition for navigation and audio, and SiriusXM Travel Link services for fuel prices, weather, movie listings, stock information, and sports scores.

In addition to a safety set that’s already solid, the Nissan Murano SL and Platinum models include standard blind-spot monitors, as well as rear cross-traffic alerts, which can warn you of vehicles approaching from the side when in reverse, while the available surround-view camera system can spot and warn of vehicles or objects with a chime and notification. These systems and the forward-collision warning system use information from four cameras and three radar sensors to spot issues ahead and help react to them quicker; they’re optional as part of a package on the SL and Platinum models.

For features, specs, build and price, please visit:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/overview/nissan_murano_2016#mainReview

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