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Auto review: Redesigned Nissan Murano is a pleasure to behold but not a thrill to drive

Larry Printz, Tribune News Service on

Published in Business News

It’s been a decade since the Nissan Murano was last redesigned, an eternity in the car business. As Nissan executives have been busy purging its top ranks of outside influence, be it foreign-born CEO Carlos Ghosn or overseas investors such as Renault, they have taken their eye off of what really matters: creating great vehicles.

Exhibit A: the Nissan Murano. Once an automotive fashionista, its threads have weathered the intervening years well, despite their age. Luckily, this is a look that had legs. But its long production run has more to do with corporate neglect than any true product strategy.

Nevertheless, despite all of the action behind the scenes, the company has managed to finally redesign the Murano, its midsize SUV.

Wearing a design that’s once more up-to-the-minute chic, the 2025 Murano is 2.6 inches wider than the previous rendition, although overall length and height are about the same. The front-end features slim LED headlights visually connected by a thin trim bar. Beneath it, the Murano’s daytime running lights are visually integrated into the horizontal front grille, much like the redesigned Nissan Kicks. Its clean, strong horizontal form lends strength to the front end. Out back, the taillamps are integrated into a single light bar. The side window shape recalls that of the athletic Infiniti FX, while the black roof hides the body’s true shape, lending it more of a coupe-like appearance.

Inside, its cabin boasts a spa-like ambiance with dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instrument cluster, the other for infotainment, which proves easy to use. That said, the instrument cluster has poor graphic hierarchy, making it hard to discern what to look at first, as everything has the same visual weight. Meanwhile, the 10-speaker Bose audio system is typical of the brand – all highs and lows.

Front seats are large and comfortable, with an ideal seating position. There’s good interior space in both rows, although predictably the second row has a low cushion, making it better for tikes. Front bucket seats have decent back bolstering but a very flat seat bottom cushion. Nissan has done a good job of ensuring every comfort and convenience feature is accounted for, including massaging seats, quilted leather, rear seat sunshades and a panoramic sunroof.

Under the hood resides Nissan’s variable-compression turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and a nine-speed automatic transmission generating 241 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, an increase of 20 pound-feet compared to the outgoing Murano. Opting for the base SV grade nets a choice of front-wheel or all-wheel drive. Mid-level SL and top-of-the-line Platinum models come solely with all-wheel drive.

Nissan is proud of this powerplant’s complicated engineering. Yet it’s not nearly as good as a well-designed conventional gas engine or gas-electric hybrid. The engine buzzes unpleasantly when pressed and shows some turbo lag, which proves to be a constant companion, even during modest, gentle requests for power. The transmission seems engineered for comfortable shifts and fuel efficiency, even in Sport mode, so there’s little thrill to be had. Shifting manually reveals the engine to have some true potency that’s strangled by the need for fuel efficiency. And while the four-cylinder engine possesses complicated engineering to return superior fuel efficiency, which it noticeably lacks. My initial test drive resulted in just 21.4 mpg in mixed suburban/highway driving – not a great showing.

Body lean comes on quickly in corners, enough to convince you that this is a vehicle made for comfort and modest cruising. There’s little here to incite you to seek out that twisty, curving country road.

The 2025 Nissan Murano is lovely to behold. It’s a cruiser, not a bruiser; an aesthetically pleasing two-row crossover for those whose idea of automotive art is how it looks. How it drives doesn’t matter.

2025 Nissan Murano

 

Base price: $40,470-$49,600

Engine: 2.0-liter variable compression turbocharged four-cylinder

Horsepower/Torque: 241/260 pound-feet

EPA rating (combined city/highway): 23 mpg

Fuel required: Regular

Length/Width/Height: 193/78/68 inches

Ground clearance: 8.3 inches

Payload: 1,407-1,162 pounds

Cargo capacity: 33-64 cubic feet

Towing capacity: 1,500 pounds


©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

 

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