Nissan to debut high-powered Murano and 350Z concepts
Performance is the name of the game at the U.K.'s midsummer speedfest - the aptly named Goodwood Festival of Speed - and Nissan is showing up with power to spare. The company not only plans to demo the 2004 Japanese SuperGT championship-winning 350Z (shown above) on Lord March's driveway, but also will unveil two concept cars for the power-hungry, a turbocharged Murano and a supercharged 350Z.
The Murano GT-C has been developed by Nissan Great Britain, in partnership with the Nissan European Technical Center, and features a turbocharged version of the V6 powerplant good for around 350 hp, 100 hp more than the standard engine. The GT-C also gets an upgrade to 22-inch wheels, and a roof-mounted spoiler.
The supercharged 350Z GT-S concept goes from the standard 296 hp to an impressive 380 hp, and gets an uprated suspension and brakes to go with the extra power.
Nissan promises limited production runs of both "concepts" if the cars are well-received. The two cars will be on display at Goodwood and later in July at the British Motor Show.
[Source: What Car? Photo: Nissan]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Juan 6:40PM (6/08/2006)
Are they promising "limited production runs" in the US? They both sound pretty sweet. The Murano is the only soft-roader SUV I'd ever consider buying, and a 100 extra horsepower is icing on the cake.
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Tim UF 6:54PM (6/08/2006)
why would they bother trying to develop a turbo VQ for the murano? they have the architecture lying around to drop a v8 into it already.... (FX45 anyone?)
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Ry 7:18PM (6/08/2006)
Tim UF, the Murano shares it's architecture with the FWD Altima, Maxima, Teana, Quest, etc. The FX shares it's architecture with the 350Z, Infiniti G, M.
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Dokebi 7:23PM (6/08/2006)
Murano is a FWD (transverse layout)based vehicle... on the Maxima/Altima/Quest platform... the VK45DE (Q45/M45/FX45) engine is a RWD engine (longitude layout)... I'm not saying it can't be done, but that's a lot of R&D time and money!
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Steve S 8:12PM (6/08/2006)
Sounds good except I really doubt the CVT would handle that much HP for an extended period of time. And at 5-6k a pop to replace that would be worrisome.
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Myspace Layouts 8:13PM (6/08/2006)
they should just drop in the vq35dett that they have planned for the 2007 skyline
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doglet 8:45PM (6/08/2006)
the 350 is showing its age compared to its competition. with a redesign years away, they need a high power package to remain a factor till then.
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Tim UF 8:58PM (6/08/2006)
[taking my foot out of my mouth]
for some reason i assumed the murano and fx were more closely related, i guess it has to do with their proportions... thats what i get for not doing my homework there.
how long til a real performance model is released with a CVT?
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spdracerut 12:05AM (6/09/2006)
I'd be surprised if they kept the CVT in the Murano with that much power and torque. The downfall of the CVT has always been its torque capacity and it was a breakthrough for Nissan to get it to handle the torque of the stock VQ35. Maybe an auto swapped in from a Maxima?
I doubt the 'limited' run of cars will make it to the US. Much like how the EVO FQ-400 is England only, or the English only versions of the STI.
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Ry 12:13AM (6/09/2006)
I'd imagine Nissan using a 5-speed auto with overdrive.
Tim UF, don't worry. It's a common misconception for people to think that the FX is just a rebadged Murano. Dealers don't even get that tidbit correct.
doglet is right. The 350Z is getting stale. It needs a power boost.
But with the Nissan brand getting the GT-R (instead of Infiniti), how much better can they make the Z car without stepping on the toes of the new GT-R? :)
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source1 7:56AM (6/09/2006)
Yeah and I heard it burns oil!
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MikeW 9:19AM (6/09/2006)
More power will not help the murano.
A 6 speed automatic and 270hp VQ40 would be nice, so would actual four wheel drive, front differential, center differential, rear differential.
That huge blind spot has got to go, so does the horrible vehicle lighting.
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pavster 11:22AM (6/09/2006)
Instead of pushing more power into the Z, they should focus on dropping weight. 3400+ lbs 2 seat sports car is an oxymoron.
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C 12:53PM (6/09/2006)
Pavster, you beat me to it. How about a 3000-lb 2-seat hatchback with 250 HP, and decent fuel economy?
The goal being a car more nimble than a 350Z, AND more efficient than an RX-8. Can't lose!
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Fabulo 12:55PM (6/09/2006)
"...The downfall of the CVT has always been its torque capacity and it was a breakthrough for Nissan to get it to handle the torque of the stock VQ35"
The breakthrough comes from the electronic nannies: using drive by wire throttle allows the PCM to modulate (read: restrain the enthousiasm) of the right foot planted on the floor. You get smooth delivery no-matter-what. The computer knows better (it actually does) (and yes, I drive one of those regularely)
Since manufacturers publish their power/torque number menured at the crank, they can do whatever they want between the crank and the wheels.
A quicker Murano is one with another transmission. A turbo VQ would be wicked cool.
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Joey 1:22PM (6/11/2006)
The RX-8 isn't very efficient, rotaries don't combust everything very well and push excess outta the exhaust. What is the Z's competition thatmakes it slow? Out of the box the car as is still beats Porsche Boxters, RX-8's, S2000's and shows its real power on a road course.
A boost of power couldnt hurt, but doubt it will be here, the GTR is too close, you can't have 2 supercars putting a marginally close amount of power, Nissan would be shooting itself in the foot.
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autonews 2:16PM (7/20/2006)
One of the best looking for Nissan.
Great designers !
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