Autoblog

click above for more images from our first drive of the 2009 Nissan Murano

Nissan's original Murano was a successful and difficult act to follow. The elder statesman of crossover utility vehicles saw its sales increase every year since it was introduced in 2003, but with the segment going from crowded to standing room only, Nissan realized changes were needed to compete.

"Murano-ness" – that's what Jarrad Haslam, Nissan's product planner for crossovers, said the company insisted be preserved in the new version. Nissan invited us to Atlanta to sample this almost-totally-new Murano for 2009. You'll recognize the distinctive rounded nose, sharply-raked windshield, the side glass kicked up over the rear fender, a smallish rear hatch window topped by a sliver of a spoiler, and a lower rear bumper accentuated by dual exhaust outlets. But put the 2007 and 2009 (the Murano sat out the 2008 model year) side by side, and the differences become evident.

Continue reading about our first drive of the 2009 Nissan Murano after the jump.




Live Photos Copyright ©2008 Chris Tutor / Weblogs, Inc.

Click image for photo gallery

Ahead of its planned LA Auto Show debut, Nissan's 2009 Murano is doing the sneak preview thing courtesy of the NICOclub forums where these pics originated. They've since been posted on GM Inside News and FreshAlloy.com, as well. Clearly not wanting to mess with success, the CUV's general overall shape, as well as that of its side glass, is fundamentally the same. The '09 gets more muscular, Rogue-ish wheel flares, taillamps that extend into the rear hatch, and a new front end that makes silver Muranos look kinda like the updated Cylon centurions from Battlestar Galactica. We don't get a good view of the passenger cabin, other than to see a panoramic roof is obviously an option. Hopefully the current car's chintzy-looking gauge cluster got flushed in the revamp, too.

[Source: NICOclub.com]