Autoblog

To go with its newly trimmed styling, Nissan has treated the Murano's price to a nip and tuck, too. The 2009 model has had $1500 removed from the MSRP across all trim levels, and a new dual panel moonroof makes the options list along with three new exterior colors. Inside, the seats and instrument panel have been redesigned to improve the atmosphere. Among the multitude of luxury and convenience options, a hard-drive equipped Bose Music Box stereo is available if you opt for the navigation system.

The Murano now rides on the new D platform that underpins the Altima, and the mighty VQ serves up 265 horsepower from its 3.5 liters, a 25 pony increase. The sole transmission is the XTronic CVT, sending torque to either the front wheels, or through all four. The revised platform is solid and sure-footed in our experience with recent Altimas. An S FWD model will buy you entry to the Murano club for $26,330. AWD bumps the price to 27,930, and you can keep adding stuff until you've got the pretty much loaded LE AWD, which starts at $35,910. It's still a Murano, with all of the polarizing style that comes with the name. You might end up with a "tastes great, less filling" type of argument when talking with owners of the original Murano, but this one sweetens the pot with a lot of revisions and a better chassis, new fascia haters be damned. Press release after the jump.

[Source: Nissan]

Gallery: 2009 Nissan Murano

At the prodding of Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Co. is relenting and giving its customers what they want. At least most of them. What Ford's up to is reducing the number of options for buyers to choose from and rolling all that goodness into the standard package. By reducing the number of possible variations on the general theme, production costs decrease. With fewer configurations, things move more smoothly at the assembly level, and engineering and management costs decrease, as well. The effort has already kicked off, and it will snowball from model to model, making it easier for customers to get what they want, and increasing the odds that dealers will have the cars customers want on their lots. The simplification effort is a step that can be enacted quickly; a lot faster than bringing over a platform from somewhere else. It's all part of an effort to chip away at the losses and return black ink to the ledger. More stuff, packaged the way we like it? Sounds like a win.

[Source: Auto News - sub req.]

"Accidents happen." It's the oft-quoted mantra of anyone who spends time behind the wheel. Sooner or later, you'll witness or partake in a vehicular mishap. The Japan Automobile Research Institute aims to take a less stoic attitude about accidents and have set up a model street to evaluate accident prevention systems and practices.

The model street, which is larger than three football fields, includes straight and curved sections and will offer Institute researchers better insight into the conditions that cause accidents. We can't speak for what causes fender benders in Japan, but in the US, the number one cause has got to be drivers with absolutely no training paying limited attention to the task at hand. Who can blame them? The allure of text messaging is so much more enticing than piloting a 3500-pound projectile rendered in metal, composite and glass. Familiarize yourself with good car-brandishing skills and then observe the idiots that surround you. There's no institute needed to discern that inattention and ineptitude often play roles, but there are often plenty of other factors. That's what the model street has been developed to study. Here's to safer travels for drivers and pedestrians alike -- and let's hope they export the stuff that actually works at reducing incidents.

[Source: MSN - Mainichi]

Excess weight is the enemy of every automobile. Extra pounds will make a car slower at the top end, more sluggish off the line, wobblier in the corners, more lethargic under braking, guzzle more gas and expel more toxic fumes...among other problems. It can render an otherwise great car imperfect. Case in point: the US-bound Italian beauty, the Alfa Romeo 159.

The 159 is, as we've said time and time again, one of – if not the – most beautiful sedans on the market. Unfortunately its performance has not been quite up to par with its drop-dead gorgeous looks. And the more powerful V6-powered all-wheel-drive Q4 version only adds another 200kg to the problem. But Alfa's working on it, announcing a two-stage weight-loss program for the 159. The first stage will take some extra pounds off the body, chassis and suspension using lightweight construction materials such as aluminum. The second stage will be marked in 2008 with the introduction of a new lightweight five-cylinder turbodiesel.

Of course the same problems plague the 159's sisters, the Brera and Spider, but while the lightweight diesel is almost certain to find its way into the shapely two-doors, there's no word yet on whether the first stage weight loss will hit them, too. Now, nobody wanted to resort to taking the 159 off of pasta and pizza, so next time, Alfa, just watch the weight from the start, alright?

[Source: Motor Authority]