Nissan's Best-Selling Truck

Thanks to its fuel performance, bold looks, and a zippy engine, the Murano now outsells both the Pathfinder and Titan

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Pep, handling, quirky styling

The Bad: No third row seats, quirky styling, relatively high price

The Bottom Line: A fun-to-drive crossover vehicle; ideal for young families

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

The Nissan Murano is a pioneering crossover vehicle that's getting a big boost from gas-price jitters and shifting consumer priorities. In a down year for both Nissan (NSANY) and SUVs in general, the distinctively styled (some would say funny-looking) midsize sport-utility-vehicle saw its sales rise 9.6%, to 81,362, in 2006. Amazingly, the Murano passed the venerable Pathfinder and the Titan pickup to become Nissan's top-selling truck in the U.S. market last year.

Why is the Murano so popular? It hasn't changed all that much over the years, even though it got a modest facelift in '06. But it's still one of the best-handling SUVs on the road. And its unusual styling—the bulging lower body, highly sculpted rear door and toothy front grill—has become more acceptable to middle-American buyers as it has become more mainstream. These days, there are even odder-looking SUVs on the road, such as the Mazda CX-7.

The Murano isn't practical for people with big families or heavy-duty car-pooling responsibilities because it doesn't have the third-row seating available in SUVs such as the Acura MDX, the BMX X5, the Toyota (TM) Highlander and Hyundai Santa Fe. But it's ideal for people who are starting a family—and want a fun-to-drive vehicle that doesn't look like every other boxy SUV in the parking lot.

The Murano is bigger than it looks, for one thing. At 187.6 inches, it's the same overall length as the Honda (HMC) Pilot and three inches longer than the Highlander.

It comes in three trim levels. The cheapest version, the Murano S, starts at $28,400 with front-wheel drive and $30,000 with all-wheel drive. The S has relatively few available options, but comes standard with power windows, remote keyless entry, tire pressure monitors, and 18-inch alloy wheels.

The next level up is the SL, which starts at $29,950 with front-wheel drive and $31,550 with all-wheel drive, and comes with a 10-way adjustable power driver's seat, a better audio system with steering-wheel mounted controls, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and some extra chrome and aluminum exterior trim. You also can get all the usual options on the SL, including leather seats ($2,750), a sunroof ($2,650), a navigation system ($1,800), a DVD entertainment system ($1,720), chrome wheels ($1,200), and stability and traction control ($750).

The SE only comes with all-wheel drive and starts at $32,500. It has the same array of options as the SL, but comes standard with a sport-tuned suspension, a manual-shifting mode on the automatic transmission, and high intensity discharge (HID) headlights.

The typical buyer? The Murano is unusually popular with women, who account for 46.5% of all purchases, according to the Power Information Network, vs. 43.3% for the Highlander and just 38.3% for Honda's Pilot. At 45 years of age, the average Murano buyer is also younger than the buyer of most of its main competitors. The exception is the Pilot, whose average buyer is only 44, according to Power (like BusinessWeek, the Power Information Network is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP).)