Test drive Nissan Murano 2003 - 2007 SUV
Nissan Murano is a Japanese American
I came across Nissan Murano four times, evaluating it in different ways. The first meeting occurred on the road, and in surprise, I almost got into an accident - what an amazing car! The second time was lucky to be driving, and it was very disappointed me very much - I expected that the car was driving as great as it looks. But for the third and fourth time, when Murano managed to travel for a long time, my opinion changed again. Still, Nissan Murano is a cool car ...The Americans can only be envied: not only do they live, like Christ for the bosom, but the cars also receive almost the best. After all, how- we have to choose between 1.4- or 1.8-liter, and the 2.8 motor already seems to be a great overkill. And they have either 3.8 liters on six cylinders, or immediately a V-shaped eight with a volume of five liters. And, of course, leather, electric drives, air conditioning ...
Nissan Murano is the most American car. Despite the fact that it is produced in Japan and does not bear the stigma of the famous Japanese automotive company, the main market for which it was designed - the United States. It does not officially enter the European market, as well as to the markets of the CIS countries. But in some countries, especially in neighboring Russia, customers are so interested in exclusive and simply unusual cars that almost any model from any market can be delivered there with numerous gray dealers. Nissan Murano, of course, as an extremely unusual and extremely interesting car, instantly ended up among the bestsellers of the gray market.
We, more precisely, are those of the Belarusians who can afford such a car were in a slightly more priority position than wealthy Russians. No, the Japanese did not start the official supplies of Murano in the Republic of Belarus - talking about possible certification for the European region is still underway. But the Belarusian dealers of the Nissan brand, in particular, the company Yukola-Service supplies the Nissan Murano here not just in gray, but with an annual dealer guarantee!
The tongue does not turn to call Nissan Murano a parquet SUV, because at first glance it is clear that this is a pure crossover. A passenger platform, completely passenger suspensions and controllability at the level of a good sedan - this is what a crossover from Nissan is. By the way, the platform for this model was sacrificed by Nissan Skyline itself! If anyone does not know, then this cult model, produced in the rear and all-wheel drive options, has such weight in their homeland that all BMW series M, combined, can only envy. Skyline is equipped, by the way, in an in -line six, so the comparison with the BMW is quite correct here.
However, looking at the Nissan Murano, in life you can’t say that the athletic compartment could serve as the basis for him - rather, you might think that the platform was borrowed from the minivan. This sloping hood, a highly tilted windshield, a large area of \u200b\u200bglazing - all this resembles functional family models. In principle, Murano is this - this is for us a prestigious crossover, and in the States he is prepared for the role of a car of housewives.
After expensive European models, Murano simply amazes with its functionality. It would seem that with such a design it would still be bought, but no - Japanese engineers still endowed the model with many useful functions. We will not tell about the glove compartment, pockets in the doors and the cup holders - and so it is clear that there will be a lot of them in the car for the American market. But adjusting the pedal node is already a trick. The button on the sidewall of the driver's seat allows you to move or push the pedal node with the help of an electric drive, which allows you to feel equally conveniently at the wheel and a huge dark -skinned basketball player and a fragile pensioner.
True, everything else, except for a driver’s chair, hatch, side glasses and mirrors, has no electrical regulations - for example, the front right chair has to be moved independently. And the steering column, which has a very specific height adjustment, is not equipped with an electric drive - a typically American approach. Just do not take this for a remark - much of the American, often ridiculed by journalists, is actually very convenient. For example, the mechanism of folding the rear seats on Murano is typically American. If in European models to complete or partial folding of the rear sofa, it is necessary to open the side door and manipulate directly with the chair, then in the Americans everything is much easier. If something does not fit into the trunk, you just just pull the handle on the side wall of the trunk - the seat will throw forward itself. And since it develops in parts, there are two such handles in the trunk - for the right and left half of the seat, respectively.
Another very useful function is the memory in which you can enter data on the mutual arrangement of mirrors, seats and a pedal node and remember them for three drivers. He sat down, pressed the button, and the car remembered your settings - you can immediately go and not waste time adjusting.
The Nissan Murano lineup includes only one option. The machine is equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline V6 with four valves per cylinder, which is combined with a vanity CVT variator. You are not surprised that the body option is also only one? Five -door station wagon ...
It is a pity that a mechanical transmission is not installed on Murano - that would be a machine! The dynamics, given the high degree of energy supply of the car, would have shocked the drivers of sports sedanov. If with the variator the first hundred is reached in 7.8 seconds, then with the mechanics the machine would become a worthy opponent of the BMW-540ia. But 7.8 seconds are a very worthy result, so you do not have to complain about the slogan slowness.
The only disadvantage of the variator, if this can be called a disadvantage, is its very specific way to transmit torque. The power is transmitted not stepped, as in machine guns or mechanical transmissions, but smoothly and continuously. For the smoothness of the course, the dynamics of acceleration and the resource of the power unit, this is a big plus - there are no jerks during switching, as well as shock loads associated with the change of gear ratio, etc. You put the transmission control lever in position D, click on the gas, and the machine accelerates to maximum speed without a single jerk. No failures or decrease in the intensity of acceleration associated with a disadvantageous transmission attitude, while there is no - electronics that controls the variator, he selects the most convenient mode of operation. At the same time, the power to the drive wheels is transmitted constantly, without the slightest break.
What is bad here? - you ask. Yes, in fact, there is nothing bad or even negative in this - this method of transmitting torque is one of the most convenient and effective. But due to the features of the work of the driver, the driver does not have a feeling of crazy dynamics at all (although Murano drives very quickly). Too uniform acceleration, and even this monotonous sound of the engine in the root kill the feeling of a drive connected not so much with the sensations of the vestibular apparatus, but with the acoustic accompaniment of this process. On an ordinary powerful car, acceleration, at least to 100 km/h, is very intensively, and the driver feels it. He is squeezed into the back of the seat, the engine with a frantic roar is spinning to a speed limiter, transmission changes - in general, in all these parameters you can track how quickly the car is accelerated. And with the variator? The car accelerates, but you seem to have nothing to do with it - just slowly crawls up the speedometer arrow and passing cars lag behind. In general, the variator is not for racers.
Moreover, the active driving of cars with such a type of transmission, as practice shows, does not at all help increase their reliability and resource. As well as for an automatic transmission, limit modes with intense accelerations are not recommended for the variator. You need to remember this ...
In addition to the variator, there is absolutely nothing original in the Murano transmission - the same or approximately the same scheme is used by most competitors. In normal traffic modes, the front axle is-it is transmitted to it by means of the unavailable CVT variator from a 3.5-liter 245-horsepower engine. A cardan gear stretches from the variator to the rear axle, which, using a multi -disc clver, which is blocked with the differential of the rear axle, can transmit torque to the rear wheels. Connecting the rear axle occurs automatically, as soon as the front wheels begin to slip - the coupling is blocked, and the car literally half a second is turned from a monotive into an all -wheel drive.
The second stage of the evolution of all -wheel drive transmissions of this kind is the possibility of forced blocking of a multi -disc clutch connecting the rear axle. This turns Murano into a serious crook - in fact, in this mode, the machine is no different from an SUV with a blocked central differential. And this means that both in deep snow, and even with diagonal hanging the wheels on Nissan, you can safely leave the trap and continue the trip. This option is especially relevant when driving on a snow -covered road or on the beach, when the slightest slipping helps to instill a car. The rigid distribution of torque between the axes in a ratio of 50/50 contributes to the more stable behavior of the car in difficult conditions.
Simultaneously with the pressing of the AWD Lock key, it would be nice at the same time to transfer the variator control lever to position L - this also somewhat contributes to a certain improvement in patency. At first, we thought that Elka includes a reduced transmission mode, like SUVs, but it turned out that she simply holds the conditional first gear. We call it conditional because there are no programs (in the usual sense of the word) in the variator, as you know,. The diameter of the leading and led pulleys does not change stepped, but smoothly, respectively, there can be no programs. But if you write a special program in any of the provisions in any of the provisions in any of the provisions in any of the provisions. One of these provisions is recorded in the program of the La mode, and the servo is simply captured by the position of the pulleys and does not allow them to change the gear ratio. From here it turns out the conditional first gear - the car rides as if the first step is turned on in the mechanics, and before moving to another mode of operation it does not switch upward.
On off -road or simply in difficult conditions it is very convenient - even if the engine operates at almost maximum speeds, the car will not accelerate above the given mode. And the discharge of gas, unlike other modes, Elka always responds with intense slowdown, it is quite effective by the engine.
But even by turning on the compulsory blocking of the coupling and using the L in the variator, do not forget that Nissan Murano is not even a SUV, but a real crossover. That is, an all -wheel drive passenger car with enlarged road clearance. And if at first there were at least some signs of an off-road car, then crossovers did not even try to climb where they were not supposed to go.
We were convinced of this, trying to travel to Murano in deep snow. No, the car was quite confidently plowing the snow -covered clearing and did not even express its discontent about the fragmented soil under the deep layer of snow. And with the locking of the coupling, and without blocking Murano, he felt quite confident on this coating. But when we went to the asphalt, it turned out that the bottom cover of the variator, made in the form of a small radiator, was clogged with snow. And this means that with an active driving manner, in just a few minutes it was possible to cause overheating of the variator. Which, of course, would not add health to him.
This is a car for the American market - I repeated to myself, like a spell, when I experienced Murano on a closed area. And this helped, because many of the nuances of the behavior of this car could be explained only by which market this car was designed. The combination of all-wheel drive and a 3.5-liter 245-horsepower six-cylinder engine, even if closed by the presence of the variator, promised a very serious dynamics. And, as a result, adequate for such a power settings power - after all, the car drives not only in a straight line. But it turned out that American cars, as well as most of those models that are designed for this market, are built specifically for high -speed shifts in a straight line. Turns, one must think, the Americans are not worried ...
On the straight line, Nissan Murano behaves quite adequately - it can be praised for good smoothness and accurately following the trajectory in a speedy turn. The car does not fall to one side, like most SUV, and at the same time does not portray a large GTI with hard suspensions - we would appreciate the smoothness at 4+. And this despite the fact that this car is equipped with a sports suspension that is included in the list of options!
The steering in such modes also does not cause discontent - the steering wheel is slightly empty, but this does not interfere with control of the trajectory of movement. Problems begin with speed maneuvering at relatively low speed - here Murano clearly demonstrates for whom and for what it was created. At first, I did not believe that the steering wheel, when fasting, could bite like that - the hydraulic power steering resists so powerfully that to fight it has to spend a lot of effort. An elementary exercise - rearrangement - turns into a fight against the inertial effect of a hydraulic wrap, which really does not want to rotate the steering wheel so quickly.
And the brakes match the hydraulic mission - the soft and supple pedal does not give any information or Tom whether the wheels were blocked or not - this can only be found out by the characteristic cod ABS. Although it should be noted that for emergency braking, such a tuning of the brake system is even preferable - even a fragile woman can use the brakes 100%.
What can I say about the magnificent Nissan Murano? The car, despite the pro -American orientation, was really magnificent. It is damn beautiful outwardly, very convenient to use, and it is packaged just to the maximum. So the option for buying is very interesting. N
about if you approach the assessment of this car more fundamentally, then completely different layouts will begin. And the quality of finishing materials in the interior may not be liked by all potential customers, and external design can also cause rejection in a person with a delicate taste. Not everyone wants to ride a blood-honey-honey concept!
And if Murano converges in a comparative test with parquet -class luminaries, especially with BMW X5, then it is unlikely that the victory will be behind it. After all, behind Nissan, only a spectacular appearance and attractive price, and behind the bimer - amazing handling, cool design, and excellent running qualities, and the prestige of the famous brand. But right now, when European classmates were almost a quarter more expensive than Americans, Nissan Murano has every chance of becoming one of the most popular cars of his class. Moreover, in addition to the spectacular external design, a powerful motor and a Murano transmission convenient in using the transmission has many more advantages ...
Pavel Kozlovsky
