Video: 2025 Nissan Murano Review: The Trendsetter Is Back

There's a lot to talk about with the new Murano, so let's get into it. We don't often talk about style when we do our reviews at cars.com because style is subjective, and what might look good to me might not look good to you. But I have to talk about style with this one because the Murano has always been about style, and they have really upped their game in terms of the styling of the new '25 Murano. I think it looks fantastic, and it really does start upfront here. Gone is the whole Nissan Vmotion grille that they used to talk about, and instead we have a much more horizontal look to everything. Now the lights down here are LED running lights. The lights up here are actual slim projectors instead. They don't have them low in the front end like some automakers do. They're actually fairly high, and they look fantastic. Down the side of the vehicle, you've got 21-inch wheels on this platinum model, but 20-inch wheels are standard on the SV, the entry-level model. You've also got a beautiful character line that starts at the front fender, goes all the way down the body side to some really muscular haunches. The overall look of this vehicle is fantastic. They've done an outstanding job at updating the style, but it's not just the exterior that looks good. It's the interior that looks fantastic as well. As good as this exterior looks, look at what it looks like inside, especially in this two-tone upholstery that's got all of this quilted stitching. The seats are covered in really nice semi-aniline leather that is standard on the platinum model. Now there are three trim levels to choose from, the base SV, the mid-level SL, and this, the premium version that is called the platinum. There are no options for the Murano. There's no packages. It's all basically baked into one of these three trim levels. So depending on what content you want, that's gonna be the trim level you get. But it's not just about how the new Murano feels. It's also about how it drives. Not only did they change the outside of the new Murano. They've changed both the inside and what's under the hood. Gone is the old V6 engine, and in its place is a new two-liter variable-compression turbocharged four-cylinder making 241 horsepower and 260 pounds feet of torque. There's also no more continuously variable transmission, hallelujah. It's now a nine-speed automatic transmission, and it's a front-wheel drive vehicle, but all-wheel drive is present on both the SL and platinum trims. You can get all-wheel drive as an option on the base SV trim. They've also replaced the steering. It's now completely electric power steering, and all of it actually works together quite well. The engine itself is plenty torquey. 260 pounds feet is enough to get this thing moving without a problem. And if you put it into sport mode instead of just the regular standard mode, it is really responsive. It keeps things on boil. It keeps the revs high. And as you're dashing through some of these twisty, curvy lanes here in suburban Nashville, it really does help to keep this thing in an active sporty mode. It really is entertaining to drive. The steering feel is really quite excellent. I've driven electric power steering stuff before. that feels like you're driving a video game, and they've really done a good job at tuning this thing to give you the right amount of feedback but not so much that you think you're driving a sports car. Nissan has specifically stated that they're kind of aiming the Murano at an older, more affluent buyer, so folks that are maybe in their late 40s, late 50s. They've got maybe kids and grandkids, and this is more of a style statement than your typical family crossover SUV. And it doesn't have the same kind of space inside that you would see in competitors like the Chevrolet Blazer or the Honda Passport. It's a little bit more confined, a little bit more cockpit-like in here. The interior will look familiar to anybody who happened to have recently been in a Nissan ARIYA electric vehicle because there's a lot of very similar elements in here. It's not identical. It is a different interior than the ARIYA, but there are some similar elements like this capacitive touch climate control system here that's kind of built into the fake wood trim that they have down here. (laughs) Nothing says that this is actually fake wood trim quite like the fact that it has capacitive-touch lit LED areas in it to convince you that, no, it's really not real wood. But it still looks good. It works all right. We do prefer buttons, and it's kind of strange that, you know, having just driven the new Nissan Armada and them specifically stating that they were keeping buttons for things you use frequently like climate control, to now see this in the Murano, they've gone to capacitive touch stuff for this, eh, it's a little bit of a confusing message on Nissan's part. The rest of this interior, however, is really quite beautiful. This one is the platinum model. This is the top trim. There are no options in the Murano lineup. There are only three trims, and depending on what content you want, you get one of those three trims. This one is fully loaded, so it's got pretty much everything. It includes things like a heads-up display and heated and massaging and ventilated front seats. You've also got in every Murano this dual 12.3-inch screen setup. It is nice and bright and easy to use. It does use Google built-in for its multimedia systems, so it's not as bad as I've seen in some other Google-equipped vehicles. This still has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so it's really not gonna be a problem for familiarity. It's also one of the easier-to-use systems that I've encountered. There's nothing terribly complicated about the Nissan system. A lot of stuff is a little bit buried in menus, but it's not really all that hard to find what you want and to make things happen. Visibility is really pretty good, but I do notice that this is a very high dash and high sill vehicle. So even though I'm sitting up a little bit, I've actually got my seat raised. I still feel like I'm kind of sitting in a tub that there's a lot of hood in front of me that's almost pretty much at chest level. So despite the fact that the new Murano is taller and sits a little bit higher and is significantly wider, you don't feel you're sitting on top of it. You do feel like you're sitting down in it. The whole zero-gravity seat thing is also something they keep trying to sell us. The front seats are plenty comfortable and perfectly adjustable. The back seats, however, are a little bit more compromised. Having sat in one at an auto show a little while ago, I thought that the rear bench was really quite firm, and it is really quite firm. It's also very low. So you're sitting in the backseat. Your knees are kind of high. The seat cushion is angled in such a way that it's very low, and it's very, very firm. So again, this being more of a lifestyle crossover instead of a, you know, family grocery-getter crossover, that's not necessarily as important. The backseat might not be getting as much use as it would in, say, a Nissan Rogue that's got a large family attached to it. For anything more than just crosstown jaunts or trips out to dinner, you're not gonna want people in the backseat for terribly long. Cargo room is still more than adequate. You've got plenty of room behind the back seats, and the back seats do fold down to extend that, of course. You don't have terribly much leg room in the second row. It does feel a little bit cramped back there in terms of leg room. Plenty up front though. There's lots of space up here. It is very comfortable. The material quality is excellent. Not terribly enamored with the push-button shifter or the touch-sensitive climate controls, but they are at least large, and you can easily activate them when you need to. There are a couple of things that are absent in this $50,000 version of the Nissan Murano, being the platinum trim level. It doesn't have their latest and greatest hands-free cruise control, Nissan's ProPILOT 2.1. I thought it might have something like that, but it's not present here. It doesn't have a rear-view camera mirror either, which is a really unusual omission given that rear-view camera mirrors are becoming fairly common. And the rear visibility isn't stellar given that the styling of the Murano creates a very narrow rear window. So it's a little bit difficult to see out of. And if you've got a couple of people back there, it's gonna be even more difficult to see out of. The overall experience of the Murano is that it's very pleasant to drive. Those are zebras I think. What? Zebras. and there's like a phone. Right, those are zebras I think. What? Zebras. Oh, and there's like... Those were zebras. The overall experience of the Murano (laughs) is actually very pleasant to drive. It's a luxurious, really premium-feeling product. It's got more than enough power. It handles well. It breaks well. It rides well. It's relatively quiet, even under full throttle. You've got a lot of active noise cancellation through the speakers that does cut out some of the more undesirable noises but actually does then pipe in some artificial powertrain noises. So it's gonna be targeting people who are looking for something a little bit more premium, a little bit less family. They're gonna draw them in with the way the thing looks, and I think they're gonna pretty much win 'em over with the way it drives and the way it operates. So it's got style. It's got performance. It's got comfort. It's got pretty much a lot of the things that people are looking for in a specifically stylish crossover SUV. And it goes on sale in December of 2024 at Nissan dealers across the country. It's gonna start at about $42,000 for a base model SV trim. Now that's including dealer destination fee, and it's gonna range up to about $52,000 for a fully loaded platinum version. Now if you'd like to find a new '25 Murano near you or learn more about the new '25 Murano, you can look everything up at cars.com/news.