MURANO CrossCabriolet™ Coupe
– ROOM FOR FOUR WITH A VIEW
Nissan continues to impress with its innovation and out of the box thinking on new products while also making existing products more interesting and desirable for the consumer. Their latest, just coming to market, is an industry first true cabriolet coupe based on the very successful Murano LE all wheel drive (AWD). Admittedly, this concept will have some limited market appeal, but building it on the popular and proven Murano LE AWD platform with some modifications and engineering tweaks (not the least of which is making the four door cross over a two door coupe with a soft top) is a stroke of market brilliance by Nissan.
Normally I would spend the balance of this review talking about my experience with the usual subjects and performance of the Murano CrossCabriolet™ (suffice it to say it is every bit as good as you would expect from Nissan). But this driving experience was so extraordinary; I thought I would tell you what consumers told me as they saw the CrossCabriolet for the first time, up close and personal.
The test unit we had was in Sunset Bronze with Cashmere leather interior trimmed in light wood grain. It was drop dead gorgeous and it got lots of “looks” top up and more so, top down. This was our first “ride and drive” in over 7 years where everywhere we went, people stopped us and asked to look at this remarkable vehicle usually starting with a comment like “wow, what is that?”
Comments and questions came at stop lights, grocery store parking lots, restaurants, wineries and shopping mall drives as well as on the roads. Hill Country in Central Texas liked this car. People of all ages stopped to take pictures (some snapping as they drove by) with high interest from young people who quickly sent the pictures to their Facebook or tweeted their friends after we told them it was a 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet™.
Nissan planned that their target market for the Murano CrossCabriolet™ was going to be mostly women and those generally of “means”. Our interactions with interested consumers confirmed that based on those we talked to. The Murano CrossCabriolet™ is said to “start at $46,390” per the current Nissan website. Looking at pricing for a Murano LE AWD with added extras found on this test car showed the Murano LE AWD to be about $43,060 similarly equipped or about a $3,300 premium for the CrossCabriolet™. The women who approached us were clustered in two groups that I would describe as one being mothers mid 20’s to mid or later 30’s with small children and the second being women in their 40’s to 60’s. Price for both groups did not present a problem. The fact that it was a full four person convertible (excuse me CrossCabriolet™) and easy to get in and out of (excellent one button moving passenger seat for entry to back seats) appealed to both groups. They told us that other manufacturers convertibles they perceived as similarly equipped and of interest were at price points much higher than the CrossCabriolet™.
The mothers liked the high sides, reinforcement of the body and innovative pop up roll bar behind each seat. They told us that they felt this was terrific opportunity for them to have a family convertible safe for the children and fun for the adults all in one. For the more mature women, they added comments about the top up roofline being good especially with the added glass skylight in the rear, the one button quick and efficient opening and closing of the top, ability to hold four adults very comfortably and include luggage and golf clubs in the trunk (even with the top down). The high sight lines provided by modifying the Murano SUV and equipping it with 20 inch split spoke Titanium finish aluminum alloy wheels makes the CrossCabriolet™ an easy drive as well.
Did I mention colors? Some really cool colors that appeal to both men and women are available. The Sunset Bronze, Glacier Pearl and Caribbean (hint: color of Carribbean ocean in a quiet island cove) are hot for the ladies while the guys will have to settle for Super Black, Platinum, Graphite and Merlot.
Just in case you think only women asked about the CrossCabriolet™, about 30% of those who asked to see it up close were men of all age groups. The Murano as an SUV (particularly at the LE AWD trim level) is well known to them and the opportunity to own it as a unique cabriolet convertible at the same time was very appealing to this group.
We won’t list all of the features found on the CrossCabriolet™ but rather tell you to go to the Nissan website and look at the Murano LE Features and Specifications listing. The CrossCabriolet™ is option loaded similarly to a very premium level from features to trim, to functionality to comfort and to value with some unique extras. A couple of those being a auto adjusting sound system and a button for enhanced air conditioning cool air flow from top of vents when the top is down.
The only down side we noted (it came up in questions) was maybe fuel economy. The CrossCabriolet is powered by the venerable 3.5L 265 hp V6 mated to the Xtronic CVT transmission which is a performance efficient power train. Nissan estimates MPG to be in the range of 17-22. We did not get the impression that the mileage rating for this vehicle would slow down sales from the groups we talked to. In fact, I would say, had we a dozen to sell this week, we would have sold them all on the spot. Nissan says that they are beginning to produce the Murano CrossCabriolet™ as I write this review. Go to the Nissan website http://www.nissanusa.com/muranocabriolet/ for updates on availability.
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