The Nissan Murano Diesel launches at £37,795
Nissan has finally launched the Nissan Murano Diesel in the UK at £37,795. Sadly it makes do with the 2.5 litre 4-pot instead of the new 235bhp V6 diesel. Shame.
It’s quite astonishing that – just like cousin Infiniti – the Nissan Qashqai’s bigger SUV/ Crossover sibling – the Nissan Murano – has struggled along without a diesel engine in the range. But as we reported back in March, the Nissan Murano is to get a diesel ( there is already now a diesel for the Infiniti).
Along with the diesel engine – 2.5 litre dCi 4-pot instead of the nice new diesel V6 from the Infiniti – comes a tweak for 2011 which includes a new grill, a re-profiled bumper and bigger air intakes which we suspect may have more to do with accommodating the cooling needs of the diesel than any real stylistic advance.
The tweaked 4-pot 2.5 litre dCi offers 187bhp, 332lb/ft of torque and 35.3mpg. It comes with a six-speed auto ‘box but try as we might we can’t pin down any performance figures for the diesel Murano.
Specification is quite reasonable offering 20″ alloys, rear and side cameras, SatNav, 9.3gb HD music box, iPod, Bluetooth and power tailgate. You’ll also get an 11 speaker BOSE system. Nissan are taking orders now for the diesel Murano which is priced at £37,795. First customer deliveries are scheduled for September.
The Murano is a perfectly good SUV/Crossover, but it’s not really flown out of the showroom, certainly not in anything like the numbers the Qashqai has. Nissan say that the diesel Murano will account for over 90% of sales. What we don’t know is whether Nissan are expecting sales to increase 10-fold, or that 90% of those who would have had a petrol Murano when it was Hobson’s on the engine front will now go for the diesel.
But if it was my money I think I’d go for the slight smaller – and cheaper – Infiniti EX 30d with the new V6 diesel. Or splash out a few grand more for the Infiniti FX 30d which also sports the new diesel V6.
There’s nothing really wrong with the Murano diesel. It just doesn’t seem to have much point. But nor did the petrol.
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