2014 Nissan Murano Sl on 2040-cars

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2015 Nissan Murano to hit the stage in NY

When the Nissan Murano launched in the early-2000s it was one of the first crossovers to eschew truck-like looks in favor of more sporty styling. For the third generation, Nissan is rumored to be taking the CUV's design even farther with inspiration from the wild Resonance concept that debuted at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. According to Edmunds, Nissan will unveil the next-generation, 2015 Murano and an unnamed concept at the New York Auto Show in April.
The new Murano will go on sale this fall on the same front-wheel drive platform as the Altima, Pathfinder and next-gen Maxima. Its size will be roughly unchanged compared to the current model, and there won't be a seven-seater option. Nissan spokesman Dan Bedore told Edmunds that it already offers "three rows in the Rogue as an option and three rows in the Pathfinder for everything. We don't need another three-row crossover." There will also be a rumored hybrid version using the Pathfinder's supercharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, a 22-horsepower electric motor and lithium-ion battery. To disappoint the dozen people who will miss it, the much-maligned Murano CrossCabriolet will not make it to the third generation. Let's all shed a tear.

Four Wheeler crowns Ultimate Factory 4x4... who wins?

Nearly every automaker doing business in the SUV or pickup truck segments offers a package designed to improve the off-road capabilities of its wares. But, of course, not all such factory kits are created equal. How, then, to separate the wheat from the chaff? Gather each of them up and put them through their paces, naturally.
The folks from Four Wheeler and PickupTrucks.com joined forces to run just such a comparison test, with the winner named the Ultimate Factory 4x4. A total of seven vehicles showed up to the fight: the 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2012 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X and Xterra PRO-4X, 2012 Ram Power Wagon, and 2012 Toyota 4Runner Trail and Tacoma TRD T|X Baja Series.
With the contestants in place, the whole crew put each vehicle through a battery of tests that included skidpad and acceleration measurements, a hillclimb, a rocky stairstep course and a rock garden. Considering the nature of the beasts, on-road ride and comfort were not part of the routine.

2014 Nissan Frontier Diesel Mule [w/poll]

Last August, Nissan shook the truck world when it officially announced plans to source a diesel option from Cummins for its long-overdue Titan replacement, its full-size pickup that's slated to drop this January at the Detroit Auto Show. The 5.0-liter V8 turbodiesel is expected to make somewhere around 300 horsepower and north of 500 pound-feet of torque. This combination of an all-new truck with this new powerplant promises to dramatically change the competitive landscape, splitting the difference between the heavy-duty goliaths from the Detroit Three and the Ram 1500 Ecodiesel. And the intrigue moved a step further when the Frontier Diesel Runner Concept showed up at February's Chicago Auto Show, as it displayed a growing relationship between Nissan and Cummins in a very interesting potential future product.
That concept would melt its clear acrylic hood if the engine ran too long, but this month, we got a chance to test drive a production mule, an otherwise normal Frontier with a Cummins 2.8-liter diesel four-pot under the hood and a ZF eight-speed automatic changing gears. The powertrain figures to be a direct competitor to the 2.8-liter Duramax promised for General Motors' Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins, but will Nissan build it? All signs point to probably. Officially, Nissan is taking no position on the future of this program, but a concept followed by putting journalists into a test mule suggests the company is considering the option very seriously. Here's what we gleaned from a brief drive around the posh suburbs of Nashville:
Before we get too deep into this Quick Spin, realize this Frontier is absolutely a mule, not a prototype. More or less cobbled together with duct tape and baling wire, it's not meant to be representative of a finished product, or even a started product. The transmission and shifter is straight out of a Chrysler 300 and the shifter surround is cut out of a panel of plastic. The "Low Sulfur Diesel Only" sticker is, well, just stuck on. We're looking at a "What if?" mockup.