Nissan’s midsize SUV is now a decade old — but its replacement is almost here!
Over the past few years, Nissan has revamped most of its SUV lineup, from the tiny Kicks all the way up to the full-size Armada. There’s been one model the automaker has been conspicuously quiet about, though, and that’s the Murano. It made waves when it first launched back in 2003 and saw a second generation from 2007 to 2014, but we haven’t seen a major update since then. Now, though, it appears we’ll soon get a new midsize two-row crossover with the brand’s modern styling and a much needed tech update.
From the outside, the 2025 Nissan Murano still keeps a sleek, aerodynamic profile, so it’s not going the boxy, rugged-looking route in its fourth generation (it has the Pathfinder to fill that niche, anyway). Even under the camouflage, it’s clear that this new model adopts the more upright grille and slim headlights present across the rest of Nissan’s range, including the smaller Rogue, Kicks and the electric Ariya.
Unlike the Ariya, however, we don’t expect the 2025 Nissan Murano to be a full EV. Looking at it from the rear, there is a fuel door on the driver’s side, and other spy shots have revealed exhaust pipes at the rear end, though the outlet may be tucked up under the rear bumper. As for which engine will power the new Murano, it’s possible (and again referencing the Pathfinder, perhaps likely) it will keep the 3.5-liter V6 “VQ series” engine under its hood. One update the Murano will get is the VQ35DD engine, a direct-injected variant of the old car’s engine now used in the Pathfinder as well as the Infiniti QX60.
If the 2025 model does adopt the newer version of Nissan’s V6 engine, we may also see it move away from a continuously variable transmission, which has been a Achilles heel for the Murano, to the ZF 9HP 9-speed automatic transmission. One matter I am curious about is whether Nissan will reintroduce a Murano Hybrid in this generation, especially since market demand for hybrids is remarkably strong, but we’ll have to wait for the company’s official announcement to know for sure.
A brief glimpse of the interior
Our intrepid spotter also snapped a shot of the 2025 Nissan Murano’s interior through the driver’s window. Although the finer details are still obscured, we can see a layout that draws at least some inspiration from the Ariya. There’s a two-spoke, flat-bottom steering wheel, though this model seems to use a different switch layout on both sides for the media and driver assistance controls than other models, which use a mixture of buttons and scroll wheels. Behind the wheel, there’s one large display integrated atop the dashboard with a binnacle over the top of the screen, rather than just sticking up out of the dash. Since the car is powered off, though, we can’t tell whether the single head unit splits into two separate displays for the gauge cluster and infotainment, or if it’s one continuous screen. The Ariya, for example, houses two separate 12.3-inch displays under one bezel.
Rather than a sliding gear selector on the center console, the 2025 Nissan Murano also appears to use a push-button setup for whatever powertrain it has. Right in the middle, positioned next to what looks like a drive mode switch, you can just make out the “PRND” buttons. Just ahead of the right-side windshield wiper stalk, we can also see one of the shift paddles. So, that’s a good sign Nissan aims to make this Murano a bit more lively than its forebear (again, ditching the CVT will help enormously there).
When it does finally debut, we’ll obviously know much more about the 2025 Nissan Murano with certainty. Pricing will probably emerge sometime later this year, either before Nissan starts a late-year production run or actually puts the car on sale in early 2025. The current 2024 model starts at $35,495, and Nissan can’t really make it much more expensive if Nissan wants to keep it competitive with rivals like the Chevy Blazer, the Toyota Highlander and the Mazda CX-70. Bearing that in mind, I’d expect to see it launch somewhere in the upper $30,000s to start, with the top-end Platinum model cresting the $50,000 mark.
