After a decade, the 2025 Nissan Murano brings some greatly needed changes.
From the Kicks to the Armada and the new electric Ariya, Nissan has been dramatically revamping its lineup over the past few years, but there’s long been one SUV missing from that plan: the Murano. While it emerged as one of the early players to the modern crossover game, the third-generation model has been languishing against its contemporary rivals with minimal changes since it first debuted back in 2014. Now, the 2025 Nissan Murano aims to address many of the longstanding issues with new, bolder styling, more modern technology and — critically for those who loathed the brand’s CVT era — a new engine and automatic transmission.
While some of the Murano’s curvaceous styling from past generations remains, particularly in the roofline, the front and rear fascias take a huge step away from what we’ve known over the past decade. In fact, this new model is substantially wider than its predecessor, and gets a more upright front fascia to help drive that home. At the front, the 2025 Nissan Murano sports new “Crystal Cube” LED headlights up near the hood line connected by a gloss black trim strip, with lower-mounted daytime running lights that work into the new grille design.
With the general shape and extensive use of gloss black elements, you could argue the new Murano takes some of its styling cues from the Ariya, and that continues when you move around to the back. You get thin LED taillights connected by a light bar across the tailgate, though they are more rounded here than the crisper lines you’ll see on Nissan’s electric SUV. Like the larger Armada, the 2025 Nissan Murano also houses its rear wiper above the window, giving the rear end a cleaner look. Instead of a flat (and boring) look for the tailgate itself, Nissan added in a character line across the whole rear end drawing your eyes up toward the taillights, as well as the new “Murano” font laid out across the liftgate.
Unlike the old car, though, what is it you don’t see here? While the old car had a couple pipes sticking out the back, this new version hides the exhaust tips behind the bumper. New Nissan Murano Platinum models come with standard 21-inch wheels, while two-tone exterior schemes are available, depending on the trim.
The new Murano gets a different powertrain setup to complement its fresh look.
While Nissan kept an updated version of its 3.5-liter V6 alive in the fifth-generation Pathfinder, it wasn’t keen to do the same with the new Murano. Instead, this update brings in a smaller but familiar option in its 2.0-liter VC-Turbo engine. The upshot of that change is 241 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. For reference, the outgoing Murano managed 260 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque, so you are swapping one for the other here, nearly at a 1-to-1 rate.
Some folks have been wondering whether Nissan will reintroduce the Murano Hybrid, especially as other automakers are pivoting toward hybrids in lieu of full electric models. For now, at least, that is not happening, as the 2.0-liter VC-Turbo is the only powertrain on offer at launch.
The real key difference from the last-generation Murano to this new 2025 model, however, is Nissan officially ditching its continuously variable transmission once again. Instead, like the brand’s larger SUVs, you’ll get a conventional 9-speed torque converter automatic, as well as paddle shifters to work your way up and down the new ‘box. If you’re wondering why Nissan is moving away from the CVT, you don’t have to dig too far to pull up complaints of its dubious reliability during the 2010s when the last Murano went into production. While you can still get it in the brand’s newer sedans (and it is reportedly much more reliable in recent years), the automaker clearly sees the way forward with its SUVs to fit this 9-speed automatic, with the exception of the entry-level Kicks.
Like before, the 2025 Nissan Murano still comes with front-wheel drive by default in the entry SV trim. All-wheel drive is an option there, while it’s actually standard on the mid-range SL and top-end Platinum trims. Other noteworthy powertrain updates include new “frequency sensitive” dampers to help improve the ride, while the new powertrain also brings in electric power steering, rather than the hydraulic system of the old Muranos.
If you’re looking to tow with your midsize crossover, the 2025 Nissan Murano unfortunately doesn’t get any more capability on that front. As you may expect with a similar output this time around, all Muranos can still tow up to 1,500 pounds, when properly equipped. And like before, that’s still nowhere near some of its rivals. For example, the Honda Passport can tow up to 5,000 pounds in its AWD configuration, despite also being a unibody crossover. If you want to tow with your Nissan, you’ll have to look at the larger Pathfinder or go with the body-on-frame Armada.
The 2025 Nissan Murano adopts what is now standard across most of the brand’s lineup.
Even as it aged, one of the things the Murano had working in its favor was a decently pleasant and comfortable interior. That still appears to be the case with the new one, though you do get much better tech this time around. Front and center in this new model are the dual 12.3-inch screens, like you get with — you guessed it — the Ariya. Sticking with that theme for a moment, the new Murano also gets a two-spoke steering wheel replete with buttons to control the cluster screen as well as the ProPilot Assist driver suite. All Murano trims get standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Anrdoid Auto support, though SL and Platinum trims get Google built-in connectivity, baking popular apps into the native system like Google Maps and Google Assistant.
Lower down the center stack, you get a physical volume knob for the infotainment setup, as well as haptic climate control buttons and a push-button setup for the 9-speed automatic. Just ahead of the transmission buttons on the center stack is the Murano’s standard wireless smartphone charging pad, as well as two USB-C charging ports. Two more USB-C ports come standard in the rear for backseat passengers.
64-color interior ambient lighting is also part of the 2025 Nissan Murano’s list of features, as is a color head-up display. Nissan’s “Intelligent Around View Monitor” 360-degree camera system is still present here, though this time it includes an invisible hood viewpoint to help spot obstacles like car wash tracks more easily. Nissan bills the same feature as useful for off-roading in the Armada, but most folks are most definitely not going to be doing that here.
With the 60/40 split-fold rear bench in place, the 2025 Nissan Murano offers up 32.9 cubic feet of cargo volume, which is slightly better than before. With the seats folded, though, you get up to 63.5 cubic feet of cargo space, which is slightly less than the 2024 Murano offers (67 cubic feet).
When will it go on sale and how much will it cost?
Whether you’re in the market for a midsize family hauler or not, the 2025 Nissan Murano is a major update for the automaker, after we’ve had the third-generation model kicking around for the past 10 years. We’ll have to wait until next year to see how well the changes draw in buyers against rivals like the Honda Passport, Chevrolet Blazer, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe, Subaru Outback and Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport.
Nissan says the 2025 Murano will reach dealerships early next year. We don’t know how much it costs yet, as the automaker will announce those details closer to the launch. It dropped the base S trim from the Murano lineup for 2024, making the effective starting price $40,130 including destination. It’s all but certain the new version will cost at least a bit more money, and will actually come in a few thousand dollars more expensive than the base Pathfinder (which does offer a less expensive S trim, at least for now).
Tommy is on the ground in Tennessee covering the new Murano, which will be manufactured at the company’s Smyrna plant like before. You can check out that video linked below!
