When everyone gets into wool peacoats, the guy in the Irish fisherman’s sweater looks new and intriguing. In recent years, blocky, rugged, outdoorsy-looking style is the wool peacoat of SUVs. The 2025 Nissan Murano has opted for a chunky knit.
Nissan’s 2-row midsize SUV will get a complete redesign from the wheels up for 2025, and it pushes back against that trend with a curvy new shape. It replaces the standard V6 of the last generation with a more fuel-efficient turbocharged 4-cylinder and goes back to an automatic transmission with gears rather than a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).
Nissan hasn’t announced pricing for the 2025 Murano. The 2024 edition starts at $40,130 (including a mandatory $1,390 delivery fee). However, it was last resigned in 2014 and shares not a single bolt with this version. We expect a price increase to account for nearly a decade of technology advances.
Borrows a Theme From its Little Brother
The 2025 Murano bears little resemblance to most of its competition, which has opted for hard angles and chunky shapes in recent years. If anything, it looks like a larger version of Nissan’s recently redesigned Kicks subcompact SUV.
A curving greenhouse – almost enough to qualify as a Euro-style SUV coupe like the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe or Audi Q5 Sportback model – arcs over a high beltline. Horizontal strakes dominate a subtle grille – another zig in a year full of oversize-grille-zags.
Lines of LEDs serve as daytime running lights and seem to extend the lines of the grille to wrap around into large air curtains.
In the rear, a wide light bar consists of many small vertical stripes. The tailpipes are hidden, almost implying that it’s electric.
Airy Cabin With Three-Tone Options
Its dashboard has three wide horizontal surfaces that blend into each other like striations in a canyon wall. That allows designers to use three colors on the dashboard, giving it visual movement. Nissan says three color schemes will be offered, all “inspired by the inimitable light quality of golden hour — just before sunset — experienced along the Californian coast.”
The lowest level incorporates piezoelectric touch controls — something that hasn’t always worked well in automotive design. But they resemble those found in the Nissan Ariya electric SUV, which work reasonably well in our experience. They handle climate control.
Most other functions seem to run through touchscreens.
A pair of screens mounted together — an almost ubiquitous design trend in new cars — looks like one. Each has a 12.3-inch surface (measured diagonally). They run Android Auto and Apple CarPlay wirelessly.
Nissan says Murano buyers will have the option of massaging seats for the first time. Photos show semi-aniline leather seats, found on the Platinum trim, wrapped in a two-tone scheme.
“Rear occupants are treated to available rear door sunshades and heated rear seats,” the company says. Perhaps more significantly, rear seats adopt Nissan’s Zero Gravity seating design. This ergonomic design, based on NASA research, has consistently produced front seats our editors love.
The cabin takes a lot of inspiration from the Ariya’s but with one important difference. As an electric vehicle (EV), the Ariya lacks a transmission hump down the center of the cabin. That lends the space a natural, airy feel. We’re not clear that the same approach will work as well in the Murano, where a real transmission divides driver from passenger. We’ll find out when we get the chance to test the car.
Turbocharged 4-cylinder Engine, 9-speed Automatic Transmission
The 2024 Murano on dealer lots today is one of the last mainstream midsize SUVs to carry a standard V6. The automotive industry has largely switched to turbocharged 4-cylinder engines for midsize vehicles in the decade since the model’s last redesign.
Nissan will follow suit. For 2025, the Murano gets a turbo 4-cylinder making 241 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. That’s 19 fewer horsepower but 20 more units of torque compared to the outgoing model, showing why the turbocharged 4-cylinder has become the industry’s engine of choice. Engineers can get more low-end power from a smaller and presumably more fuel-efficient engine today. Nissan hasn’t released fuel economy estimates yet.
Power goes through a 9-speed automatic transmission to either the front wheels or all four when equipped with all-wheel drive.
“To help improve ride and handling, the new Murano adopts frequency sensitive dampers in its suspension and switches to electric power steering,” Nissan says.
It should provide plenty of power and smooth operation for family and commuter use. But Nissan notes a tow rating of just 1,500 pounds — light for a midsize SUV.
Advanced Driver Aids
Nissan’s ProPilot Assist, which can accelerate, brake, and steer the vehicle in traffic if you keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, is standard. Higher trim levels include a more advanced system that uses the navigation system “to proactively adjust speed ahead of curves, based on data about the vehicle’s planned route.”
A new camera system should make parking simpler. Nissan explains, “available 3D Intelligent Around View Monitor expands on the previous model’s bird’s-eye view by allowing the user to select from one of eight virtual vantage points ‘around’ the vehicle.”
The 2025 Nissan Murano is set to go on sale early next year.
