Nissan seems to be honing in on exactly the kind of weirdness it wants to brand its own. Following the funky Cube and the Juke—which appears to be a castoff design for a manned Mars rover—the company is using the Los Angeles auto show to debut not only the strangest-looking minivan ever seen in the U.S., but perhaps the strangest vehicle type ever seen in the U.S.: an all-wheel-drive crossover convertible.
The Murano CrossCabriolet convertible is exactly what it sounds like it is: a Murano that is missing its lid. You may remember the name and the general idea from Audi’s 2007 Cross Cabriolet Quattro concept. The difference is that Nissan’s actually putting its crossover convertible into production. (There also was the 1980s AMC Eagle Sundancer, a nice example of which is coveted by one of our editors. E-mail backfires@caranddriver.com if you've got a cherry example for sale.)
Top Goes Down, Cargo Gets Left Behind
The CrossCabriolet’s cloth top is power-operated and includes a rear skylight-like glass panel, yet Nissan claims it takes up barely the space of a roadster’s cloth top when stowed. From the specs, it looks more like it takes up the same amount of space as other four-place convertible tops, as the cargo volume of 12.3 cubic feet with the roof up decreases to 7.6 cubes with it stowed, numbers right in the middle of the four-place droptop category.
The CrossCabrio’s platform is the same as the non-mutant crossover’s—although the structure is reinforced to offset the loss of rigidity that comes with lopping off the roof. There are MacPherson struts up front, a multilink rear suspension, and anti-roll bars at both ends. The convertible’s wheelbase is identical to the normal Murano’s, at 111.2 inches. The only powertrain will be the Murano’s 265-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission.
Have You Seen My Back Doors?
Sharp-eyed observers will note that the CrossCabriolet has only two doors, instead of four. For easier access to the rear seat, the remaining doors have been stretched 7.9 inches. In the absence of a giant basket-handle roll hoop, a pair of pop-up roll bars behind the rear seats provides protection should the CrossCabrio go topsy-turvy.
In order to lure buyers to this most bizarre vehicle, Nissan will load up every example with all the usual extras. Standard equipment includes navigation, 9.3 gigs of music storage, a Bose stereo, XM satellite radio, keyless entry and starting, leather-trimmed seats, a heated steering wheel with power tilt and telescope, and 20-inch wheels.
Priced Competitively Against 87 40-Inch TVs
Nissan hasn’t released pricing yet, but figure on a premium of about $5000 over a loaded Murano, or about $45,000, when the CrossCabrio goes on sale in early 2011. Among the few options will be quilted leather seats, perhaps the only thing that could make this vehicle more bizarre. Well, maybe a clockwork baboon that deployed from the tonneau and opened the fuel-filler door would be weirder.
No comments:
Post a Comment