Corin,
Thanks for your response.
I am certainly looking for a crossover, not a sports car. As I said, I've had two Muranos in a row, an '03 and '06 and really love the car.
My car needs haven't really changed since '03, we are a family of 3 (two adults and a toddler) and our second car is '08 Passat Komfort that my wife drives on her daily commute to work.
I posted my answers to your questions below.
Do you need cargo room?
-Yes
Car like ride?
-Yes
Offroad capability?
- Same as prev. Mo generation, not more than that. Good snow performance.
Towing?
- No
Fuel economy?
-SURE, YES!
I would prefer it not requiring premium gas.
I admit that Murano seems to be beating everyone currently. My friends own Volvo XC-70 (claim to get just 20 mpg on a highway) and Mazda CX-9 (18mpg??), Acura MDX(18 mpg). However, I saw postings from new Audi Q5 owners, claiming 21 mpg in the city(!) and almost 27-30 mpg on the highway?
What do you like and not like about your current MO and the 09?
- I like interior improvements in the '09 model, don't like the exterior design (back) and smaller cargo room.
What would you change on it to make it your ideal choice for what you need?
I don't want to be picky, but they could have done...
- a better job on the body design;
- I would love to have cooled front seats, considering black leather in the summer getting hot. It would be a better improvement than powered back seat return.
- added LED daytime running lights (why empty headlight section, where they should be?);
- add couple of new exterior colors (love Mazda's "liquid platinum");
- added a pass-through in the back seat, like in VW and Audi Q5, great for skis;
- have a DVD drive or hard drive for music, why does it have to only come with Navi-equipped models, even Chevy Traverse and Subaru have DVD drives!
- I don't like their redesign of the area around shifter:
a)strange plastic "insert" in the center storage, shallow center storage, compared to '03 model
b) new cup holders seem to be worse(more shallow) than the old ones
c) no more cell phone holder, no coin holder, but some "multipurpose bin" on the passenger side?
- I hate their "redesign" of the cargo cover, what are those stupid flaps (the ones no one will ever be attaching to the back seats) for? One cannot even retract them! The new way to open and close cargo cover is worse than ever, even my 1997 Grand Cherokee had a better design, where the cargo cover was attached to the hatch and would be opened "automatically".
What do you think, am I too picky
?