looking to buy Murano and have a couple questions

2242 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by stonemaster, Jan 13, 2004

ron993

Discussion Starter · Jan 12, 2004

I am new to this site and so far have learned alot from the information here. But, I still have some questions. If somebody could help me I would greatly appreciate it.

I am looking to get a 2004 Murano SE, in sunlit copper with charcoal cloth interior, All-wheel drive, and Maybe the premium package with the bose stereo.

My questions are

1. Does anybody have a Murano with cloth interior? And is the interior nice, or should I shoot for the leather. I have only looked Muranos with the leather.

2. Is the Bose stereo that much better than the stock? I read that it does not do very well with the highs. The murano is actually for my wife, so a bose is not really needed. Once again the Muranos I have looked at have the bose.

3. Does Nissan offer any incentives or rebates? I was looking at the nissan website and did not see anything mentioned.

4. Do the dealers deal on the Muranos or are they stubborn on window sticker or nothing?

5. Any other advice that can be offered

Thanks in advance
Ronnie

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mueanobomar

· #2 · Jan 12, 2004

I have an 03 with cloth and it looks and fells just like the alcantra (that is used in Audi's and other European cars).

To me it is better than the leather plus you can buy a better aftermarket leather kit for half the price that they sticker it for on the factory.

I have the bose and it is really nice but your choice.

Yes the dealer went off the price a good amount.

Hope it all goes well.

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Mr3Putt

· #3 · Jan 12, 2004

ron993 said:
My questions are

1. Does anybody have a Murano with cloth interior? And is the interior nice, or should I shoot for the leather. I have only looked Muranos with the leather.

2. Is the Bose stereo that much better than the stock? I read that it does not do very well with the highs. The murano is actually for my wife, so a bose is not really needed. Once again the Muranos I have looked at have the bose.

3. Does Nissan offer any incentives or rebates? I was looking at the nissan website and did not see anything mentioned.

4. Do the dealers deal on the Muranos or are they stubborn on window sticker or nothing?

5. Any other advice that can be offered

Thanks in advance
Ronnie

Ronnie,

Welcome.

1. I have the cloth interior. Mine is Gery, er, Charcoal. It's fine. I have leather in my other two cars, I prefer the cloth, especially in the extreme hot or cold. But that's a personal preference.

2. I have the Non Bose system, again it's a personal thing, but for me, the standard radio/cd is more than fine, it cranks!

3. I don't think there are any rebates or incentives.

4. Don't pay sticker! You can and should shop for the best deal around or slightly over invoice. Although pricing seems to be a geographical thing as well... Texans seem to pay more than midwesterners.

5. Enjoy.

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ron993

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 12, 2004

Thanks for the help guys.

The future wife wanted an Xterra, which I have not ruled out yet, but I have stopped and driven a Murano a couple times and it seems like more fun to drive than the Xterra. Does Nissan allow you to special order like you can from Ford or Chevy? It seems that all of the Muranos that I have looked at are fully loaded, with leather and the $4 grand option pack and everything else they can cram into it. We know exactly what we want it is just that the sunlit copper is rare in Houston, Tx. I have only seen a couple of them around town.

Thanks again
Ronnie

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rwm3100

· #5 · Jan 12, 2004

ron993 said:
I am new to this site and so far have learned alot from the information here. But, I still have some questions. If somebody could help me I would greatly appreciate it.

I am looking to get a 2004 Murano SE, in sunlit copper with charcoal cloth interior, All-wheel drive, and Maybe the premium package with the bose stereo.

My questions are

1. Does anybody have a Murano with cloth interior? And is the interior nice, or should I shoot for the leather. I have only looked Muranos with the leather.

I have the checkered black/gray cloth interior. The leather looks nicer, but I personally have never cared for leather seats. The only complaint I have with the cloth is that sliding across the seats causes a huge static charge build up. Touch anything metal like the door, and it causes quite a shock. I treated all the cloth with Scotch Guard when the Murano was new, so that might cause all or part of the problem. The static charge seems to be decreasing in intensity as time goes by.

2. Is the Bose stereo that much better than the stock? I read that it does not do very well with the highs. The murano is actually for my wife, so a bose is not really needed. Once again the Muranos I have looked at have the bose.

I think all Muranos have a Bose branded system, and they look very much alike. I could only see two major differences in the two, though there could be more. The lower cost stock unit has a single CD player while the more expensive unit has a built in six CD changer. The higher cost unit has a subwoofer mounted underneath the cargo area and the low cost unit has no subwoofer. There may be other differences such as power output level, but that is all I noticed. The stock unit sounded very bland compared to the higher cost unit, and it isn't nearly as good in sound quality as one would expect for a premium unit. I listen to either XM, FM, or CD all the time while I am driving, so I went with the premium unit.

3. Does Nissan offer any incentives or rebates? I was looking at the nissan website and did not see anything mentioned.

Nissan, like the rest of the Japanese manufacturers, rarely offer any great incentives directly to the buyer. They do offer many to the dealers and knowing those can help negotiate a better price from the dealer. Take a look at http://www.safecarguide.com/ as a start to finding current incentives, dealer tactics, etc.

4. Do the dealers deal on the Muranos or are they stubborn on window sticker or nothing?

For about the first year, the Muranos were in short supply and it was difficult to find anything much below sticker price. However, they are now arriving in larger quantities and the dealers are more anxious to move them than to get sticker price. Refer again to the web site above as a starting point to finding current market selling prices.

5. Any other advice that can be offered

Make sure you look at and consider all the options you might need or want before purchasing a vehicle. Some options are very difficult or impossible to add after the purchase.

I am sure you will be pleased with the Murano. I have had mine since September and have been pleasantly surprised at how it handles and rides. At first, it seemed a little "stiff" in both steering and the ride, but it has really settled in after about 5,000 miles. Driving it seems to take less effort than any other vehicle I have ever owned even though this is the largest sized vehicle I have ever owned.
Thanks in advance
Ronnie

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bob1

· #6 · Jan 12, 2004

Ron, hello and welcome from a junior member. I shopped long and hard before getting my SL-04 Pewter with Charcoal interior.
The cloth is fine it looks great and really holds down the price.
As far as the Xterra, I'm going to ask you to to get in the back seat a few times. It's punishing. Of course that may or may not be a concern to you. Check the gas mileage also listed on both windows.
The MO sits on the Altima Chassis and drives like a car. The Xterra sits on a truck based platform and fells trucky. The MO has many more pony's under the hood. A lot of choice for you to make based on what type of ride, comfort, power and gas mileage. Of course your paying more for the MO than the Xterra.
As far as cost, could not find rebates when shopping the last week of December but do not pay sticker. I got mine about 3500.00 under sticker. My MO is pretty basic, but let me say the basic MO is pretty loaded. My only ad ons were floor mats, cargo mat, mud flaps and mud guards and a rear cargo cover that was freebee.
I say look at your needs based on your local. Lots of snow and I'd go for the AWD. Lots of travel, maybe the NAV. Me, I live outside Atlanta and rarely travel outside a 100 mile area. Snow, rarely. There are lots of toys that I personally did not need but it's a very individual decision.
I'm happy with mine, good luck with your decision.
Bob

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UncaDanno

· #7 · Jan 13, 2004

Murano v Xterra (second-hand)

Just some fuel for the fire......

The husband of one of the Boss Lady's co-workers works in the service dept of a Nissan dealership. NOT the dealership we bought from, by the way. He steered us to a better deal at another.

They bought an Xterra when they got married. It's her car.

When we bought our Murano, he told my wife that, if Muranos were around back then, he would have gotten one instead of the Xterra.

....this from a mechanic.

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ron993

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 13, 2004

Thanks for all the help guys. I have never bought a foreign car before except for a 1973 VW Thing that I bought in 1994. So I do not really know what to expect. My future wife likes the Xterra because she says it is cute hahaha. I like the Murano because it is cool looking and it is as close to a sports car that I need to be. She had an Chevy S10 Blazer that got wrecked and totaled so she is driving my Ford F250 since I have a company truck. So really in her eyes anything is an improvement. We are not looking to buy anything until after the wedding at the end of July

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Doombringer

· #9 · Jan 13, 2004

Buy the Murano, you'll love it

Unless you want to off-road. The Xterra would be better suited for that.

And yes, I think you can order them. They just take 4 months or so to get to you (build time plus ship time). I had a hard time finding a fully-loaded SE, lack/charcoal-leather and almost ordered it.

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ron993

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 13, 2004

I pretty much have her talked into the murano. Off road is not important to me since where I live you and the type of off roading that I do you need more than an Xterra to do it. look here for pics So I guess that we will not me ordering one but just watching the lot to find the one we like. We want an SE sunlit copper, leather is ok but cloth preferred and AWD. I do not really care about the rest of the options..

Ronnie

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GMTURBO43

· #11 · Jan 13, 2004

The Xterra was what originally got my wife looking at an SUV. I liked it but what I didn't like and this is purely a Dave'ism. I liked the square headlights better than the goofy round ones they have now. You can't get the supercharged motor on the older ones - a retrofit of the older lights was going to be more difficult than needed to be (Hood design is different - is the first hurdle).

Both of our cars have leather. The car we traded in had leather. We'll be getting leather furniture soon. I have 2 leather coats - the wife has 3 or 4. Please don't tell PETA - between my wife and I we have to be responsible for the death of a hole ranch

Anyway - I'm kind of partial to it. It is more durable than cloth. It gets better with time and proper care. We have 2 big dogs and clean up is easier. A lot of other options get bundled in with the leather.

I don't remember if you can get a sunroof with cloth - we had to have the sunroof so it wasn't an issue. We also got the heated seats - truly a GREAT option.

The ONLY reason we got the BOSE stereo was for the in-dash changer. I would have rather gone aftermarket - but the indash changer is great. The Random option is cool because it actually changes the CD before the music is stopped. Nice if you like Random play.

We got a fair amount of money on our trade. We bought late January and there wasn't much in the way of incentives - and really there still isn't. It almost steered us to a domestic (being the son of a GM mechanic also had something to do with it) - but the Murano was a winner over EVERYTHING we looked at.

I didn't want to spend over $30K for a new car/SUV. It would have been easier with the Xterra but it was worth the extra money to go to the Murano. The handling is far better than any SUV in the same category. Power is nice. The CVT was not a selling point for us as I prefer the hardshifting - slam your head back 1-2 shifts - the wife won

The Murano is far more refined than the Xterra. Gas mileage is better. Looks are a personal preference - the Murano might be a little yuppieish in comparison. The is a larger aftermarket for the Xterra and it will prove to be better is offroad/big snow conditions - but the Murano is GREAT in the snow.

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stonemaster

· #12 · Jan 13, 2004

ron993 "I am new to this site and so far have learned alot from the information here. But said:
Reply: This is my first vehicle with leather seats. All my previous cars had cloth interiors. The leather is nice, but it feels really cold when the temps drop (I'm so glad I got the cold package). I live in Chicago (where it is now in the 20's-30's), so this may or may not matter where you live. Things tend to slide around very easily on the leather vs cloth which is a bit annoying. I also have dogs so I have to cover the rear seats whenever they go for a ride. Don't know what I was thinking when I got the leather. I think I needed to get them to get one of the other options.

By the way, full seat covers are not a good idea with the side impact protection air bags which is built into the outboard bolsters on the seats. The covers will interfere with their operation. I'm not sure if they now make covers that accommodate this feature.

2. Is the Bose stereo that much better than the stock? I read that it does not do very well with the highs. The murano is actually for my wife, so a bose is not really needed. Once again the Muranos I have looked at have the bose.

Reply:The one advantage of the premium system is the six CD changer. Flipping CDs in and out of a single CD unit is not hard to do, but will soon become a real pain (not to mention a safety issue) when you find you have to juggle CDs while driving.

The subwoofer is pretty cool but the system does lack upper range crispness. Power output is decent unless you are into shaking-up the neighborhood.

Other than these items, I do not know what the other differences are between the two options (standard vs premium). Keep in mind, installing an aftermarket head unit can't be done cleanly since the OEM unit is tied in with the center console display. Other folks in this forum have installed aftermarket speakers and amps, though. Also, from what I have read in this forum, you cannot replace the speakers alone without installing new amps since there is some kind of speaker impedance issue with the Bose speakers (they are probably tailored to the Bose system).

3. Does Nissan offer any incentives or rebates? I was looking at the nissan website and did not see anything mentioned.

Reply:Not sure, but I have never seen them do so. They have them on their other carlines, but since I starting looking for my MO in May of last year, I have not seen any form or rebate or incentive. They're probably too popular right now.

4. Do the dealers deal on the Muranos or are they stubborn on window sticker or nothing?

Reply:I paid $300 under invoice for a fully loaded model...around $33,900, I think. However, it took them nearly two months to find a model that came close to combination I wanted (I had to settle on a black leather interior instead of the cabernet I wanted). I could have special ordered the exact model but that would have taken months, by which time the '04s would have become available. Other dealers in my area could not touch this offer, but they were ready to deal.

If you belong to a credit union or buyer's club (Costco, etc.), check with them. I went through my credit union's car buying service and that's how I got the great deal.

5. Any other advice that can be offered?

Reply:As mentioned, this is not an off-road vehicle by any means. It does not have enough ground clearance for that (just look under the chassis and note how low the muffler hangs). The Xterra is a better choice there. The Navigator is a great option if you want to spend the bucks. I broke down and got it (we plan on doing a lot of road trips). Beside the navigation functions, you also get a better looking, full-color display, not to mention the great conversation piece when others ride with you. However, it is expensive and not worth it if you don't plan to travel too far from home (like on vacation or for business).

Good luck in your search! You and your wife will LOVE this SUV!!! Get ready to get a lot of second looks when you drive around, too!

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