[kane78]

I apologize if this has already been addressed, I looked through multiple forums and threads and could not find a discussion on it. When I picked the car up I asked the delivery consultant about using my MO offroad as a true SUV, with 4 wheel drive. He said no, I cant take it on the beach, in bad offroad territory, etc, that AWD was not the same as 4WD. I understand the difference, but still think AWD should be fine, if I start to slip the other 2 kick in, right? Has anyone ever taken thiers seriously offroad? Good experience? bad? Any info would be very helpful. I'm eager to take mine out on the beach and offroading, but am afraid I will be embarrased and need my "SUV" towed out of a pit.

 

[njjoe]

Depending on your definition of "offroading" the MO could be either great or ill-suited.

If you plan on driving on packed dirt roads with no rocks and no water deeper than a few inches then you should be fine. Even packed sand should be navigable if you drop the pressure in the Goodyears to about 20 psi.

The MO is a great "urban SUV". Unfortunately it is ill-suited for true off-roading for the following reasons:

Vulnerable underbelly - exposed plastic gas tank, no skid plates for the engine, CVT and transfer case. Put a rock through one of these and you are walking home with a soon-to-be lighter wallet.

Poor ground clearance - muffler and CVT scoop. Fortunately, losing the scoop is not catastrophic. However, the center muffler could be a problem.

No low-range in the transfer case. Without this feature, I would avoid going up or down any very steep hills.

And finally... the transfer case is not designed for off-roading. The case and internals are not built to repeatedly handle the stress often encountered when off-roading. It's the weak link in the drivetrain.

The MO could be a lot of fun on the beach, but I wouldn't stray too far off the beaten track if I took it trail-riding.

Good luck.

-njjoe

 

[kane78]

Ok, light offroading and normal bad weather use only pretty much. I'll stay off the back trails. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

 

[njjoe]

kane78-

There is a forum member named EKKA who lives in Australia and has posted numerous photos of his/her MO riding across the beach. So there is photographic evidence of a Murano safely handling the beach.

Do a search and I am sure you will find others.

-njjoe

 

[rrodfa2]

If serious off-roading is your thing I would seriously consider other model, maybe the MO is not the car for you, maybe a Pathfinder or better yet a 4Runner would adapt better to your lifestyle. Good Luck!!

 

[mgthe3]

I used to off road quite a bit getting to some of the better caves in my region. I was amazed at some of the vehicles I saw get in and out of some of the places--we had one guy that managed to get his civic almost anywhere. If you looked carefully at his rockers, his lower doors and the undersides of his front and rear, you could see the damage he incurred doing this. Of course---it was a paid for civic.
Pretty replaceable...errr....disposable car, eh?
On the other hand, we also went into a place where, me in my seriously protected (full skid plate and prerunner bumper) Toy 4x4, 5 stock Isuzu troopers (huntsville grotto members loved them), a baby bronco also seriously protected and some full sized 4x4's ventured into after a full week of catapillar conditioning of the path to the cave. Me, one trooper and the baby bronco made it back to the road after caving. The rest got killed on the trail, some going in, some coming out. Cracked heads from overheating during crawling, broken axels, broken diffs, tierods, masterlinks, pitman arms and smashed radiators. My Toy was absolutely covered in mud, but after washing only exhibited slight scratches on the underside of the prerunner bumper, rocker bars and skid plate.
At one point it did a full stop nose balance on the prerunner bumper before hunkering down and just blasting through.

I would NEVER consider going off roading in my Mo.
Some fire roads, some very nicely manicured trails, but never seriously off road. Not only would you rip off the exhaust system, you would probably damage the quarter panels from the stiff splash guards encountering drop off lips and rip holes in the underside of the front and rear plastic. The Mo is far from an expendable vehicle in my budget, I imagine there are some actors, sheiks, and other wealthy types who might consider it expendable. But I betcha you would see them doing it in a seriously expensive 4x4 like a tricked out hummer due to not wanting to have to get out and trudge through mud.
Mo is a civilized urban assault vehicle, not an offroader.