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According to Nissan Europe, with the experience of a petrol-only Murano since 2005, only about 10%.
“Murano sells in a sector of the market that is expected to account for more than 212,000 registrations in Europe in 2010. However nearly 90% of the segment is diesel, meaning that Murano has been fighting for sales with one metaphorical arm tied behind its back,” the automaker said as it launched a long-awaited, developed-specially-for-Europe oil-burning version alongside the new B-segment Juke crossover.
The diesel’s expected to account for over 80% of sales while giving dealers something to defend themselves against the vast volumes of I4, I6 and V6 diesel models churned out by the likes of BMW, Audi, VW, Land Rover and, at the upper end, Mercedes and Porsche.
So it’s a pity the chosen engine, albeit with 450Nm of torque, Euro 5 compliant emissions and a thorough rework to optimise NVH, isn’t the nice creamy-smooth V6 you’d expect to have been picked from the Renault-Nissan alliance parts bin. Someone asked why and the answer was pretty much “cost v return on investment” – this is a relatively old model surely not far off a full redesign.
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By GlobalDataThe new diesel is much the same I4 2.5 that does sterling service in the Navara truck, which is not a premium SUV, and there are a few range-wide nose styling changes to accompany the new engine’s Murano debut.
Given a sow’s ear to silk purse, Nissan engineers have done a fine job to match the updated motor to a very smooth and responsive, conventional, six-speed, automatic transmission and 4WD, make it look nice under the bonnet and grind out almost all the inherent vibrations of a big four pot diesel but there is still some distinctive growl and crackle in the distance, at least on snooker table German roads.
By its maker’s calculations, the Murano diesel is faster off the mark to 100km/h (10.5s) than Volvo’s D5 auto XC90 (11.5s) but beaten by the 3.0TDi V6 Audi Q5 (9.9s) and VW Touareg 3.0TDi (7.8) Nissan rates as sensible opposition. Combined EU test fuel consumption is a class competitive 35.3mpg and CO2 emissions of 210g are also in the ballpark (though a Lexus RX450h hybrid manages an astonishing 149g).
In practice, two up with hand luggage, j-a found the Murano diesel more than brisk enough for this type of machine with good SUV-standard ride and handling though steering was a bit light. The UK GBP37,995 sticker price is at the low end of the class but the one-specification model comes dripping with equipment: twin-pane sunroof, all-round heated leather (cream or black), hard-drive satnav/entertainment, Bose audio, reversing and kerbside cameras, power tailgate and many, many more toys.
Executives were coy on numbers. The V6 petrol-only model has sold over 15,000 units Europe-wide since the 2005 launch with 2,895 of those here in the UK. The best we could extract was that the diesel would allow the Murano “to widen its market coverage”.
