Here’s Everything Wrong With Our 100,000 Mile Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet

Last week we announced our purchase of a 2014 Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet — one of the strangest SUVs of all time. We bought the quirky convertible in Texas and shipped it to LA; here’s what condition we found it in when it arrived.

Because of how rare Nissan Murano Crosscabriolets are, we weren’t exactly spoiled for choice, especially given that we here at The Autopian are cheap bastards and also picky about paint color (we wanted Merlot, which, I’m sure you agree, is the only color for this car). So we had to purchase our machine from a small dealership called “My T Motorz” in Arlington, and it, well, the machine wasn’t exactly perfect.

The truth is, we didn’t want a perfect Crosscabriolet since this vehicle is the star of our partnership with XPEL, purveyor of the finest PPF in all the land. The partnership involves installing the film on half the vehicle, and then punishing the automotive misfit via a number of challenges. What challenges? Well, that’s a surprise, but here’s a little teaser:

The good news is that our 100,000 mile Crosscab was in just good enough condition that we can put XPEL PPF to the test by showing how well it protects the decent paint, but it is in bad enough shape to where we’re not going to feel too bad scuffing this noble-failure from Nissan.

Let’s start by looking at the body, since that’s what’s most important for this XPEL partnership.

The Body And Paint: Dents, Scratches — Decent But Not Amazing

The Crosscab is definitely a 20-footer. If you’re standing any closer, the dings and paint chips become obvious. The most in-your-face blemish is the dent on the nose:

Then there are loads of scrapes along the driver’s door edge.

It’s not only the door edge (which, just wow. How?!); it’s also this little paint crack+scuff; clearly something hit this door rather hard:

Otherwise there’s a ding on the front driver’s fender and one on the rear right quarter panel:

Plus some of the chrome beltline trim has some dents:

There are some chips on the passenger’s side door:

There are some scuffs on the rear bumper:

And the hood has a bit of rusty paint-fade from the Texas sun:

The trunk’s paint is a bit thin up top, too:

Here are some scuffs on the driver’s side of the rear bumper:

And there’s a blemish where something seems to have chipped the passenger’s side headlight:

Overall, I give this machine a B-minus. Not bad.

I would like to point out how gorgeous these seven-spoke wheels are:

And the tires are quite new!:

The Interior

The inside of the Crosscab is in similar condition to the outside: not great, not terrible. There are some weird bite (?) marks on the driver’s door panel and on the interior trim:

And there are scuffs on top of the door panel:

That’s gotta be a big dog right? Those look like claw marks up top, and those are definitely tooth-marks on the edge there.

The center stack’s faux brushed-aluminum trim is degrading:

The steering wheel is pretty worn around the circumference:

Strangely, the dead pedal seems to have somehow gone missing:

But otherwise it’s not bad! I do find the leather seats to be hideous, though, even if they’re in decent condition:

And the dash is honestly mint:

The Top

The Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet’s big party trick is its top. Without it, the machine is just a Murano — a boring crossover SUV. That’s what’s so sad about Crosscabs in general: The tops break so easily. Ours only sort-of works, and while the fabric looks good, the fitment is hideous:

And it’s not just the outside; inside there’s trim that clearly isn’t where it should be, and there appear to be some water marks from an apparet leak:

As you can see in our YouTube video towards the top of this article, our biggest issue is that the top tends to get stuck when trying to open. It jerks all over the place, the rear trunk opens unevenly, and sometimes it all closes in a way that bends the fragile plastic trim.

It’s so bad, in fact, that our plan is to drop the top and never put it back up. I have purchased a car-cover in case it rains.

The Mechanicals

The 265 horsepower 3.5-liter “VQ35DE V6” V6 purrs like an absolute kitten, and the CVT “shifts” as perfectly as CVTs “shift” (i.e. it’s a mediocre transmission, but luckily as mediocre as it was when it left the factory). I’ll do a full review of the car in a later article, but the point here is that mechanically this vehicle seems great, even if it’s not quick.

There does appear to be a crack in one of the CV boots, which is slinging grease all over the undercarriage.

Speaking of the vehicle’s undercarriage, this thing is minty fresh! No rust!

This Is The Nicest This Crosscab Will Ever Look

So our Crosscab is exactly in the condition we wanted. It’s got 100,000 miles on it, so there are some dings, a few scratches, a few canine bites, a CV boot leak, and a top that’s basically doomed. It’s a 20-footer that will soon become a 500-footer, as we’ll be putting this machine through a series of paint-scratchingly-hilarious challenges.

I cannot yet reveal the unspeakable damage Officer Torch has managed to inflict upon this mighty steed, but it’s bad. And I’d feel guilty about that if it weren’t so funny. More to come soon with Officer Torch!