{"id":32848,"date":"2010-11-16T08:03:22","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T13:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=32848"},"modified":"2010-11-16T07:09:33","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T12:09:33","slug":"first-look-nissan-murano-convertible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2010\/11\/first-look-nissan-murano-convertible\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: Nissan Murano Convertible"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Nissan Murano Convertible debuts in L.A., this week, and will go on sale early in 2011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nissan has shown a flair for the non-traditional, especially when it comes to design.\u00a0 Just witness its Murano and Infiniti FX crossovers, which showed you didn\u2019t have to build a boxy, SUV-like product to win consumers over.<\/p>\n

But, as TheDetroitBureau.com reported earlier this year, Nissan seemed to be stretching things to the limits with its idea of rolling out a Murano-based convertible.\u00a0 Would it be as awkward and ungainly as the unloved Chevrolet SSR, the less-than compelling pickup-convertible combination that fell flat on its face a few years back?<\/p>\n

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News Now! Click For A Free Subscription!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A number of our media colleagues tried to imagine what the Nissan Murano Convertible might look like, and, indeed, they came up with some decidedly ungainly ideas, including center-mounted rollbars, that just wouldn\u2019t have made for a very attractive offering.<\/p>\n

But, it turns out, what Nissan is billing as \u201cthe world\u2019s first all-wheel-drive convertible crossover\u201d is a surprisingly stylish and reasonably elegant design.<\/p>\n

Nissan’s claim may actually be challenged, at least if you consider the ungainly Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible the first ragtop crossover.\u00a0 But visually, the Japanese maker has clearly come up with the better solution.<\/p>\n

After one gets used to the idea of having such a massive open top, the next thing to notice is the switch to a two-door body.\u00a0 But from the image released by Nissan \u2013 in anticipation of the Murano Convertible\u2019s official launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show, this week \u2013 it appears it won\u2019t take much effort to climb into the positively cavernous back seat.<\/p>\n

Gone, of course, is the big crossover\u2019s rear cargo compartment.\u00a0 It remains to be seen exactly how much space will be available in the Murano Convertible\u2019s trunk, though we\u2019re hoping for more than with the Infiniti G ragtop, which barely holds more than a woman\u2019s purse.<\/p>\n

Nissan\u2019s advance press release suggests the new crossover convertible “delivers the open-air exhilaration of a convertible while extending the versatility of the Murano in exciting new ways.”<\/p>\n

Oh, and in case you\u2019re wondering, no, the Nissan Murano Convertible is not just a styling exercise.\u00a0 It\u2019s the real thing.\u00a0 And it will go on sale just in time for open air motorizing season next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nissan has shown a flair for non-traditional, and nowhere is that more obvious than with the long-rumored Murano crossover convertible, which will be making its debut at this week’s LA Auto Show. Here’s a first look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32848"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=32848"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=32848"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=32848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}