Nissan Murano - rust, CVT, and transfer case problems

As I saw there's no responses here I'll give you some insight in the Murano and try and spark some conversation. I do have a good friend that works for NNA and an uncle who leases a lot of nissans. The good news is all the Muranos he's leased (from 08 or earlier and up) he never had an issue however he had only owned them up to the lease terms then he goes back through. Also the cars live and the rust belt and he's never experienced the rusting. However as a consumer myself I am very wary of any Nissan with a CVT. The newest model Murano according to my friend has a better CVT than pre-refresh. That being said I myself would never get into the Murano game. If you're dead set on a Nissan I would suggest a pathfinder as they're a bit larger (My friends had like 5 pathfinders and is going to a Murano next month). I've seen some good things on the GMC Terrain, and if you get a Mopar (Cherokee, GC, or Durango) you can always look into the factory backed lifetime warranty for some piece of mind in a Chrysler product. I know this isn't entirely what you're looking for but I hope this helps a little bit.

We'll be implementing a way to query current owners later this month.

Based on our data, it's clear that the second-generation Murano (2009 and up) has been far more reliable than the original one. But nothing is absolute. Some first-gen Muranos have been reliable, while some second-gens have not.

That said, I just glanced at our latest stats, and see that the repair frequency for the 2009 has worsened recently.

Hi, I don't own a Murano but my uncle, an avid car enthusiast living in western New York State, owned one and adored it for many years...until the dreaded transmission and rust problems appeared. He concluded it was not a good long term purchase and traded it in on a (lightly used) Ford Flex. Which he is also happy with.
I wish I could recall the exact number of years he owned that Murano, and this information is second hand so not as reliable as a real owner's opinion. But he loved that Murano and was very disappointed he couldn't afford to keep it; the costs to get it ship shape were enormous and he knew it was wiser to get into something else. Good luck on your decision.

Car reviewers driving a new car for a week simply have no way to evaluate reliability.

We have just added the "ask an owner" section of the site. If you do want to hear from more people who own a Murano (or something else), feel free to post there.