The Eastern Cape more specifically in and around George, and good weather provided the perfect setting for the launch of the new Nissan Murano. For those of you that have been living on Mars, the Murano is a crossover SUV that has been around since 2002 and was due for a facelift. The less sharp eyed will be hard pressed to notice the difference but the real changes are under the skin with the engine having more power and the excellent CVT transmission.

Impressively smooth

The route that Nissan had planned for us hacks to drive the cars on demonstrated the capabilities of the car in a range of conditions. We had some motorway cruising, mountain passes on tar, mountain passes on dirt and finally some town driving.  I was in the car with motoring journalist extraordinaire, Egmond Sippel who decided to test the Murano’s ability to emulate a Formula 1 car as well as a rally car. We hurtled across the mountain pushing the car as far as we dare and it handled the corners like a sports car, both on the dirt and on the road. What is truly amazing though is the ride quality, it really is exceptional particularly for a car that corners so well.

Unfortunately there just isn’t space to put the full report in this month’s magazine so you’ll have to wait till next month but it will be worth hanging on for.