I Drove Our Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet 666 Miles Through Two Snowstorms, Now I’m Hopelessly In Love

Yesterday, I had a drive that, normally, would be the stuff of travel nightmares. I took The Autopian‘s Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet on a 666-mile, 10-plus-hour journey that involved not one but two completely separate and surprisingly heavy snowstorms. I got stuck in traffic for hours, had only Carl’s Jr. for dinner, and then plopped down in a cheap hotel distinguished by broken glass and eccentric characters. Yet, I’m so deeply in love that I do not care. Welcome to Day 3 of the CrossCab CrossCountry CabCross CountryCab 3,400-mile road trip!

Tuesday was a real treat and adventure. The team fitted the CrossCabriolet with a lift kit, Ford Mustang wheels, and chunky Vredestein Pinza AT tires. Some folks might do something like this just for the looks, but come on, we’re the Autopian. Nobody really knew how this car would handle off pavement. As it turns out, the Murano CrossCabriolet, while not a beast, is surprisingly good off-road with only our minimal mods.

Wednesday was supposed to be a long but easy drive. Griffin and I would depart our lodging in Munds Park, Arizona, head into Flagstaff, and then beat it southeast, running for New Mexico and then Texas. The GPS already said we were looking at around a 666-mile drive that would take us around 10.5 hours, so we didn’t want to waste any time. Today was a sort of cannonball day where we planned to just drive non-stop.

Since I had beaten the car off-road and since we were driving so far in a single stint, I decided to give the car a full inspection.

Under Pressure

My first order of business was checking the tires. On Tuesday, I noticed that our tires looked low. As luck would have it, I carry a tire pressure stick at all times, so I whipped it out of my purse, stuck it into the tires, and got 30 PSI on each tire. The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet calls for pressures of 33 PSI, but that’s on stock tires. We’re running a different LT class rubber that’s an entirely different size, with a different load rating, and with a maximum pressure of 80 PSI. The wheels are a smaller diameter, too.

In previous updates, I noted that the CrossCab drove fine on its run from Los Angeles to Flagstaff. My only complaint about the driving feel, and this was shared by Griffin, was that the vehicle felt somewhat mushy at speed. I chalked that up to the huge tires.

There are countless online calculators that use factors like Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR), GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating, you guessed right), tire size, curb weight, original tire pressure, max tire pressure, and load rating to determine the safe pressure for your new oversized tires. I used a bunch of them, and also calculated by hand. I didn’t get consistent answers, and instead ended up with a range of 33 PSI to 67 PSI. Not super helpful. Ultimately, I went old-school: I set the tire pressure, then used lipstick to see if the pressure was too high or too low. Normally, you’d use chalk, but I didn’t have any, so lipstick it was. I went as high as 59 PSI, but that was too much. The tires seemed happy carrying the Murano at 47 PSI. I will probably back it down some more.

The rest of the car passed my inspection. No leaks, fluids look good, and the only real damage from off-roading remains just the fake front skid plate and the slightly beat-up exhaust system.

Nothing’s Boring Around A CrossCab

I thought the drive was going to be so boring that I wouldn’t have much to say for this update, but gee, I was wrong. We didn’t even leave Flagstaff before getting hit by a large snowstorm. I didn’t plan on testing the snow performance of the tires until I got back home to Illinois, but I guess the weather had other plans.

I was immediately impressed. The Vredestein Pinza ATs are slapped with “M+S” on their sidewalls, which means they should be good enough for mud and snow. In my experience, the Pinzas are not as good as a dedicated snow tire. However, they did seem to track better than the standard rubber you’ll find on most cars. Slip was minimal, braking was acceptable, and the tires gave me enough confidence to push through the storm without fear of getting stuck or sliding off the road.

Admittedly, I’ve been a fan of Vredestein tires since 2017, long before I even started writing about cars. One of my Smarts rocks Quatrac 5 tires, and those have served me well in Midwestern weather.

The CrossCab, Pinza ATs, and I seemed to make a great team. Forward progress was easy and constant, even when I-40 was white from unplowed snow. I don’t even recall seeing the stability control or traction control lights. The CrossCab’s roof was also merciful and didn’t leak freezing slush on us.

The storm we found in Flagstaff stuck around for maybe an hour of travel and several dozen miles or so. But eventually, we got through it, the roads dried up, and it was just endless Arizona and then New Mexico for hundreds of miles. My only note here is that the fuel economy held well, getting consistently above 20 mpg. It was a night and day difference from the run from Los Angeles. If anything, the CrossCab felt a little more sprightly, too.

The tune changed once we hit Albuquerque, where raindrops suddenly turned into fluffy flakes as a snowstorm churned out the white stuff. This storm hit with the same intensity as the one in Flagstaff, but the result was worse. This time, there were just tons of semi-trucks on the route, and they all slowed to a 15 – 20 mph crawl. We were stuck behind walls of semis for what had to be two hours. To be fair to the truckers, the roads were a bit treacherous. It seemed the truckers who dared to go faster ended up in ditches.

But it was still easygoing for us, as the Murano was barely bothered by the snow. The tires kept us firmly planted, and there wasn’t a single time I thought “oh shit!” – which great, in my book. The bum wheel bearing seems to be doing okay. The wheel is still pretty tight, and the noise level is still relatively low.  The general consensus from the team is to just keep monitoring it.

A David Tracy Special

Unfortunately, the snow delay meant that we didn’t reach our overnight hop in Lubbock, Texas, until 1:30 AM, or about two hours later than originally estimated. Griffin was also saddened that he accidentally chose a “David Tracy-level” hotel.

We are at a Days Inn, and I’ll be honest with you, this place is somewhat rough. We found broken beer bottles in the parking lot, some, we’ll say, eccentric hotel guests, and at least one shattered door. This place has seen far better days. Griffin apologized, but you know what? I love it!

Look, I get to stay in all kinds of fancy hotels on press trips. I’ve been to resorts that probably cost automakers at least $1,000 a night. But you know what? Most of them were boring. Yes, they were nice, clean, and lavish. But few of these hotels ever have a “wow” factor. They’ll have a theme, sure, but it’s rare that I’m sending photos home to my wife saying, “Oh my gosh, look at this.”

The exception to the rule is when an automaker puts journalists up in a historic hotel or building, or puts us up in a really special place. I enjoy seeing what a hotel design looked like several decades ago or even a century ago. A lot of these historic hotels have been renovated and turned into luxury lodging. But there are also tons of discount hotels all around America that are housed in buildings that were probably considered somewhat special several decades ago.

I like discount hotels because they give a window into what hotels were like in the past, but without the fresh coats of paint, new facades, and complete overhauls. It’s so interesting to see weirdly shaped and often deep swimming pools, huge atriums, and motel/apartment-style rooms where the doors lead directly to the outside. I’m also somewhat entertained by how these hotels sometimes have renovations, but they’re delightfully bizarre with rooms filled with crooked light switches and duplicates of the same picture on the walls.

Sometimes, when I’m on a solo trip, I will intentionally choose hotels like this just to be able to experience a weird hotel design without paying a ton of money. So, don’t apologize, Griffin.

In short, yesterday was a lot of fun. I got to test the CrossCabriolet in the snow and sleep in a weird hotel. I’m happy! Actually, more than that, I’m in love. We’ve now driven the CrossCab roughly 1,400 miles, and with each mile, I fall deeper in love. Why must I adore cars that most people have either forgotten or just outright hate? The CrossCab gets tons of attention, it eats up miles with ease, it’s comfortable, and dare I say, ours looks pretty great! This crossover might have been an abysmal failure, but it’s already won my heart. I’ve been asking the team about what will happen when we’re done with the CrossCab, because, depending on what happens, I’d love to keep it with me. I now see why Richard Hammond ends up buying his Top Gear challenge cars.

Anyway, today is going to be a short day. We’ll drive 6.5 hours from Lubbock to San Marcos, where we’ll hopefully meet up with you lovely readers. I hope to see you there!