Limousine Nissan Teana

Mitsuoka, a car manufacturing company in Japan, has launched Galue Limousine development model based on the latest version of the Nissan Teana.
 Mitsuoka Motors is a Japanese company specializing in automotive design style used by other companies to launch new models, domestic consumption. Himiko notably Roadster models developed based on Mazda MX-5, Galue Convertible Ford Mustang-based development, and sample Orochi ...

 Latest product Mitsuoka Galue Limousine is based on developing a new version of the Nissan Teana (below).

 Nissan Teana


These images introduce vehicles that Mitsuoka Galue Limousine announced and showed the tail-style blend of Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Clusters associated backlight suggests pretty small car Fiat 500 Italian.

 Galue Limousine car has many versions and two engine choices: 2.5L and 3.5L V6. This car will be available in the Japanese market in November, with prices ranging from 3.68 to 5.284 million yen (about 44,700 to 64,200 USD).

2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet revealed on Facebook

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet - Click above for slightly higher-res image

Yep, it's real. Nissan has just unveiled the 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet on its Facebook page. Incredibly, it's not nearly as much of a horror show as we'd feared. The transition to two-door form isn't so bad at all, and we're pleased to see that there's no Volkswagen Golf Cabrio-style basket handle. Still... weird. But hey, props to Nissan for having the guts to do some different things lately. First the Juke, now this.

In the photo caption, Nissan says the droptop Murano "delivers the open-air exhilaration of a convertible while
extending the versatility of the Murano in exciting new ways." Okay. Apparently, there's room for golf bags with the top up or down, too. This'll be interesting to see in greater detail, which we'll be doing this week in person at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Stay tuned..

Limousine Nissan Teana

Mitsuoka, a car manufacturing company in Japan, has launched Galue Limousine development model based on the latest version of the Nissan Teana.
 Mitsuoka Motors is a Japanese company specializing in automotive design style used by other companies to launch new models, domestic consumption. Himiko notably Roadster models developed based on Mazda MX-5, Galue Convertible Ford Mustang-based development, and sample Orochi ...

 Latest product Mitsuoka Galue Limousine is based on developing a new version of the Nissan Teana (below).

 Nissan Teana


These images introduce vehicles that Mitsuoka Galue Limousine announced and showed the tail-style blend of Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Clusters associated backlight suggests pretty small car Fiat 500 Italian.

 Galue Limousine car has many versions and two engine choices: 2.5L and 3.5L V6. This car will be available in the Japanese market in November, with prices ranging from 3.68 to 5.284 million yen (about 44,700 to 64,200 USD).

2011 Nissan Quest Official Photos and Info - Auto Shows

The Quest once again pins its hopes on funky styling.

When Nissan desperately craved a minivan to sell in the 1990s, it partnered with Ford to rebadge the Mercury Villager as the original Quest, an arrangement that lasted for another generation. The Villager was killed in the early 2000s, so Nissan then struck out on its own to create the funky third-gen Quest on the bones of the Altima sedan, but sales were terrible, generating rumors that the company would pull out of the segment altogether. A fourth Quest was in the cards, though, and to bring the van to life, Nissan found another partner: itself—specifically, the Japanese mother ship.
Indeed, the 2011 Nissan Quest is twinned with the Japanese-market Elgrand, a strategy that allows the automaker to hedge its bets against picky U.S. shoppers; if we don’t buy the thing, production ostensibly can be re-allotted to Japan. (That’s where this new Quest will be built, unlike the previous model, which was assembled in Canton, Mississippi.) It’s a strategy that makes sense, but might need to be enacted sooner rather than later: Innovative styling isn’t typically among minivan buyers’ highest priorities, and this new Quest is as bizarre-looking as its slow-selling predecessor. That said, we like this van’s samurai-helmet-meets-the-suburbs look, and its wraparound glass and slabby body sides create some visual drama—at least as much as you can expect from a minivan, anyway. The new model’s styling is based on that of the Forum concept, which was penned in the U.S.
Give Me More of Those Hot, Hot Features
Bold looks tend to turn off minivanites, but features and ease-of-use get them hot and bothered. As you’d expect, the Quest’s second and third rows fold to accommodate all the flat-pack furniture you can buy, but the chairs aren’t removable and don’t fold into the floor; instead, they fold forward to make a flat load surface, which Nissan notes allows constant access to the deep cargo well behind the third row. That well gets its own 60/40-split cover, too. Dodge, of course, offers the Stow ‘n Go second row, where the seats fold into the floor. In the Odyssey, the third row folds forward like the Quest’s, and must then be flipped back into the cargo well to create a flat load floor, which Nissan’s press materials imply is a terrible inconvenience.
But the Quest comes with its own inconveniences. Total passenger volume is about what you’d expect for the segment—all range from 160 to 170 cubic feet or so, depending on equipment—but the Quest’s non-removable seats eat up a fair chunk of cargo room when they’re flattened. At a maximum of 63.6 cubic feet behind the second row, it lags 20 to 30 cubes behind the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, and Dodge Grand Caravan. And its 108.4 cubic feet with the second and third rows folded trails the Odyssey by more than 40 cubic feet. (Admittedly, that Honda figure is with the seats pulled out, and only Toyota gives a figure for a folded, but installed, second row: 117.8 cubes.) The Quest is in line with its peers behind the third row, with 35.1 cubic feet available, though, and Nissan says that the step-in height through the sliding side doors is lower than on other minivans, which is a nice touch for both small kids and older folks.
Trims and Equipment Rundown—Take a Deep Breath
The Quest comes decently equipped to battle the segment leaders, but doesn’t appear to offer many innovations of the type that sway shoppers. The lineup starts with the $28,550 S, works through intermediate SV and SL trims, and is topped by the LE. (Pricing for the other trims is unavailable as of this writing, but we expect it to hew as close to the Japanese competition as the base price does.) The S could stand for “stripper” here, with the highlights of the features list being 16-inch steelies, cloth seats, cruise control, manual front seats, a four-speaker stereo, and keyless entry and starting. Move up a rung, and you add a leather-wrapped steering wheel, power-sliding side doors, 16-inch aluminum wheels, a six-speaker stereo with 4.3-inch color display, iPod and Bluetooth connectivity, a backup camera, and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.
The SL opens up the ability to add option packages, including a rear DVD entertainment system with 11-inch screen (the Honda and Toyota both offer much larger screens that feature split-display capability for multiple inputs), a set of two opening sunroofs, and a Bose package that adds to the DVD player a bunch of speakers and satellite radio. It also nabs roof rails, a power liftgate, heated and powered front seats, leather upholstery, and an easier-to-operate third-row folding mechanism. The full-boat LE includes all of the above save the optional dual sunroofs, and it’s the only way to get a built-in nav system, Nissan’s fancy air-purifying climate control, and a blind-spot warning system, which are all standard. It also has a power function for raising the third row.
One neat feature: The tire-pressure-monitoring system on all Quests has a feature first seen on the Infiniti QX56, whereby the hazard lights flash when air begins flowing into the tire, and the horn softly beeps when the desired pressure is reached.
Familiar Powertrain
The Quest powertrain consists of Nissan’s VQ35DE V-6 mated exclusively to a CVT; the engine is the same as the one in the Altima and Murano with which this van shares its platform, so we expect lively acceleration. The 253 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque found here are pretty much in line with the Odyssey (248 hp/250 lb-ft) and Sienna (265 hp/245 lb-ft) V-6s, but pale a bit in comparison to the Grand Caravan’s 283 hp and 260 lb-ft from its Pentastar V-6. The Quest, like nearly all of its competitors, routes its power only to its front wheels; the Sienna is the only one that can be ordered with all-wheel drive. Size-wise, the Quest pretty much falls in line with those three segment leaders, although it’s a bit narrower and taller than those offerings.

With engine output similar to its peers’, no huge advancements in minivan flexibility or fabulousness, and somewhat compromised cargo room, it’s going to be tough for the Quest to stand out. It seems Nissan is again depending on styling to separate its minivan—a dangerous path, as the company should well know—and it’s not as though the segment leaders have made any recent missteps. The new-for-2011 Odyssey and Sienna drive well and offer at least one standout feature this Quest doesn’t, and the 2011 Grand Caravan has taken big leaps forward in powertrain and interior refinement. We’re looking forward to gathering all these vans and seeing if the quirky Nissan can improve on the third-gen’s fourth-of-five showing in our last minivan comparo, but it seems this Quest—on paper—may end up where the old one left off when it goes on sale early next year. At least it looks pretty rad.

2010 Nissan Maxima SV Sport is a lot of car for a lot of coin

2010 Nissan Maxima SV Sport – Click above for high-res image gallery

Front-wheel drive is a funny thing. When originally introduced during the Thirties in the Cord 810 (then later in the awesome supercharged 812) and the Citroën Traction Avant, FWD was hailed as a major breakthrough, a wondrous technological innovation that allowed for lower ride height and greatly increased passenger space. Postwar consumers got a taste of the wonders of FWD with the iconic Citroën DS. At the top of its game in the Sixties, General Motors reintroduced FWD to American consumers with two remarkable luxury coupes: the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado and the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado. Come the Seventies, Citroën produced what is arguably the greatest GT coupe of that decade, the impeccable (and FWD) SM.



Roll the clock forward to the Eighties and suddenly everything was being tugged around by its front wheels. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all jumped head first onto the FWD bandwagon and, for the most part, they haven't looked back. Granted, Cadillac has rethought which wheels get driven, but with the exception of a dinosaur livery-mobile, there isn't a single rear-wheel-drive Lincoln to be found. Even Volkswagen got in on the transversely-mounted engine madness. This left only the Germans – namely Mercedes-Benz and BMW – to seriously carry the rear-wheel drive passenger car torch for nearly a decade. Sure, Lexus and Infiniti brought out some heavy hitting RWD sedans along with a raft of FWD offerings (M30 I30, G20 anyone?), but Acura never bothered.

The average gearhead hates FWD for all the right reasons (weight distribution, steering feel, the front tires being asked to both propel and turn, etc.), and during a recent discussion we had with a half-in-the-bag PR guy, [NAME REDACTED] exclaimed, "Front-wheel drive sucks!" So, how can a technology go from the penthouse to the doghouse like that? One answer (of many) comes from the Minnesotan economist/social philosopher Thorstein Veblen and his book The Theory of the Leisure Class. Here's a quick, ten-cent Cliff Note version: When electric lighting first appeared, only the rich could afford electric lights. As such, electrically lit dinners were considered romantic and desirable. However, once electrification trickled down to the unwashed masses, only the rich could afford both bulbs and candles. Hence, candlelit dinners became en vogue. Which – believe it or not – leads us very nicely to the 2010 Nissan Maxima SV Sport and its $38,384 asking price.
Granted, you can get a new Maxima for less scratch. The base car starts at "just" $30,460. But the car Nissan provided us has a price tag of nearly $40,000. You do get a lot car for that money, but at the end of the day, $38,384 is a big chunk o' change. So big, in fact, that you might be tempted to choose an Infiniti G37 sedan (beginning at just over $33,000), or even a Cadillac CTS (starts at $37,000). Two similarly-sized cars that are, as it happens, rear-wheel drive.

The Maxima's shape is one thing it has going for it. When the third-gen Altima was introduced in 2002, suddenly the once lofty Maxima looked an awful lot like its lower-priced platform mate. Then the Altima was redesigned and placed on Nissan's new D platform in 2007 and it still resembled the more pricey (and very long-in-the-tooth) Maxima. Finally, last year, Nissan brought us an all-new Maxima that didn't resemble anything.



A quick poll of the Autoblog staff reveals that almost all of us like the shape. From the blunted front end to the deeply sculpted sides to the fat, sexy haunches, there is little question that design-wise Nissan's biggest sedan has got the look. Though admittedly strange at first, the harpoon/fish hook head and tail lamps look sharp (no pun, no pun), especially when set off against a dark color. And these are some of the finest looking wheels we've seen on any car, let alone a big FWD sedan.

The interior's nearly as good as the exterior. First and foremost is that thick (we're talking BMW-thick) leather-wrapped steering wheel that is mercifully (nearly) free of button clutter. While all Maximas now ship with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), the large, almost oversized aluminum flappy paddles behind the wheel feel great. The seats are also thick, many-way adjustable and comfy. Though we'd like some more leg and hip bolstering – the seat bottom is a little flat – rear seat customers will enjoy their spacious perch. The instrument binnacle is intelligently designed and filled with big, legible gauges, exactly what one would need if you were to take Nissan up on its renewed 4DSC (Four-Door Sports Car) boast.



Many of us are also fans of the very Infiniti-like nav-cluster. Overall, the quality of the materials is on par with other entry-level luxury offerings with one big exception: The area surrounding the gear selector is not only dull, but almost undesigned. And if the car's got a CVT (i.e. no set speeds), why not follow BMW's lead and move the gear lever to the column so as to free up some space? A minor quibble, maybe, but that area was beneath (again with the no pun) the rest of the rather pleasingly pleasant interior.


One justification for the Maxima's pricey sticker is that lump of VQ goodness found under the hood. Heaping praise upon Nissan's wonderful V6 is like calling firefighters heroes – you just do it, and only the crazy will argue. Still displacing 3.5-liters – unlike the Z, G, M and FX, which have jumped up to 3.7-liters – the VQ35DE produces a whopping 290 horsepower and a stout 261 pound-feet of torque, more than enough to scoot the fairly big boy (190 inches, 3,565 pounds) to 60 mph in less than six seconds. In terms of potency, those 290 horsies are more than you get from 3.5-liter V6s found in the Accord (271 hp), Avalon (268 hp), Taurus (263 hp) or Mercedes-Benz E350 (268 hp). And way more than you get in a 211 hp turbocharged Audi A4. But none offer a CVT... (Note: FWD Audi A4s have a CVT)

Allow us to state up front that when CVTs first arrived on the scene they were nasty, despicable things that were constantly whirring, wheezing and searching for who knows what every time you buried your right foot. Much like automatic transmissions – only worse. That rant out of the way, the second generation of CVTs are actually... okay.



The first good one we experienced was in the cyber barge Lexus LS600hL, though we chalked up that transmission's okay-ness to the fact that Lexus had buried the shiftus interruptus beneath the brand's requisite nine tons of sound deadening. Besides, in a $120,000 automobile, the CVT had better be good. Then we got our paws on some down market CVTs – principally in Nissans like the Rogue, Versa and Cube. And you know what? Most of us like 'em just fine. They weren't Lexus wonderful, but they were a fifth the price.

In the Maxima, the CVT experience is better than in its smaller siblings, and about on par with the big, electric Lexus. In fact, for the first 20 minutes we were behind the wheel, we were unaware (fine – we forgot) that the car didn't have a regular old slush box. As our normal testing procedure begins with jamming up the curvaceous 110 freeway to Pasadena to fetch Drew Phillips and his photographic chops, we threw the tranny into manual mode and used the paddle shifters. That's right, the Maxima (like the LS600hL) has six faker-gear ratios (though the Lexus has eight) that allow it to behave just like an automated manual. It was only on suburban streets back in regular mode that we noticed the tach needle slowly rising and falling, as opposed to a regular automatic where the needle falls precipitously with each gear change.



So, how's the Maxima drive? Well, it's very quick. Stomp the gas and this sucker just goes for it. However, due to so much power spinning the front wheels, you are very aware that you are being pulled to extra-legal speeds, instead of pushed. To be fair, this has been a Maxima trait since they first started dropping VQs into the sedan. But in the 2010 Maxima, you really do notice all 290 ponies. The sensation is like holding onto a horse's reins. And torque-steer – the engine's tendency to try and rip the wheel from your hands when you throttle out of a corner – is an all day event.

While there's nothing inherently rotten about FWD, there is something unsettling about big horsepowered FWD cars – unless they've got a fancy way of fighting back against all that power, like in the power-chopping Mazdaspeed3 (fuel gets cut early in low gears at high RPM) or the unequal-tracked Citroen DS/SM (where the front wheels extend out further than the rear ones). With the Maxima, you're just left to arm wrestle the mighty motor. We hope you've been eating your Wheaties.



When you're not shredding apexes, the Maxima is a fairly cool customer. The ride is plush and plenty comfy, while the cabin is quiet and nicely shielded from wind and motor noise. Those big, beautiful wheels do make some racket, though. Nothing fatal, but you hear 'em. Should you choose to saunter through corners (instead of play Lewis Hamilton), the well-engineered chassis can carry plenty of speed around the bends. Just watch your right foot.

Far from a four-door sports car (sorry, Nissan), the Maxima SV Sport is a roomy, nearly-luxurious, semi-athletic steed. If we woke up tomorrow and (somehow) discovered we owned a copy, we'd be happy. But would we pay $38,000 for one? Short answer: No. There's nothing really wrong with the car, save for its sticker. Who then would consider a Maxima spec'd out like our test vehicle? Best we can figure, an Accord owner who is quite happy with his/her car but just wants something a little nicer, a little quicker and a whole lot more good looking. Then again, they might not. For our money, we'd take an Infiniti G37 sedan with the six-speed manual and pocket the extra $2,000. It's not that RWD is always better than FWD. But in this case, it is.
source by autoblog.com