[Vader]

Greetings All,
I have nothing to drive so I thought that I may as well join this most excellent forum! A brief intro: I ordered a summit white SLT2 with red brick and sunroof 3 or 4 weeks ago and have been told that my build date will be this week (w/o Mar.5). I live in New Brunswick on Canada's east coast and my previous vehicle was an '03 Murano. I was a very early adopter with that model as well and of course had all kinds of problems with it, proving that old adage, and yet here I am again. Go figure! Plus I had sworn off domestic cars a long time ago, but I did all the usual research and test drives etc., and there just wasn't anything out there that turned my crank. I just happened to spot an Acadia on a lot and more I investigated it, the more it seemed like the right fit for me. Time will tell, but at least it looks like I will avoid the first half dozen recalls or so! If mine does in fact get built this week I hope that doesn't hyperspace like some of yours did for too long. Oh, and if someone has pics of what the mud guards looks like on a vehicle, I love to see them.
Cheers!

 

[admin]

Welcome Vader, and congrats on the purchase of such as awesome vehicle! Hopefully this forum can help hold you over until your Acadia arrives. We look forward to pics when you get it. I'm a big fan of the Murano and FX. Other than the first year bugs, how did you like that thing?

As for mud guards, pics are here - http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=210.msg3255#msg3255

 

[Vader]

Welcome Vader, and congrats on the purchase of such as awesome vehicle! Hopefully this forum can help hold you over until your Acadia arrives. We look forward to pics when you get it. I'm a big fan of the Murano and FX. Other than the first year bugs, how did you like that thing?

As for mud guards, pics are here - http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=210.msg3255#msg3255

Thanks for the quick response. That was helpful. The mud guards are bigger or more accurately, deeper than I thought they'd be. I tend to get off the beaten track fairly often, so they could be a problem for me. I guess I will just have to be more diligent with the washing.
Regarding my Murano, I agree, it is a well engineered vehicle and it worked well when it was working, but the following is a list of the problems in the 4 years that I had it: 3 or 4 wheel bearings, the main computer, an alternator, all brakes and rotors needed replacing, one speaker would cut out regularly, the back liftgate latch would stick and I'm sure that there were other things that I'm forgetting. Anyhow, most of this was fixed under warrantee and in spite of the hassle, I still liked the vehicle. Hopefully my Acadia won't have the early adopter jinx!

 

[admin]

There are two types of mud guards. I believe those pics are the molded version. There's also a "contoured" version which I think will be smaller (more ground clearance), although I'm not sure anyone here has had that type installed on their acadia yet.

When I replace my G35 (the Acadia is my wife's vehicle), I'm considering a newer Murano (I love the FX, but it's probably too rich for my blood). To be fair, though, while I've sat in many of them, I've never test driven one yet...

 

[Vader]

There are two types of mud guards. I believe those pics are the molded version. There's also a "contoured" version which I think will be smaller (more ground clearance), although I'm not sure anyone here has had that type installed on their acadia yet.

When I replace my G35 (the Acadia is my wife's vehicle), I'm considering a newer Murano (I love the FX, but it's probably too rich for my blood). To be fair, though, while I've sat in many of them, I've never test driven one yet...

If you ever were to take a murano for a test drive, I suspect that it wouldn't dissapoint. It really has a great motor (same as yours, no?) and the most striking thing to me was, with the CVT, although it was a tad sluggish out of the gate, for the first while when I would line up a car for a pass on a 2-lane, I would have to let off before I reached the car that I was passing so I didn't run into their arse before the opposite lane was clear. When you stomp it, it goes straight to the powerband and stays there. Maybe your G35 has CVT too, so you already all this, but I don't remember if it does or not. One dissapointment for me though, besides the suspect reliability that I experienced, was that I never really came to close to the stated gas milage figures. Still, if it would have come out in a Hybrid for '07, I probably would have bought another one. I wanted to do my bit for the environment this go around, but I sell real estate, so I need a bit of room and at least a little off road capability and I considered the Highlander Hyrbrid, but, believe it or not, it costs more than the loaded Acadia that I ordered, at least up here, and that's hard to justify. So, perhaps I'll buy some carbon credits and put the hammer down, guilt free for another 4 years. Surely, we'll have some more fuel effiecient choices in this segment by 2011!

 

[admin]

Yup, same engine, but pretty different tuning. (240 vs 280hp) The G doesn't have CVT, in fact I've never even been IN a car with CVT, much less driven one. The VQ engine is one of the best in the world (the only engine to make it to the Wards Best Engines list all 13(?) years of its existence! But packing that much performance into the V6 does take its toll on fuel efficiency. If I treat my G like a sports car, I've gone as low as 14.5 MPG! Normally I get closer to 19 (90% city driving) which is in line with their 18/25 rating. Basically, the Acadia and the G35 get practically identical gas mileage!