The Odd Nissan Juke Succeeded Where the Murano CrossCabriolet Couldn’t
Years ago, Nissan gave us the clumsy convertible SUV, the Murano CrossCabriolet. It wasn’t well-received by the general consumer market, and it wasn’t highly regarded by owners. Not long after, the manufacturer gave us an equally awkward-looking SUV, the Juke, but made some key changes. Both are the odd-ducklings of the SUV world, both produced by Nissan, but with so much hatred towards both, why does one continue to succeed while the other was a major flop?
The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet
The Nissan Murano is one of the brand’s more popular SUV options, but there is one version of the car that didn’t quite hit the mark. If you struggled between needing a reliable, spacious family vehicle but also desperately wanted a sports car, perhaps you took a chance on the awkward and impractical Nissan Murano Cross Cabriolet. It was one of the brand’s only convertible SUVs, thankfully, and while it was aimed at a very niche market, it was perhaps one of the brand’s weirdest looking flops.
What made the Nissan Juke better?
The Nissan Juke is another awkward looking compact SUV that’s made its way onto the Nissan production line, and it’s had a lot more success than the Murano CrossCabriolet — not that that says much. The Nissan Juke and Murano CrossCabriolet are both incredibly compact, not just from the outside but also from the inside. Neither offers any comfortable amount of space or practicality, but the Juke is far superior.
The Nissan Juke
One thing the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet was desperately missing was back doors. If you’ve ever tried to wrangle kids or backseat passengers around a front seat that leans forward because you don’t have any back doors, you know it can be a total nightmare. A bit of rain or inclement weather, and you are left standing there while your toddler crawls into the back seat of your Murano CrossCabriolet SUV simply because the brand decided to ditch back seats.
The brand learned this mistake and thankfully gave the frog-looking Juke a normal-sized door and useable backseat space — not enough to spread out and relax on a long summer road trip, but enough that you won’t be pulling your hair out if your coworkers ask you to carpool for lunch.
