If you are shopping a used Nissan Murano in mid October 2026, you are probably looking at a 2015-2024 third-generation car, and aside from a rare 2016 hybrid, that means a 3.5-liter V6 with a CVT. The checks that matter most are the CVT's behavior and service records, the ABS actuator recall chain on 2015-2018 cars, and a clean title. The 2025 redesign dropped the CVT for a nine-speed automatic and a turbo four, but those are still new enough to cost real money.
The Murano sells on comfort and looks, which is exactly why some sellers lean on photos and skip the paperwork. A ten-year-old V6 crossover with leather and a panoramic roof can be a great used buy or an expensive transmission job, and you will not tell the difference from the listing.
Which years you are actually choosing between
Car and Driver says the Murano was last redesigned for 2015 and got only minimal updates until the 2025 model, and that every U.S. Murano except the short-lived hybrid used the 3.5 V6 and a CVT. EPA's fueleconomy.gov listings back that up, with the V6 and CVT in front- and all-wheel drive from 2015 through 2024, a supercharged 2.5 hybrid with a CVT listed only for 2016, and the 2.0 turbo with a nine-speed automatic for 2025. Car and Driver's tested 2018 V6 hit 60 mph in 7.3 seconds, and it says the new engine is rated at the same 23 mpg combined as the old one, so you are not losing much by buying older.
For 2026, Car and Driver notes all-wheel drive became standard and the front-drive SV was dropped. That matters if you see a "2026 FWD" listing; it is probably a mistyped year. The older two-door Murano CrossCabriolet ran from 2011 to 2014 and, per Car and Driver's 2014 send-off, sold so slowly that some states reportedly had zero registered. If you find one, treat parts availability for the top and body panels as your first question.
Living with the CVT
Car and Driver says the new turbo-four and nine-speed setup is preferable to the old CVT, which is about as close as a review gets to saying what owners already know: the CVT is the part you worry about. So look, drive the car cold and warm, hold steady throttle around 30-45 mph, and pay attention to shudder, whine, flaring revs or a delay pulling away. Ask for CVT fluid service records. A seller who calls the fluid "lifetime" and has no receipts is asking you to carry that risk. A pre-purchase inspection with a scan for stored transmission codes is cheap next to a replacement.
Recalls: the ABS actuator chain and more
When we pulled NHTSA's recall list for 2015-2024 Muranos on October 14, 2026, it returned 10 campaigns, and five of them involve the ABS actuator. The early ones, 15V-364 and 16V-193, dealt with contaminated valves and damaged O-rings. Then 16V-636 and 18V-601 covered actuator pumps that can leak brake fluid onto an internal circuit board. 19V-807 pulled in 2015-2018 cars that were previously unrepaired or had been inspected and judged not to need a repair, and expanded the population, with dealers replacing the actuator. Nissan's warning is blunt: if the ABS light stays on more than 10 seconds after startup, park the vehicle outdoors away from other vehicles or structures and do not drive it. If a test-drive car does that, you are done.
Other campaigns are narrower. 21V-170 covers some 2020 Muranos whose transverse link can separate from the ball joint, 21V-402 covers 2020 steering knuckles or rear axle housings with bad heat treatment, and 19V-654 fixed rear camera settings on 2018-2019 cars. Our Nissan recall check by VIN page shows how to confirm what is still open.
What the VIN tells you
We ran sample patterns through NHTSA's free vPIC decoder on October 14, 2026. A 2015 5N1AZ2MH pattern and a 2019 5N1AZ2MS pattern both came back as a Murano with the 3.5 V6, built in Canton, and both listed the drive type as 4WD, even though Nissan sells it as all-wheel drive. We used partial VINs, so vPIC flagged them as incomplete; run the full 17 characters and match them to the title. Our Nissan VIN decoder guide covers the rest.
Title and accident history
A recall screen will not show a crash, a flood brand or a rolled odometer. CARFAX says its reports include title, odometer, ownership and accident data. As of mid October 2026, one runs about $5.50 through us as a guest or about $4.50 as a member, and a CARFAX plus AutoCheck bundle is about $6.75, against roughly $39.99 to $44.99 retail. Confirm at checkout. We are a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller and are not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian. If you want something smaller, our used Nissan Rogue buying guide covers Nissan's compact; if you need a third row, see the used Toyota Highlander buying guide.
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