2012’s The Bad 8 – Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet

We get ideas. Some of us go on Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank to face snide remarks from Kevin O’Leary. Others find rejection after looking for investors in a more conventional manner. Some of our ideas end up as products which appear on late night TV, heralded by pitchmen with load voices who use phrases like “Call Now” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” And a few of those ideas, the very best of those ideas, end up dominating the global marketplace.

One morning, an employee at Nissan woke up with the idea of removing the Murano’s roof and two rear doors. A retractable hardtop seemed appropriate at first – it’s how convertibles are made these days – but in the end, a softop took over as le toit du jour. 

This is the sort of idea that’s normally preceded by the idea generator saying something like, “I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me,” after which those who finished listening to the idea say, “Yeah, you’re crazy.” Only the listeners didn’t say anything of the kind. In fact, they came out with encouraging responses.

The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet is useless. The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet is ugly. Pair the two together – uselessness and ugliness – and you have a vehicle that tarnishes the Murano’s good name and easily earns itself a spot in The Bad 8. Thankfully, Nissan Canada saw this one coming and, so far, has rejected the notion of importing the Murano CrossCabriolet.

Alternatives: Flying to Napa for a wine-tasting weekend away with your girlfriends and renting something that doesn’t remind anyone of the Murano CrossCabriolet Jennifer left back in her garage in Knoxville. Forgetting this obsession with wind-in-your-hair and opting for a hardtop Range Rover Evoque. Maintaining this obsession with wind-in-your-hair buy buying an absolutely loaded $42,830 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara.

Base USD Price: $44,540

It Sucks, But… it reminds us not to take beatiful cars for granted.

Sales Stats: Sales of the Murano CrossCabriolet are rolled in to the figures for the Murano, as a whole, a nice vehicle which reported a 2.1% decline through the first eleven months of 2011. Monthly and yearly sales figures for the Nissan Murano range can be viewed here.