2004 Nissan Sentra S Sedan 4-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

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Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet being phased out, no replacement planned

Over the years, I've been given many nicknames - a few of them have even been repeatable around small children. One such moniker is "Mr. Other Makes," a title given to me because of my predilection for sifting through eBay Motors seeking out automotive misfits and orphans. I've got a soft spot for the dreamers and automakers who take big chances on beancounter-enraging flights of fancy.
I count Nissan among that bunch, because for every safe-as-houses Altima or Sentra that rolls out of its factory gates, the Japanese automaker has often secreted away a little funding for white-space niche vehicles that any sane person wouldn't expect to pencil out. Some, like the Juke, have proven to be massive hits. Others, like the GT-R, have become icons. And then there are models like the Murano CrossCabriolet, a segment-bending mashup the likes of which we haven't seen since the AMC Eagle Sundancer.
Yesterday, upon revealing the new third-generation Murano ahead of its New York Auto Show debut, we reported "the writing appears to be on the wall" for the midsize crossover's novel convertible cousin. It appears we were right. Autoblog can now confirm that the CrossCabriolet will die at the end of this model year, and our source at Nissan tells us unequivocally, "there is no plan for a next-generation Murano CC."

GT-R takes on Altima V8 Supercar and Leaf Nismo in Nissan time attack special

One of the support races for the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar race in Australia was a Nissan showcase in the form of a time attack challenge: at the starting line were the Nissan Leaf Nismo RC, a GT-R and an Altima V8 Supercar. The 80-kilowatt Leaf Nismo RC was given a seven-second head start on the 545-horsepower GT-R and a 26-second lead on the 600-hp Altima V8 Supercar in hopes that it could get around the 3.21-kilometer course first.
Nissan's not afraid to burn the Leaf Nismo RC's rubber at the track, recently letting video series Translogic hit the kerbs, and it's put it up against some competition, having raced a Tesla Roadster - and lost. The odds were a bit better this time, but it wasn't the finish the hosts expected. Now a race commentator, the driver in the GT-R, Neil Crompton, finished on the podium of the Toohey's 1000 race in an R32 GT-R in 1992.
You can watch the hard-fought time attack in the video below. Skip ahead to 3:43 if you just want the action, but Crompton's recap of every driver interview ever is worth a watch at 2:41.

Honda, Nissan and Mazda recalling 3 million vehicles for airbag inflators

Three million more vehicles can be added to the worldwide tally to be repaired for the faulty airbag inflators supplied by Takata. Honda, Nissan, and Mazda have all issued recalls to replace the bad part, including about 1.2 million of them in North America. NHTSA has been investigating all three companies, plus Chrysler and Toyota, for potentially affected vehicles.
Honda is recalling roughly 1.02 million Civic, CR-V, Odyssey and Element models In North America, built between April 2000 and October 2002. Mazda needs to repair 14,794 units of the RX-8 and Mazda6, and Nissan has 228,000 vehicles in North America to be fixed.
Chrysler is also starting what it calls a "regional field action" to replace the inflators in the 2006 Dodge Charger, according to a company spokesperson. The company says that it has not yet found the problem in any of its vehicles, but it's being done "out of an abundance of caution." The final number of Chargers affected will be announced later this week.