Please help with my 07' SL Murano

I bought this car with 12miles two weeks ago and hate driving it. There are two problems. First, the car pulls to the left when driving. Second, the car is very sluggish when accelerating. It feels and sounds like its in the wrong gear(too low), I really have to mash the gas to get it going. When I am driving at different speeds(decel. & accel.) it feels like it shifts funny. It is really annoying when accelerating from a stop. My girlfriend drove it and said it felt like the parking brake was on. When I first start it up(cold) and a very few other times when accelarting from a stop it really has pep and you noticably feel the difference. But it does this only here and there, most of the time it’s that crappy sluggish, low gear feeling. I brought it to the dealer for the pull and the tranny/shifting issue they said they feel nothing wrong with it as far as the sluggishness but they did feel the pull and had to replace the strut. Well they replaced the strut and it still pulled and the service foreman went for a drive and saw this so I have to bring it in again on Monday . I really hate driving this car. Is there a test they can do to see about this shifting/sluggishness issue? Thanks very much.

When you bring it back test drive a new model with the same engine and transmission. Then you will know if there is a problem with the car or if it was designed that way. It will also give you a comeback to the guy who says “they feel nothing wrong with it as far as the sluggishness.”

Start keeping a written record of each visit and be prepared to keep returning it until you get it right. Save all the paperwork they give you and read up on the lemon law for your state at: //www.jdpower.com/cc/auto/bbb/lemon_law.jsp

While you didn’t tell us whether you actually drove a Murano prior to purchasing, I assume that you did so. Whether you did or not, I can tell you that these vehicles do tend to be fairly peppy, so it certainly seems like something is wrong with yours.

Since this vehicle has a CVT rather than a conventional automatic transmission, I am going to theorize that something is preventing the transmission from selecting the proper ratio when you accelerate. A clue to your vehicle having a problem with the CVT is your statement that it sometimes feels like it “shifts funny”. A CVT normally has no detectable shifts as a result of the very nature of that type of transmission. Then again, an engine hesitation problem could feel like a shift does in a conventional automatic transmission.

Either way, you have a problem–either with the engine hesitating or with something involving the CVT. My vote is for the CVT being the problem. Go back, insist (politely) that they fix the problem, and in the meantime, start researching the terms of the Lemon Law in your state. In most states, the dealership gets three tries at repairing a problem before you can invoke the Lemon Law.

Educate yourself now about the law, and drop a subtle hint that you are aware of the terms of the Lemon Law and that you are keeping track of the number of their repair attempts. This just might motivate them to actually fix the problem.