Murano's elegant vibe comes at relatively little cost

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen in the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News magazine published monthly out of Folsom, California.

Sacramento, California -- The Nissan Murano sneaks up on you.

It's a midsize crossover sport-utility vehicle now in its third generation, and it's not typically mentioned among some of the other heavyweights in that segment.

However,  passengers who stepped into my 2019 Nissan Murano Platinum AWD tester offered up high praise, with no prompting from me.

"Hey, this is really nice," said one.  "What a beautiful ride," said another.  Yet another loved the Murano on the roll: "Smoothest ride I've had in a long time."

Passenger volunteers also kept asking: How much does this "luxury" SUV cost?

Well, it's not a $60,000 vehicle.  In fact, the generously loaded tester wore a bottom line of $46,420.  The only extra-cost option in that price was a mere 245 bucks for carpeted floor mats.

And then there's this: U.S. News & World Report named the 2019 Murano the "Best 2-Row SUV for the Money."

I agree that the Murano looks and feels very much like a much more expensive sport-ute, which is probably a good reason that its buyers assume they've stolen one off the Nissan lot.  My tester looked especially elegant with a rich "Deep Blue Pearl" paint job, set off with a striking "Cashmere" interior motif. The 20-inch "Dark Hyper Silver Wheels" didn't hurt either.

The SUV's upper-end feel also was bolstered by a super-long list of safety and security features -- automatic emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alert and an intelligent forward collision warning system were among the lineup -- and an even longer list of comfort and convenience features.  This latter grouping included a Bose premium audio system, heated rear seats and a motion-activated power liftgate.

Yes, I was feeling pretty spoiled rolling down the road, like maybe someone sneaked some Nissan badges onto a Mercedes-Benz SUV.

How did it drive?  Like a dream.  There was the aforementioned smoothness, and Murano's 3.5-liter, 260-horsepower V-6 responded with authority when asked.  Handling was razor sharp in slalom runs, and I have no doubt that the Murano could hold its own on unpaved surfaces.

Heaven forbid, however, that I would do such a thing and put a scratch on that Deep Blue Pearl paint surface.

Fuel mileage was pretty good at 20 miles per gallon in the city and 28 mpg on the highway.

Craving luxury for less?  This Murano deserves your attention.

Très bien: Pagenaud silences the skeptics at Indy

The Indianapolis 500 was run for the 103rd time on May 26, when Mark Glover attended his 57^th 500.

IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud arguably had the greatest month of May of all time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He won the mid-month IndyCar Grand Prix at the track, then won the pole position for the Indianapolis 500 and finished things off Sunday by edging Northern California's Alexander Rossi in a breathtaking, 13-lap, high-speed duel in the Indiana sunshine.

The $2.66 million Indy 500 winner's check presented to Pagenaud at Monday's victory banquet felt pretty good too, I'm sure.

But it was so much more than even all of that.

Pagenaud entered the month of May as a man seemingly on the brink of a big fall.  He was winless in 2018, and when you drive for the Roger Penske-run super team, that was like a top-tier PGA golfer missing the cut of every tournament he entered in a year.  The rumor mill had Pagenaud on the chopping block.

Ironically, Rossi's name was being whispered as one of the drivers most likely to replace Pagenaud on the Penske team.

That all went away on Sunday as Pagenaud turned in a nearly flawless performance, leading 116 of the race's 200 laps and putting a couple of blazing passes on Rossi in the final laps ... as electrifying a race-ending showdown as I've ever seen in all my years at Indy.

The crowd loved it.

Pagenaud, emotions flying somewhere in a sub-orbital zone after the checkered flag fell, opted to roll his Chevrolet-powered machine to the finish line, climb out and salute the fans.  It was a perfect example of what makes the Frenchman so irresistibly likable.  He's long been relentlessly smiling and buoyant, even amid heartbreak.

How much of a gentleman is Pagenaud?  He actually apologized to the fans and officials for taking so long to have his car pushed into victory circle for the traditional post-race celebration of milk, high-fives and kisses.  Rival drivers came up and happily congratulated the man who beat them all on Sunday.  Unprompted, Pagenaud praised Rossi's spirited, all-out drive at the end, noting that Rossi competed like a gentleman.

In short, a nice guy won the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, with a performance that will long endure in Indy lore.

And those skeptics who questioned Pagenaud's future when May began? ... Bid them adieu.

Pick your Penske, or maybe one of Carpenter's crew

The Indianapolis 500 will be run for the 103rd time on May 26. Mark Glover will be attending his 57^th 500.

It would be easy to break down the 103rd Indianapolis 500 into a tale of two teams -- one the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut run by Roger Penske and the other overseen by the super-popular Indiana native, Ed Carpenter.

But that's assuming nothing strange will occur over 500 miles this coming Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Yeah, right.

And throw in the fact that this is the most competitive 33-car field in the history of the storied event, with just 1.8 seconds separating the pole position speed from the slowest qualifier.

Having said that, I stubbornly believe the winner will come out of either the Penske camp or the Carpenter camp.  Combined, they locked in six of the first eight starting positions, have serious Indy 500 experience and consistent high speed.  What's not to like?

Among the Penske squad, defending race champion Will Power is, in my view, the most dangerous.  He knows how to drive this race and is a bulldog when things are on the line late.  He showed that last year, taking a car that was not the best in the first of the race and then beating everybody late.

Penske pilot Josef Newgarden, starting eighth, is likewise a charger with money on the line.  And don't forget about Helio Castroneves, aiming for a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 win, starting 12th and seemingly flying below the radar this year.  Castroneves has long been a master of placing his car near the front with 50 miles to go, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the mix with 10 laps remaining on Sunday.

But if I had to pick one driver out of the Penske crowd, it would be pole winner Simon Pagenaud, whose car has looked like a perfectly tuned racing machine.  Pagenaud reportedly has been under the gun for not meeting Penske's high standards, yet he has shown nothing but grim determination all month, chasing down five-time IndyCar series champion Scott Dixon to win the IndyCar Grand Prix on May 11 and nailing down the 500 pole position with a virtuoso qualifying run last Sunday.

Among the Carpenter crowd, I favor the team owner, Ed Carpenter.  So does all of Indianapolis, with thousands all but begging for a win for the beloved local driver.  I picked Carpenter to win it last year, and he came up one position short.  I like him again this year.  If I had to choose between him and Pagenaud, I'd give the edge to Carpenter's expertise at negotiating the 2.5-mile Indianapolis oval.

Can Carpenter's teammates, Ed Jones and Spencer Pigot -- relatively unknown names among casual fans of the sport -- pull it off?  Absolutely.  They've been fast all month.

Same goes for Alexander Rossi, the Northern California native, who won the 100th running of the Indy 500  in 2016 thanks to masterful fuel-conservation strategy.  Rossi has shown good pace this year and demonstrated his highly improved oval track skills in the 2018 event.

How about an "Are You Kidding Me" dark horse?  Watch for 19-year-old Colton Herta, a second-generation IndyCar driver who already notched a series win in March in the IndyCar Classic at the Circuit of the Americas road course in Texas.  That made Herta, 18 at the time, the youngest winner in IndyCar series history.

Herta starts fifth on Sunday, and he appears to be absolutely fearless at Indy, which has intimidated and broken the spirit of many a driver over the decades.  Not Herta.  He just likes to go fast.  If he wins, he would become the youngest winner of the 500 by far, easily surpassing Troy Ruttman, who captured the 1952 classic at the age of 22.

Now, THAT would be a story.

2019 Ford Ranger: return of the midsize marvel

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen in the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News magazine published monthly out of Folsom, California.

Sacramento, California -- Generally speaking, I'm not the truck driving type ... not because I don't like them, but my current urban/suburban lifestyle doesn't necessarily lend itself to parking a sizable pickup in the driveway.

Unless, say, I need to pick up a full-size couch at the furniture store.

But a recent week in the new 2019 Ford Ranger XLT SuperCrew 4X2 went a long way toward tempting me to consider a long-term relationship with a pickup.

The Ranger is back after a seven-year layoff.  With pickups a hot-selling item these days, Ford figured a midsize truck would be a popular option for folks who don't necessarily need a work site/ranch-size truck.

Works for me.  With its easy-to-handle size and a cargo-convenient, five-foot bed, the Ranger hits the right notes for the urban/suburban jungle.  And yes, it would be a good addition to anyone managing ranch acreage or a busy building site.

My tester looked sharp in "Hot Pepper Red" exterior paint and attractive sculpting on the front end.

As a driver, the 2.3-liter, turbo-4 engine made significant noise in the low gears but settled into a nice rhythm in freeway cruise mode.  Also, the ride was considerably truck-like in low revs, but smoothed out in the higher end.

Performance was no problem with the 270-horsepower power plant giving me all I needed when it was time to enter the freeway wars.  Hill climbs were likewise brisk and relatively effortless.  The Ranger held the line well on twisty mountain roads.

Fuel mileage on my ride was 21 miles per gallon in the city and 26 mpg on the highway.  The tester's bottom line price of $36,190 was pretty much spot-on, given the solid safety/security/drive-assist features; those included hill-start assist, cross-traffic alert and lane-keeping assist. My ride also had the Sport Appearance Package.

Dash controls were thoughtfully laid out, and interior space in the back of the passenger cabin was pretty good for a midsize truck.

One annoyance was a quick-on-the-draw pre-collision sensing system that lit up behind my steering wheel a couple of times when a vehicle well ahead of me was making a normal turn into a driveway.  I appreciate a warning, but truth be told, I was never in danger of an imminent crash.

Overall, it's good to see the Ranger back on the road.  It's a nice effort by Ford, offering a sensible truck option for those who like their pickups a little less large.