In this age of down-sizing and down grading it's good to see something else that goes down will benefit consumers. Like the price of the new Nissan Murano ST. It's $4000 cheaper than the model it replaces.

Murano has undergone an unusual facelift. Every panel is new, the interior has been spruced up, yet it retains the same 3.5 litre V6 petrol engine, albeit tickled up in power, and also the CVT transmission, also tweaked.

We had thought perhaps that the same engine that powers the new 370 Z sports might find it's way under the Murano's bonnet.

What hasn't altered is the Murano's image. It still has looks to die for and is a sporty looking SUV in its own right. Put it next to some of the `boxy' competitors and it looks almost F1.

The exterior is now more refined, and interior more club-like than sporty, and the improvements to the power train, while they have not yielded any significant performance increase, have improved fuel economy and lowered emissions.

While Nissan is keen to push the sporty image of Murano, it remains more of an urban cowboy than a Kimberley conqueror.

Nissan interior changes reflect a slight change in direction for the vehicle: less sporty, a leather interior, perhaps indicating they see an opportunity to take advantage of the current financial circumstances in people down-sizing or perhaps down-grading, from more expensive European SUVs.

Not that there's much not to like about the Murano.

The ST is lower of the two equipment levels with Ti being top of the tree. Both are five seaters with Nissan happy to not contest the seven seat category.

At $45,990 the ST comes well appointed including leather-clad interior, although the seats are luxury cloth while the Ti gets leather pews.

The Ti also gets satellite navigation, reversing camera and rear park assist, power assisted rear gate and rear seats and heated front seats.

This package takes the Ti out to $55,890, so there's little change left from $10,000 to take the luxury package. In reality though it's like flying business class instead of first class. The ST is certainly not cattle class.

Murano has all wheel drive, but is more suited to the occasional gravel road than regular off-roading experiences.

Nissan has other options if you are more adventurous: Patrol, Pathfinder and to some extend X-Trail, none of which have the urban class of the Murano. There are not too many vehicles that have a 3.5 litre engine linked to a CVT transmission and in that the Murano may prompt some queries.

We thought the car was simply magnificent around town: smooth, refined, quiet.
But, if we needed to find some quick grunt, we found the CVT seemed to hold the engine back.

Remember, this is the same engine that punts around in the not-so-slow 350 Z sports.

As a premium family wagon, this is not supposed to be a racer, but it lacked the zip we would at least like to have in reserve.

We could not help but think what the Murano would be like linked to a DSG double clutch transmission like those used in other products such as Audi and VW.

Murano owners obviously like the CVT since more than 120,000 Muranos have been sold world wide in the past five years.

Another think we like about the Murano is simplicity: It is an easy car to drive in all respects. The ride is compliant, it has some understeer when being pushed hard around tight bends, but generally feels at home on tar. It does not particularly like bumpy roads, and neither will passengers.

The 3.5 litre V6 now puts out 191 kW of power and a hefty 336 Nm of torque at 4400 rpm. It runs on RON/95 fuel.

Towing capacity is rated to 1500 kg braked and 750 unbraked.

Given its size, Murano has a conservative luggage area of 402 litres with the seats upright and 838 litres with the rear seats folded. Nissan claim 10.9 litres/100km economy, but we only attained this type of return on the open road. Mostly, we were in the 13s.

Verdict: The ST offers a lot of car for the money, and it's a class act in appearance, both inside and out.