Top UK band Blue’s lead singer Duncan James chose a Nissan Murano 3.5 V6 to drive from venue to venue for their recent UK “Best of Blue” tour, which started in Sheffield on 25 June and took in seven cities with the grand finale over three days at Wembley Arena on July 7/8/9.

Duncan commented: “I first spotted the Murano whilst in the States and thought it looked great. When I heard they were now available in the UK I just had to have one.” Nissan’s Murano is a crossover between a 4x4 and a luxury saloon. It first went on sale in December 2002 across the pond and UK sales started in March 2005. Already more than half this year’s allocation has been sold. With the standard specification on the Murano being so high – 18” alloys, a Bose stereo, a colour rear-view camera, leather upholstery, a DVD satellite navigation system, and xenon headlamps are just a few of the standard features – Duncan didn’t have to spend ages choosing what to have. There is however one optional extra available, a DVD player. Duncan wasted no time ordering one for his car. Powered by the same 3.5-litre V6 engine as the 350Z to give sub 9 seconds acceleration to
62mph, the Murano is priced at £29,995. Yes, even celebrities can spot value when they see it.

Named after an expensive brand of Venetian glassware, the Murano is Nissan's answer to the Lexus RX300, BMW X5, Volkswagen Touareg. Nissan sees it as being a 'crossover' vehicle rather than an out-and-out 4x4, combining the attributes of an offroader, an MPV and a large, comfortable family saloon. It follows a similar theme to the Mitsubishi Outlander (though the Murano is considerably larger, more powerful and more expensive).

Nissan have taken the unusual step of equipping the Murano with just one power plant, a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine (234bhp) which Is also fitted in the 350Z coupe, the Murano is a very different proposition to Nissan's other large 4x4s, the workhorse Terrano and Patrol or the luxury-utility Pathfinder, a Land Rover Discovery rival.

Nissan is quite realistic that it's going to appeal to urban and suburban families who want a striking-looking, high-riding holdall. This vehicle is not aimed at farmers or hardcore country types. It features a four-wheel drive system similar to that of the smaller XTrail, with front-wheel drive only in normal driving conditions and torque sent to the rear axle if a loss in traction is detected. That's about as much off-roading ability as the Murano is ever likely to need. Coming with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) auto gearbox only, UK Muranos are fully equipped with sat-nav, leather upholstery, a Bose sound system and all mod cons - the only options available are the paint colours.

The price all-in is £29,800. Very simple to drive, with an excellent driving position and great view of the road all round bar a little blind spot to the rear each side. Just in case you have problems reversing, there are Nissan's rear-view cameras, complete with dash-mounted colour monitor. The cabin is well laid-out although the foot operated parking brake takes some getting use to. The CVT gearbox is easy to use and absolutely silky smooth when left to shift itself, though there are six artificially-created 'gears' you can select manually if you want to do some ‘gear shifting’. These are selected via the shift lever, sequential-style, and are well-placed and fast-responding.