IMAGINE if Nissan put a 350Z into the mix and added rear seats, five doors, a higher body and four-wheel drive...Well, it has. The result is callred the Murano after the famous sculptured glass from Italy and is sure to be one of the smash (get it) hits of The Sunday Times Motor Show Live. The only wilder looking 4x4 making its UK debut at the show will be Nissan's Qashqai concept. The Murano is confirmed for sale. The Qashqai isn't. Yet...

The Murano is the size of a BWM X5 yet will cost less than an equivalently equipped X3 when it goes on sale early next year. It takes the 3.5-litre V6 engine from the 350Z, combines this with the X-Trail's electronic four-wheel drive system, and adds the toughness and versatility of the Patrol. In the US where 5000 are sold every month, it's the Murano's knock-out styling that has really grabbed people's attention. The Murano's designers say it looks like "sculpure in motion." Whatever. The Americans simply say it's hotter than a San Francisco's sidewalk in summer.

Park a Murano next to a 350Z and the relationship is obvious. And it's not just about big 18" alloys pushed to the extremities of the car. There are similarities in the lights, too. The relationship under the bonnet could not be closer with both sharing the same 3.5-litre V6 engine, detuned marginally in the Murano to around 240PS. The Murano gets its own automatic transmission, Xtronic, with a selectable manual mode and when the going gets wet or slippery, the electronic four-wheel drive system anticipates any loss of traction to react much faster, diverting torque as necessary.