Whatever you think of the styling and the lacklustre drive, the X-Trail is a good car. It’s what you might call a safe bet – a car that will do everything you ask of it and then some.

You can spec it up to seven seats, add different layers of trim, or just settle back in the basic two-wheel drive model and feel good about spend your £23k bundle.

What it does lack is character. The old version was shaped like a brick but at least you wouldn’t lose it in a car park full of other SUVs.

Which also means potential buyers can look at models like the Honda CR-V and Kia Sportage and find little to choose between them. It might just come down to how it looks – and that’s where the X-Trail no longer has an edge…

Nissan’s 129bhp diesel engine sounds a little agricultural under acceleration – perhaps one of the pitfalls of using a more efficient 1.6 unit, rather than a 2.0.

At least the soundtrack fades when you get the X-Trail on a motorway and the cabin feels more refined than you might imagine.

Around town, the engine is sluggish and there is no sudden rush of acceleration like in most turbo vehicles. The power comes smoothly and with light steering, the X-Trail is easy to manoeuvre.

And because the Nissan is more economical than some key rivals, that will be more than enough to tempt cash conscious buyers in its direction…

While other SUVs are better and cheaper to drive, the X-Trail can boast a roomy cabin which is uber flexible. There is also the option of seven seats too.

Just don’t expect to squeeze two adults in the rear set – not unless they are members of the Chinese State Circus. Leg room is very tight.

In fact, you could argue that the X-Trail’s stablemate, the cheaper and slightly smaller Qashqai, does pretty much the same job and costs less.

And in this age of technology at our fingertips, where we can get perfectly good sat nav on a mobile phone, why do you have to spec the X-Trail up to a higher level just to get an in-car system?

Lashing down with wet snow here in the Cotswolds today – just the right weather for an SUV. Inside the X-Trail you just turn a transmission dial and the 4×4 cuts in to do everything for you. I know that because I’m given a visual update too.

That said, the X-Trail has the world’s tiniest media display screen on the dashboard! However, that might be tainted by the fact that last week’s Tesla has 19-inches of visual loveliness.

But the Nissan also features a information system in the instrument binnacle too, which gives you readings on just about everything. One is an info system for the 4×4, it shows how much power is being divided between front (normal setting) and rear wheels.

What’s amazing is how little power runs to the back wheels in slippery snow. It rarely seems to be above 20 per cent. Which then makes me wonder if we actually need 4×4 SUVs in the first place…

Whatever you think of SUVs the market for small, multi-purpose vehicles is on the increase. Lumbering giants that swallowed diesel at an alarming rate are history and they’re not coming back. Unless you’re a premiership footballer, of course.

Many of the X-Trails sold in this country won’t be 4x4s at all – buyers will opt for the two-wheel drive version that starts at about £23,000. And that means owners can expect more than 45mpg, with a modest 0-60mph of 11 seconds.

The Nissan isn’t class-leading at anything, especially compared to the Hyundai Santa Fe and new Honda CR-V, but it will tick the boxes for many people who want a ‘do everything’ vehicle.

It’s not that refined and there is little to excite keen drivers, However, what’s missing most for me is a little character. This is a car that says absolutely nothing at all about you, or it…

I know that somewhere on this dashboard is a button to turn that bleeping lane departure warning system off. I know it’s bloody there but I can’t find it. I refuse to reach for the manual because my policy is EVERYTHING in a car should be intuitive.

The constant pinging on a motorway when I change lanes is already detracting from what I should be writing about. The new-look, radically overhauled X-Trail. (and before you send an email about the benefits of lane departure warning, I was taught that you only indicate when another driver around you benefits. Otherwise, why bother?).

Well, I can tell you the latest X-Trail is sleek, rather than square. It’s going to appeal to a much broader range of people than the outgoing model – and buyers of the Hyundai Santa Fe and Honda CR-V will now have another equally worthy option to ponder over.

The problem is, the new X-Trail now looks characterless too. At least the old, brick-shaped model was easy to spot. It had something about it – you could spot it in a car park of sleeker SUVs every time.

This beefed up Qashqai is nothing but grey. Not in a fifty shades-type way either. It just means that for the next seven days I’m going to blend in with everybody else, perfectly…