I am not the first to observe that the world ain’t fair. If it were, I’d not be sitting in this hotel room at two in the morning trying to explain why you should be interested in a car that even its manufacturer admits not many people are going to buy.

Then again, if the world were fair, Nissan would sell 10 times more new Muranos than the paltry 1,000 it estimates it will shift in Britain next year.

This is not because there’s some fatal flaw concealed deep beneath the modern, distinctive and attractive lines of Nissan’s new SUV. The problem lies with its badge and the peculiar reluctance of the British public to spend 30 grand on a car wearing it.

Toyota has a rival for the Murano called the RX300, but because it’s sold as a Lexus it sneakily turns the appalling snobbishness that pervades this end of the market to its advantage and sells in three times the quantities predicted for the Nissan. This despite the fact that, at £29,800, the Murano will be about £9,000 cheaper than a similarly specified RX300. Like the Lexus, the Murano is not helped by the lack of a diesel engine, immediately removing it from 70% of the market.

Nissan seems curiously unfussed by all of this. In America, where customers are less badge-sensitive and hate diesel, it’s been selling strongly for a couple of years, and the real reason for its arrival in Europe is not that Nissan thinks it can make a packet here, but so the Murano can join the 350Z, the X-Trail and next year’s Pathfinder — a rival for Land Rover’s Discovery — to elevate Nissan’s brand image out of the bargain basement.

The strong sales, residuals and long waiting lists for the 350Z suggest that, on this level at least, the strategy is working. Back in the early 1990s the last Nissan 300SX, a wonderful and great-looking car with a similar performance level to the 350Z, sank without trace in the UK.

But Murano buyers will still have to tough out the sniggers of their BMW and Lexus SUV-driving neighbours. So it will help them to learn that the Murano is, by the disappointing standards of the modern SUV, a capable and appealing car.

Power comes from the same 3.5 litre engine used in the 350Z and it powers the front wheels alone until they start to slip, whereupon torque is shuttled rearward up to a maximum 50/50 split. In the real world, as the Murano will probably never be driven off-road or near its cornering limit, it is effectively a two-wheel-drive car.

The power is fed through a continuously variable transmission gearbox, which means that instead of the engine varying its speed as you accelerate, the revs stay constant according to the throttle opening and it is the gears that are infinitely varied to suit. The principle is unarguable as it means the most can be made of the engine’s torque, but in practice it feels like the car is suffering from terminal clutch slip.

However, performance is adequate for this kind of car, its handling is composed if hardly entertaining, and its ride quality is good on most surfaces. It’s not within a million miles of being fun to drive but nor is any other similarly specified SUV, Porsches and BMWs included.

What it does do is meet fully the expectations of the ever-increasing number of families persuaded by SUV style and practicality and either blind to or unfussed by their manifest dynamic limitations. As you’d expect, there’s the inevitable lofty driving position, cupholders and storage units, but less predictable is the space in the front and back. I could set the driving position to accommodate my 6ft 4in frame and then comfortably hop in behind myself, something I’m not sure I could do in any comparable SUV.

The Murano is also lavishly equipped, boasting colour-screen sat nav and reversing camera, a Bose sound system, leather upholstery and electric everything. For the money, it’s genuinely impressive.

Other details hint at an unusually thoroughly engineered car: the boot is not big but one gentle tug on a cord will drop the rear seats flat from either the back or boot. At speed the car is notably refined and proved all but immune to the violent crosswinds we encountered on the launch.

Will any of this persuade those used to shopping with Porsche, BMW and Lexus dealers to gather in their droves and trot down to their local Nissan dealership? I suspect not: good looks, a comprehensively equipped and practical interior and a low price may sound like an impressive armoury of abilities but my gut tells me a 30 grand wheelie bin would likely outsell the Murano if it had the right badge on its lid.

Which is a shame, as I grew to like the Murano more than most SUVs of my acquaintance. To drive it is neither significantly better nor worse than its closest rivals, but in its static qualities there lies real appeal, particularly given its attractive appearance and price. But, like I said, the world ain’t fair.