The electro-instruments peer cheerily out of their pods and get across a lot of info concisely, but they're battling for attention against a dashboard of cheap plastics in a near-random array of textures and colours.

The Qashqai is car-like on top, but with mildly SUV-ish arches and wheels. That makes sense in town, the environment Nissan is aiming at. High-profile tyres and black plastic perimeter fencing are more resistant to the urban viruses of kerbed alloys and touch-parking.

The sheet metal's best feature is a bone line that sets out below the door mirror and heads on back to flick around the rear lamp clusters. The Qashqai's aero is good, too, compared with normal SUVs.

Inside you get the SUV-style high eye point and with it the requisite elevated sense of self. An optional glass ceiling helps the sense of airiness, and the general material plushness is a (small) step above the Toyota's. You can also see the bonnet's edges, which helps when you're in a city street where the Auris's sloped front end is a matter of guesswork.

Underneath, both use new platforms so there's no excuse for shoddy dynamics or poor crash protection. The Nissan's is a 'high-end' version of partner Renault's Megane underpinnings, with a new multi-link back axle.

Renault knows how to serve up a stellar NCAP performance, so few worries there. The Toyota's platform is also new, and comes with lots of evidence that it's built out of strong steel, which is good for NCAP and also for refinement.

But here's a thing. Although Toyota has designed a new multi-link rear suspension, following the lead of the Focus and Golf, it's only fitted to the top Auris, a diesel. All other versions get a simple torsion beam. And for the record, an Auris with that simple axle isn't a car to get lairy with down a twisty road. The steering is light and accurate up to a point, but when that point is reached, the handling goes soggy and the stability control gets ridiculously busy.

Otherwise, the basic Aurises are hygienic enough cars: good economy, very quiet until you go fast on a motorway with the 1.6 petrol (it needs a sixth gear badly), and mostly easy controls. Only exception is a slight notchiness across the gearshift gate, which I'm prepared to put down to the lever's unusual position. In time the shift felt more natural.

The top-end Auris, the one in these pictures, is called T180. This doesn't only have the better suspension and 17-inch alloys, but a brilliant 2.2-litre diesel. It's smooth, torquey, lag-free, ultra-low in toxic emissions and goes like stink.

It makes 177bhp and 295lb ft - what more could you want? But it's a painful £18,795. In that form, the Auris corners pretty well, gripping far more tenaciously than its cheap brothers and making you feel better plugged in.