If there was only one thing I was allowed say to compliment the Nissan Primera, it would have to be the central console that carries the controls for the radio, internal climate management, and trip information.

The horizontal positioning looks Starship Enterprise, along with the screen that tells you what's happening and also shows what is behind you when you reverse. Heck, they knew this themselves, because the opening screen when you switch on is a view that looks like we're in orbit around Saturn.

There's more to it than that, of course. By using a mini-'joystick' that is very familiar to the GameBoy generation, and which even I found to be intuitive, they've cut by 50 per cent the number of switches that would be required to handle all the facilities.

Aside from that, it is simply the way everything falls to hand that the ergonomics here have to make the Primera one of the safest cars in this regard.

It doesn't show up in statistics, but I suspect there's a quite high proportion of accidents caused when people are distracted by having to fiddle their way around their radio and other secondary controls.

If that was all the good I had to say about the current Primera, it would be enough.

There's more. The 1.8-litre engine of the review car, which has a respectable 116bhp output, is a very easy engine to drive, and more flexible than might be expected from the figures that put its maximum torque in place at 4000rpm.

All Primera petrol engines now have variable valve timing technology, which probably accounts for the low end flexibility that was never available in 4-valves-per-cylinder engines of yore.

The other excellences which we expect from the better Japanese marques are a given in this one too. Even though there was less than 30 miles on the car's odometer when I picked it up, the gearshift was a beautifully accurate snip through the 5-speed gate.

The old Primera from the beginning set a benchmark in the class for driving dynamics that was only equalled in more recent years by Ford's Mondeo. When the new Primera arrived, there were some who said it had lost the edge. That it had sacrificed that edge to better comfort.

Maybe it has, at the edge. But let's face it, how often is it possible these days to drive at the edge, or even halfway to it?

So the current Primera is for most of us a better car for our real needs. It has all the good points of the old model. Roomy, tough, totally reliable ... and now it has really good comfort and a shape from tomorrow.

Have to say, the first time I saw that shape - at a Geneva Motor Show, I think - I fell for it. Oddly enough, it reminded me in certain cues of the old Renault 14 of the 70s, which that company advertised as 'The Car they Borrowed from Tomorrow'. It is ironical that Renault and Nissan are now merged companies, and we now see from just what 'tomorrow' Renault borrowed it!

But stylewise the Primera is better proportioned, sleeker, and has all the benefits of being 30 years further on. Because what Renault didn't manage to borrow 'from tomorrow' was the technology we have today.

We now take for granted what wasn't even around five or seven years ago. ABS has been common enough in this class for a while, but there's also the Brake Assist that we heard about first in the Primera before this one.

And the current Primera has everything else in the safety area as well, although electronic stability control is only available with the 2-litre version. But then, how many of us have ever needed even ABS? I never have in real driving experience, and only know how it works by having deliberately tested it.

In roominess and driving position, the current Primera is right up at the top of the class. And I gave the rear a re-test for this lanky reviewer, and I guess that even if I had my original complement of hair, it wouldn't tickle the roof-lining.

Small gripe: The review car was the hatchback, and the lift of the rear door was heavy. It also came back down too easily if you didn't lift it high enough. There's maybe a need to review the dynamics here, especially as the car is otherwise very much designed to appeal to women as much as men.

Then there's the rear-view camera. You need to spend some time getting used to it, because its 'fish-eye' lens creates a quite distorted perspective as to where you are in relation to what's behind. In short, use it for the last part of the manoeuvre, not the whole business of reversing.

I was the owner of a previous model Primera for five years. I didn't get to drive it as much as I'd have liked, but that comes with this job, when other cars must naturally take precedence.

My wife made up for me in winding up the miles. And, though she opted for a Micra when we changed, because she wanted something smaller, I think she wouldn't have minded at all if we'd got one of these.

Neither would I. Which I suppose is the real bottom line of this review.