NISSAN’S highly visible Murano SUV has arrived and, on first appearances, looks a tempting competitor for the likes of the popular Lexus RX330 and Honda's MDX. Certainly it has the style, and the specifications, to step comfortably into their domain. What it most resoundingly has is a massive price advantage. Compared with the Honda MDX, the ST version of the Murano is tagged at about $18,000 less. The price differential with the Lexus is even more eye-popping. And this doesn’t mean the Murano is less well-built or less well-equipped either. The base ST comes with just about all the stuff you’d expect in an upper-level SUV, including a classy sound system, climate-control, Xenon headlights and a full range of active and passive safety equipment. Its 350Z-derived V6 provides plenty of power and refinement – and it has a brilliantly smooth CVT transmission as standard. With the longest wheelbase in its class, the Murano also offers (almost) the back seat space of a limo.