Nissan Almera Tino dCi SVE

While Nissan's revisions to the Almera Tino are welcome, they aren't enough to put the car on a par with its rivals. Unless you can strike an excellent deal with your local Nissan main agent or the kids are excited by the rear-view camera, there are much better alternatives in this sector.

The compact MPV market is getting tougher and tougher, and the Nissan Almera Tino has always struggled for exposure. Launched back in 2000 as a rival to the Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Zafira, the Tino ranked as an adequate but less than spectacular people carrier.

Its main problem was the lack of a unique selling point. While the Zafira had Flex7 seating, the Scenic the honour of being the first of a kind and Citroen's Picasso came with several mortgage payments worth of cashback, the Tino had nothing special to offer.

Nissan has realised this and, in a bid to inject some life into sales, given the car a mid-term revamp. External differences are limited to slightly different lamp lenses and modified bumpers.

Inside, though, things are significantly different. The dashboard now has improved instrument lighting and the firm's N-Form centre console. Based on the Primera's unit, this allows the driver to operate the audio, climate and sat-nav controls with one set of dials. The Tino also comes with a camera in the tailgate, which provides a view of what's behind the car when reversing.

So at last, the Nissan has something its rivals haven't. But there were other areas of the car that also needed improving. The most significant of these was the sluggish direct-injection diesel engine. That has now gone, to be replaced by a 136bhp common-rail unit which uses the same block. It delivers a notable increase in performance and is refined at speed, but still sounds harsh and rattly when pressed.

The rest of the driving experience is largely unchanged - which isn't such a good thing. The ride still feels bouncy, the driving position is odd and the vague handling and pronounced body roll aren't great - although few MPV buyers will expect great dynamics. Far more disappointing is the gearbox. The six-speed manual transmission in our test car was at best obstructive and at worst difficult to live with.

The Tino might be improved, and lower down the range it looks a fairly attractive proposition. But with the SVE version driven here priced £17,350, we would expect a lot more for our money.