Ross Finlay tries out the lavishly equipped Nissan Primera

THE problem about making steady technical improvements to a car is

that not many people notice, unless the changes are accompanied by some

alterations to the outward appearance. Nissan has been making detail

modifications to the Sunderland-built Primera, but it has only now

freshened up the body design. All models benefit, but prices have been

held. The new entry-level Equation costs #11,360 and the SE --

equivalent to the previous SGX -- has a showroom tag of #16,325.

Nissan's British factory is always impressive. It produces cars which

on close examination prove to have a high build quality, sells a

remarkable percentage of its Primeras and Micras to export markets, and

even feeds a few cars into Japan.

On a recent visit, I thought it was rather sporting of Nissan to let

journalists go with a couple of cars through their final static tests.

The fact that this was not a ''set up'' was proved when the car I was

in, going through something like 50 individual tests in a couple of

minutes, failed to satisfy the computer about its brakes. It was put

aside so that the handbrake assembly could be adjusted.

The spacious factory area has several component suppliers right

alongside. That, plus the presence close by of a branch of the Nissan

European Technology Centre, is a reminder that the Primera and Micra are

not Japanese cars assembled in a kind of painting-by-numbers operation

here. They are very largely designed and developed in Europe, by

Europeans who sometimes have difficulty in convincing their colleagues

in Japan that our markets have particular requirements.

For example, since car crime is almost unknown there, the Japanese at

first found the European insistence on anti-theft protection to be

rather eccentric. Most Primeras can be fitted with a highly

sophisticated immobiliser system which uses radio frequency electronics

rather than the more familiar infra-red. The radio type is not

vulnerable to those ''grabber'' gadgets, available from suppliers who

rarely ask awkward questions about precisely what their customers

propose to do with them, which can unobtrusively ''steal'' the code of

an infra-red locking system from several yards away.

With a choice of 1.6 or two-litre petrol engines, a two-litre diesel

and various trim and equipment levels, the 1995 Primera is a crisper

looking car. The new grille design is the most obvious update, but there

are other minor styling changes too.

All the four-door saloons and five-door hatchbacks have ABS fitted, as

well as a sunroof, driver's airbag, side impact bars and a generally

sturdy bodyshell.

I tried the new SE model, which comes with air conditioning, leather

upholstery, a CD player and six-spoke alloy wheels. A wood-rimmed

central console is just one of the touches Nissan has employed to

lighten up the previously rather dull interior.

With 125bhp on tap, the SE will sprint to 60mph in just on 10 seconds,

and proceed to a test track maximum around 125mph. Good mid-range torque

lets it pull strongly throughout, but I was surprised that Nissan has

tuned in such a rorty engine note when the car is accelerating hard.

The environs of Sunderland are by no means the best area for trying

out a car's handling, and the suggested route told us virtually nothing

about how the Primera corners at any kind of enthusiastic speed.

However, if the new version matches the previous one in this department,

which it gives the impression of doing, it will be one of the most agile

and controllable cars in its class. Another manufacturer, after all, has

openly admitted that the Nissan was the handling benchmark for its own

Primera-sized saloon.