The all-new 2015-MY Nissan Murano was designed to appeal to a consumer demographic with a sporty, fresh look; however, for fleets, the compact crossover could also be a perfect fit.

The Murano has a number of useful pieces of technology, including turn-by-turn navigation.

During a media ride-and-drive in December as the Murano was hitting showrooms, automotive journalists put the compact SUV through its paces in the rolling terrain in Central California’s Napa Valley.

The routes chosen for the test drive were a combination of easy highway and challenging country-road type experiences. The Murano paced the highway with ease and took all of the curves and grades well. The handling was easy and the controls intuitive, particularly the turn-by-turn navigation.

The 8-inch display screen was well-positioned for drivers to keep their eyes on the road and check their map position at the same time. But, as an added bonus, the navigation mode can also be set to display in the 7-inch screen in the instrument cluster, further reducing distractions.

The navigation system was about as real-time in responsiveness as you could get, and both gave ample warning about turns and remained on track no matter the locale. For instance, the route was designed to go through a small, rather hilly local neighborhood, which took drivers off the beaten path and guided them back onto the more direct route.

The MY-2015 Nissan Murano has four trim levels — S, SV, SL, and Platinum — and comes standard with a 3.5L V-6 DOHC engine that produces 260 hp and 240 ft.-lbs. of torque.

The Murano is available in all-wheel and front-wheel drive variants. It has an EPA-rated fuel economy of 21 mpg city/28 mpg highway/24 mpg combined in both the all-wheel and front wheel-drive variants. Fuel economy has improved for the all-new Murano by about 20 percent due to an overall weight reduction of about 145 pounds.

The Murano has 39.6 cubic feet of storage with the seats upright and 69.9 cubic feet with the back seats folded down, providing more than enough room for business materials and supplies. It also has plenty of interior storage space, and is electronic device friendly thanks to NissanConnect with mobile apps with smartphone integration, hands-free text messaging assistant, streaming audio via Bluetooth, integrated iPod connectivity, and Bluetooth hands-free phone system, which is standard for the SV, SL, and Platinum trim levels, and optional for the S trim level. An aux-in jack is standard on the S trim level.

The Murano features a number of standard safety features, including Nissan’s advanced air bag system (AABS) with dual-stage supplemental front air bags with seat belt sensors and occupant classification sensor, front seat-mounted side-impact supplemental air bags, roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental air bags, and driver supplemental knee air bag.

Also standard across all trim levels is vehicle-speed sensing power door locks, tamper-proof door lock key cylinder immobilizer, vehicle security system, vehicle dynamic control, traction control, and hill assist.

Standard on SL and Platinum trims only is blind spot warning, moving object detection, and rear cross traffic alert. Optional on SL and Platinum trims only is intelligent cruise control, predictive forward collision warning, and forward emergency braking.

Taken together, the Murano offers the whole package — style and performance blended perfectly.