Many workshops would start with a simple tune-up and service to tackle this problem. Cars lose performance over the years and it’s often as simple as a good tune-up including a change of spark plugs, filters (air and fuel), spark plug leads and a check of the ignition coils (in petrol models).

If you have the diesel-engined version of the X-Trail, it would also be worth checking to see if the intake manifold has become partially blocked with black gunk that is a by-product of the car’s emissions-control system.

A good service and tune might bring performance back to how you remember it, but don’t ignore the simply things like a faulty accelerator pedal calibration, or slack transmission that is making the car feel lazy. Even low tyre pressures can make a car feel lethargic in terms of both steering and how it accelerates.

This sounds more like a control problem that one with the actual compressor. The body computer is often at fault in cases like this. Part of the body computer’s job is to control things like central locking, power windows and the climate control gear. The fact that the system is cycling between fresh air and recycled air makes us suspect the computer as the culprit. Has this been checked?

Hopefully, you first raised this issue with Nissan all those years ago when the vehicle was still under warranty. If so, then you have what is called a pre-existing condition and even though the car is now out of warranty, Nissan is still obliged to fix it as if the warranty still applied.

This issue will always come down to the documented service history that each car comes with. A switched-on previous owner will not only have serviced the vehicle by the book, but will also have kept the relevant receipts as proof of this crucial work being done. We'd always choose the vehicle with a big wad of service receipts over a similar car with no (or less) evidence of scheduled maintenance.

Beyond that, the Nissan clearly has almost 50,000 fewer kilometres on its odometer, so all things being equal it probably nudges ahead at that point. In either case, the CVT transmission fitted to these cars is likely to be the major source of mechanical grief down the track. Both brands' CVT transmissions have been known to give trouble. If that bothers you, then perhaps the one to buy is the Outlander AWD with the turbo-diesel engine option. In that guise, the vehicle has a conventional automatic transmission rather than a CVT.