This paper deals with unit root issues in time series analysis. It has been known for a long time that unit root tests may be flawed when a series although stationary has a root close to unity. That motivated recent papers dedicated to autoregressive processes where the bridge between stability and instability is expressed by means of time-varying coefficients. The process we consider has a companion matrix $A_{n}$ with spectral radius $ρ(A_{n}) < 1$ satisfying $ρ(A_{n}) \rightarrow 1$, a situation described as `nearly-unstable'. The question we investigate is: given an observed path supposed to come from a nearly-unstable process, is it possible to test for the `extent of instability', i.e. to test how close we are to the unit root? In this regard, we develop a strategy to evaluate $α$ and to test for $\mathcal{H}_0 : ``α= α_0"$ against $\mathcal{H}_1 : ``α> α_0"$ when $ρ(A_{n})$ lies in an inner $O(n^{-α})$-neighborhood of the unity, for some $0 < α< 1$. Empirical evidence is given about the advantages of the flexibility induced by such a procedure compared to the common unit root tests. We also build a symmetric procedure for the usually left out situation where the dominant root lies around $-1$.