Top Gear car review: Renault Kadjar

WHAT WE SAY: 

At least as good as the Qashqai, which makes it very good indeed.

WHAT IS IT?

Renault’s first attempt at a biggish crossover since the particularly unpleasant Koleos of 2008. Based on the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s Common Module Family (CMF) platform, the Kadjar shares its underpinnings with the equally oddly named Nissan Qashqai.

This is A Good Thing. The Qashqai is a big seller in the UK, and Renault is no doubt hoping to emulate its success with the bigger, cheaper Renault Kadjar. After all, crossovers are very much the ‘in-thing’, and, forgetting the Koleos for a minute, Renault is particularly late to the proverbial party. It has some catching up to do…

DRIVING

Cheapest of the three engines on offer (for now, anyway) is a 1.2-litre turbocharged ‘TCe’ petrol with irritatingly little go. Our choice would be one of the punchier, more frugal diesels, either the 109bhp 1.5-litre (the only engine with which you can spec’ the ‘EDC’ automatic gearbox) or the 128bhp 1.6. Available with the 1.6 – and only the 1.6 – is an all-wheel drive system capable of routing half the power rearwards should the car deem it necessary.

The Kadjar isn’t an engaging thing, and there’s very little point in trying to drive it swiftly because that’s not what it’s for. It majors on comfort. The seats are good, road- and wind-noise is well suppressed and the clutch, steering and gearbox are nicely weighted and easy to get to grips with. It even rides well.

ON THE INSIDE

Don’t let the looks fool you, the Kadjar is no seven-seater. But what with that more erect rear roofline and longer rear overhang, the Kadjar’s boot is 42-litres more capacious than a Qashqai’s. That means 472-litres of space, or 1,478 with the seats folded. Plenty. And the passenger compartment is almost as generous. Rear legroom is adequate, but regular carriers of statuesque passengers will want to avoid the optional panoramic roof, which eats into rear headroom just enough to irritate. No such problem in the front, where passengers can while away the hours playing with the new ‘R-Link 2’ infotainment system, which is standard on all bar base ‘Expression +’ cars.

OWNING

Spec-for-Spec, the Kadjar is a little cheaper than the car with which it shares its mechanicals. A basic one will cost you a little under £18K, while a basic Qashqai is over £18.5K. And you get more space. It won’t cost a bomb to run, either. The most economical Kadjars, with the 1.5-litre diesel, manage a claimed 74.3mpg and pump out less than 100g/km of CO2. And though it’s still early days, Renault forecasts residuals will be among the best in class. Note: that’s Renault saying that…

Source: topgear.com