Renault Kadjar review: more than car for less Qashqai?

A practical hatchback with 4x4 looks, the Kadjar is intended to keep Renault firmly in the family car fight

When is a not a Nissan Qashqai? When it’s a Renault Kadjar, that’s when. The Qashqai – which has become one of Britain’s favourite family cars – has donated many of its oily bits to this new SUV.

Renault has actually been in this sector before, with the Koleos, the company’s first attempt at an SUV. But that was agricultural and ungainly, and proved about as popular as shingles, which is probably why you can’t remember it very well, if at all.

Fortunately, the Kadjar is a much more enticing proposition. Neatly styled, and with a handsome interior, it could be just the thing if you want a Qashqai with a dash of Gallic flair. 

Passengers shouldn’t have too many complaints about the space available inside the Kadjar – there’s plenty.

Both front- and rear-seat passengers are well catered for, and while the middle seat is best saved for children, a reasonably low floor means they shouldn’t be too cramped.

In the front, there’s ample leg, head and elbow room, although the positioning of the cup holders is a little daft – if you use them, it isn’t hard to catch your drink with your elbow.

Otherwise, there’s a good amount of storage, with a useful cubby hole for phones and other bits and bobs, and the boot is pretty big – larger than a Nissan Qashqai’s or Skoda Yeti’s, but smaller than that of the Mazda CX-5

There’s also a useful false floor that can be used to divide the boot – but don’t get too excited, because it only comes as standard on the top two models, and isn’t available at all on the entry-level Kadjar.  Unfortunately, the same goes for the one-touch, easy-fold rear seats. 

The Kadjar is a reasonably comfortable beast. It can occasionally pitch and rock around through larger potholes, but for the most part it’s smooth enough, and on the motorway it settles down nicely. If you want the best comfort you can get, though, it’s worth specifying the 17-inch alloy wheels.

The seats, meanwhile, are supportive and offer lots of adjustment, making it easy to find a position that works for you.

Engine noise can be an issue in diesel-engined models, with tinny, clattery overtones at town speeds. This is a pity as the Kadjar is otherwise very quiet, with wind and road noise both kept at bay. 

There’s an instant feel-good factor when you climb aboard the Kadjar, thanks to the appealing-looking dashboard. It manages to look both classy and inviting at the same time.

What’s more, most of the switches and control knobs have a weighty, well-damped action. There are a couple of cheap-feeling bits of plastic floating about the place, but crucially, they aren’t in areas you’d normally touch.

The instruments are actually displayed on screens, which means they look crisp and are always clear and easy to read, with no glare to speak of. It’s a solid effort, then, let down by only a couple of glitches.

One is the cruise control switch, which is curiously located down by the driver’s elbow, meaning you have to take your eyes off the road to switch between cruise control and speed limiter modes.

The other is the touchscreen system, which is responsive enough and features attractive graphics, but has a menu system that occasionally feels a little cack-handed.