| Week at the Wheel | Renault Koleos 2.0 dCi 4x4 |

Inside & Out:

If the Ford Kuga goes to the gym five times a week to blast through some cardio wearing an all-in-one Lycra bodysuit, the Koleos rocks up once a fortnight, resplendent in a paunch-concealing baggy grey cotton leisure suit, uses the sauna, has a pint of Guinness and a packet of pork scratchings in the bar, then goes home.

Renault has penned a bulbous silhouette that makes the Koleos look small of footprint but chubby of frame. Some might like its soft, inoffensive lines, which were perhaps conceived to give the Renault a mummy-friendly vibe, but really, there's a big clue about the listless way the Koleos drives in its clumsy curviness.

Inside it's better. The cabin retains its maker's penchant for the inoffensive, but courtesy of a nice, squidgy dash top and a general layout that's functional and intuitive, it's probably the highlight of the car. In fact, the perceived quality is such that it comes as a genuine surprise. But in these leaner financial times, Renault is trumpeting the fact it shared much of the development - and thus costs - of the Koleos with Nissan - the platform also underpins the X-Trail. The impression is one of more budget than usual being assigned to making sure the fit and finish is above par.

Our main gripe with the internal architecture, however, is that is offers surprisingly little room in the cabin for a car aimed primarily at family buyers. Try putting a baby seat behind a six-foot driver or passenger and you'll be wedging said child against the front chair while its occupant bemoans the lack of legroom. That's basic stuff really, particularly for a car so big. Still, you'll not struggle for buggy space in the boot.

Engine & Transmission:

Our test car came powered by the 148bhp diesel engine combined with a five-speed automatic and four-wheel drive. Our experience of the manual alternative says that the oil burner and slush box combo is perhaps the choice for the lumbering Koleos - this is by no means a machine for people who demand a thing or two in the handling department.

However, as with any old school auto, there's a big fuel economy, emissions and performance price to pay in exchange for giving your left leg a break. For a start it's just so torpid - a feeling exacerbated by languid gear changes and the Koleos's propensity for fore and aft body roll during every shift. Compare 38.7mpg with 35.8mpg, which might seem inconsequential, but there's a very real difference when you're compensating for the two seconds you lose in the 0-62mph dash over the manual model: a heavy right foot is the only way to wring any sort of performance out of this, and it perceptibly drains the tank. It also emits 209g/km of CO₂ (good for a £215 annual tax bill) and costs exactly £1,000 more on the dealership forecourt.

Seems that Renault UK has seen the light on this, as the automatic model has been discontinued.

Ride & Handling:

Both the ride and handling are of the lumbering kind, which is to say that the dampers can't seem to keep control of the springs. The Koleos bounces about in a seasick-inducing manner - Renault has got the ride wrong, basically. Well, we say Renault; we mean Nissan, for it was the Japanese maker that sorted the ride and handling element of the shared development. Strange that it could be so ill judged for the majority of roads then, when, for example, the Qashqai rides with a largely un-wobbly assurance.

Oddly though - and despite a front-wheel drive-only version being available - the Koleos has a setup that seems disproportionately biased towards off-road driving. The four-wheel drive, compete with a locking centre differential, lofty ground clearance and long suspension travel, means this will doubtless prove a capable off-roader. Why though? Serious off-road driving types wouldn't look twice at it, surely? On normal roads, where it matters, the handling is completely vapid and without feel, so there's no point in going on too much about it, suffice to say that is really does serve up as detached an experience as you're probably guessing it does.

Equipment, Economy & Value for Money:

The Koleos is well equipped, with 17-inch alloys, air conditioning, a cooled glovebox and leather for the steering wheel and gearstick top. As of June 2009 there is just a single trim level, which is notably well equipped, though at nearly £23,000 it's just too expensive.

Pricing sits somewhere between the Qashqai and the VW Tiguan, which tells you what Renault thinks of its 4x4. Its quality and ambiance, however, aren't notably above Nissan's ubiquitous niche-definer, so we'd question why it's so much more expensive. Ultimately it's up to you to decide if the generous standard kit makes the deal worthwhile.

Overall:

The quality of the Koleos is without question - Renault has really moved its game forward for the 4x4. Yet, amid a pack of small SUV crossover-type cars with a broad range of prices and talents, the Koleos just gets lost. The Qashqai does this thing much better in every way for less money, though there's an air of relaxed solidity about the floaty Renault that, perhaps, might appeal to some looking for a slightly less common urban pseudo 4x4.