Making the most of its involvement in Formula One, which culminated in winning both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships in 2005, Renault has a long and successful history of making sporty versions of its cars aimed at the enthusiast. The RenaultSport versions of the Clio and the Megane are fairly hardcore and sit at or near the top of their respective classes. A sporty version of the Renault Laguna, the 205bhp GT205 is aimed at a more mature market. Indeed Renault calls it a "Grand Touring version dedicated to driving enjoyment and is both sporting and civilised in everyday driving". That doesn't sound very hardcore; before I take delivery, I'm not so sure it even sounds like it will be that good.

The Renault Laguna was already available with a 2-litre turbo 16-valve petrol engine producing 170bhp in both Sport and Elegance Collection guises; a grouping of trim levels displaying their bias. The new GT model is only available in the Sport Collection as a model in its own right, either with a torquey 175bhp diesel engine or the 205bhp 2-litre turbocharged petrol engine as tested here. These models are our pick of the wide Laguna line-up.

In keeping with the stated aim of being a Grand Tourer, this is not a peaky turbo engine. In fact, peak power is produced at only 5000rpm with peak torque of 221lb.ft available at 3000rpm. Additionally, an all but flat torque curve ranges from 2500rpm to 4500rpm. This makes for a more relaxing drive once the driver learns to drive on torque rather than use the last vestiges of engine revs searching for that extra performance. The GT205 will rev out to 6000rpm if required, but it's not at its best at such high engine speeds. Use the torque to full advantage though and the Laguna GT205 is no slouch. Renault claims a 0-62mph time of just 7.2 seconds (only 0.1 seconds slower than the Clio 182) and a top speed of 146mph. Both these claims are eminently believable.

Approaching the Renault Laguna GT205 for the first time the main impression is stylish but understated looks, without being as avant-garde as the Megane. The understatement even goes to the badging: nothing on the rear to tell the driver you've just overtaken why your Laguna is so quick; just a small 2.0GT motif on the front doors by the side repeater lights. Opening the door (keyless in operation), the black leather seats with red trim looked inviting and proved every bit as supportive as they appeared. The dashboard is predominantly black with neat satin highlights. However, the ergonomics are not so clever. The column stalks are hidden behind the steering wheel, and being multi-function it would be better to be able to see them even once they become familiar. There is another stalk, all but invisible that controls the radio functions, but it can't actually be seen from the normal driving position. The seats moved electrically but it was almost impossible to make any changes on the move as your hand would get trapped between seat and door armrest. Likewise, the heated seat switch was so far down on the corner of the seat that again you would catch your hand between seat and door; if you could reach far enough in the first place.

Lucky then that the driving position was so much better and easy to come by before setting out. The chunky steering wheel feels good and conveys decent feel; the gearchange is positive if a little long in throw. Shame about the aluminium gear knob that is freezing to the touch on the sub-zero winter mornings of our test - if a driver ever needed driving gloves... And I didn't really get on with the red on silver main instruments either; the typeface was not the easiest to read.

That's all the bad stuff out of the way early then! Now we can concentrate on the good stuff. All the important things fall into the "good stuff" box. As expected, the Laguna GT205 was no slouch and was capable of making very decent progress. Overtaking is easy, fast and effortless without ever really needing to change down; even from sixth gear once 50 or 60mph was achieved. The engine displays none of the traditional characteristics of a turbocharged engine: there is no kick in the back or point when the boost obviously comes on strong. Accelerating in sixth gear from 30mph (yes, it can be done) resulted in a gradual build up of speed in keeping with the relaxed nature of this car. By 60mph it is just gaining speed with a little more urgency, but still totally seamlessly. Wind noise builds up slowly meaning the Renault Laguna is still relaxing at motorway speeds and engine/road noise are reasonably subdued too.

Off the motorway, we took a trip over to Enstone, home of the Renault F1 factory. This can only be approached by bumpy, twisty roads over a surprisingly hilly part of Oxfordshire. Far from was wishing I was in something more sporty, the Laguna GT205 excelled, showing excellent body control. Good steering feel made aiming at each successive apex both easy and quite enjoyable. The ride was just the right side of firm, not so hard as to niggle when used daily, but firm enough to ensure the passengers were not complaining of being thrown around. The excellent Xenon headlights made light work of seeing through the darkness picking out every bump, pothole and stray animal well ahead of reaching them.

For all this "making good progress", the Laguna GT205 proved reasonably economical. The official combined figure for this car is 33.2mpg and this ties in almost exactly with the 34mpg achieved during our test period.

With time to reflect on the Renault Laguna there were a few details which came to mind; some good, some not so. The standard fit stereo was great, the omission of satnav on this range-topper not so. There is plentiful storage space including a neat sunglasses holder on the driver's side where a grab rail might otherwise be fitted, and the boot, accessed by the opening hatchback, is simply cavernous. The electric handbrake worked better than the item fitted to the VW Passat; simply attempting to pull away saw the handbrake automatically release, even on hills. I was surprised to find the front wings are composite in construction rather than steel, but I'd never have known if I hadn't been washing the car by hand. And despite Renaults of old always seeming very flimsy, the Laguna is a much more solid proposition; hardly surprising then that the Renault Laguna was the first of the 5-star Euro NCAP cars raising the bar for everyone else.

The niggles were few: the hatchback shape and large C-pillar, combined with fairly small door mirrors did nothing for lane changing on motorways. The blind spot was more than big enough to hide a car in. I didn't much care for the "Welcome aboard" message on the multi-function display when entering the car, but that's just personal. And I found the trip computer annoying when set to 'how far before I run out of petrol' mode. It would read down to 35 miles and then chicken out from displaying further information; annoying for those of us who eke out every last mile before stopping for fuel! Even so, I achieved an easy 450 mile range on a tank of fuel, again befitting a Grand Tourer. The Renault F1 team can only dream of such frugality!

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Renault Laguna Hatch UK range overview

Elegance Collection: Renault Laguna Expression 2.0 VVT 135 at £16,100 to Renault Laguna Initiale V6 24v Auto at £23,850.

Renault Laguna Sport Collection:
- Extreme 2.0 VVT 135: £16,300
- Extreme 1.9 dCi 130: £17,300
- Extreme 2.0 dCi 150: £18,400
- Dynamique 2.0 VVT 135: £17,200
- Dynamique 2.0 VVT 135 Auto: £18,200
- Dynamique 2.0 Turbo 16V: £18,300
- Dynamique 2.0 Turbo 16V Auto: £19,300
- Dynamique 1.9 dCi 130: £18,200
- Dynamique 2.0 dCi 150: £19,300
- Dynamique 2.2 dCi 140 Auto: £20,400
- Dynamique Navigation 2.0 VVT 135: £17,750
- Dynamique Navigation 2.0 VVT 135 Auto: £18,750
- Dynamique Navigation 1.9 dCi 130: £18,750
- Dynamique Navigation 2.0 dCi 150: £19,850
- GT 175 dCi: £22,450
- GT 205 Turbo: £21,700