Koleos in the comfort zone
It looks as though Renault has been learning from Eighties TV. Back then, if you were in trouble you could call the A-Team and that is pretty much what Renault has done with its new Koleos.
The French company was certainly in trouble a couple of years ago. The market for family 4x4s was expanding, but it didn’t have anything to rival the likes of the Toyota RAV4 so, to save time and money, it called on its own team of partners.
You see, despite the Renault badge on the Koleos it is very much a joint effort. Renault can put its signature to the unusual design work but the car was developed by Nissan (the Koleos shares a lot of its underpinnings with the X-Trail) and is built in Korea at a factory owned by Samsung. It is an important model, as it is the first Renault to be launched with four-wheel drive, taking the company into a new area of the market.
Certainly, the price looks right. Starting at £17,995 it costs less than any Volkswagen Tiguan, Ford Kuga or Toyota RAV4 that you care to mention. There is a reason for that – the basic Koleos has only two-wheel drive, for buyers who want the style of a 4x4 but not its heavier fuel consumption.
However, four-wheel-drive models start at £18,995 and, comparing like for like, the Koleos often undercuts its rivals by more than £1,000. The only engine available is a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel shared with the X-Trail. It comes in two versions, with 150bhp or 175bhp.
As you would expect, the more powerful engine gives the strongest performance, covering 0 to 60mph in 9.9 seconds and with a maximum speed of 117mph. However, the less powerful engine with two-wheel drive is only 0.1 second slower to reach 60mph and has the bonus of returning 39.2mpg, as opposed to 35.8mpg. Choose a four-wheel drive with the less powerful engine and the economy doesn’t suffer too badly, coming in at 38.2mpg, but it increases the 0 to 60mph time to 12.0 seconds.
However, as Renault is at pains to point out, this is not a car with the emphasis on performance. Despite the fact that the Koleos competes with what are known as Sports Utility Vehicles, this is effectively an SUV without the S.
Function rather than fun was the watchword for its developers and overall they have done a very good job.
The Koleos certainly hits the mark for comfort. Nobody has to climb too high to get into their seat and the driving position is excellent, with a good range of adjustment on both the seat and steering wheel and a fine view. In the back, likewise, there are no great complaints.
You can easily fit two 6ft adults in the rear seats, although three might be a squeeze. The only minor irritation is that the fold-down picnic tables on the back of the front seats eat into the knee-room.
It is all well-built, too, and there are plenty of neat touches throughout, such as storage cubbies in the floor. But there is nothing neater than the handle in the boot that folds down both parts of the 60/40 split rear seats to leave a flat boot floor.
As in the cabin, so on the road, comfort is very much the focus.
Unlike a RAV4, which has the genes of a hot hatch, the Koleos offers excellent refinement and a supremely comfortable ride, making it a great companion for a family on a long journey.
Keen drivers will dislike the woolly steering and body roll through bends but if you throttle back a bit, enjoy the responses of the diesel engine and ease rather than hurl the car round corners, you will play to its strengths.
On motorways, where there is no need to change direction sharply, the Koleos is in its element. But, if you want something you can have fun in when the family is not on board – as with the Ford Kuga or RAV4 – you will be disappointed.
The Koleos is impressive off-road and you could argue it is better than it needs to be given its target market. Still, that is the luxury of being able to call on Nissan’s know-how. The Koleos can fight its way along rough tracks as well as the best SUVs, with a ride that loses none of its comfort away from the Tarmac.
You can lock the car into four-wheel drive but the automatic setting works well, swapping between two and four-wheel drive almost unnoticed while the electronic systems, including hill descent control, traction control and anti-lock brakes on most models, keep things in hand.
One disappointment is the car’s style. The Koleos is designed to fit in with the rest of the Renault range but the lines that work so well on a Clio are not quite as at home on an SUV.
As a status symbol it doesn’t stand out – with neither the butchness of the X-Trail nor the style of a Kuga.
But the Koleos has an appeal that distances it from many sportier rivals.
