Sitting pretty with the upgraded Renault Koleos
The past few years have been good for Renault. Not only has the French manufacturer pretty much updated its entire range with a generally pretty face, if not always new mechanicals, it has also solidified its position as one of the biggest and most successful global brands out there, writes .
The take-overs of Nissan some years ago and, more recently, Mitsubishi, has put Groupe Renault into a position of strength which heretofore it could never even imagined and, under the guiding hand of Carlos Ghosn, led it to become the third largest automobile group worldwide — after VW and Toyota.
With Dacia and Lada under Renault’s control as well, the reach of the company is now truly global and the breadth of its ambitions for the Renault brand alone has become ridiculously stratospheric.
Here in Ireland, staples such as the Megane and Clio have been perennial sellers, while in the vital SUV field, the small Captur has been wildly successful and the mid-size Kadjar is getting Renault access to punters it might previously have failed to connect with.
The Koleos, which we try this week, is the third element of Renault’s SUV attack and, to be honest, this is a car with a pretty chequered history.
Originally unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000, the Koleos was not actually built until 2007 and even then it was only a mid-sized SUV and built in Korea by a Renault-Samsung partnership and called the QM5.
The car sold well in places like Mexico, India, South Korea, and other markets where decent sales volumes were achieved.
But here it Europe the distaste for a car which actually looked like it was designed and built in Korea, was palpable. Indeed, it was withdrawn from sale in the UK in 2010 after clocking up just 2,600 sales.
Re-launched at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2016, the Koleos now has a much more attractive mien about it — and also has a much clearer market segment to aim at.
As the largest of Renault’s SUV contenders, it is firmly in the family car mode, although as yet — strangely — there have been no plans unveiled to make a seven-seat version.
Given Renault’s growing global connections, it is no surprise to find out that the Koleos shares many components with the Nissan X-Trail — which is no bad thing — and that it is also still built in Korea, while production has also expended to China where Groupe Renault has a very important and growing presence.
Generally, however, buyers could not give a fig where the thing is built, so long as it matches their requirements. And, I suspect, the Koleos will find many friends simply because it does so many things so well.
On paper, some might think that the Koleos is under-engined for its size — the tester was the 130 bhp 1.6 turbodiesel model — and that it might become breathless at the mere sight of a hillock, not to mind a challenging incline.
The five-seat-only thing might also put people off as it would not necessarily do the trick for school runs or sports practice where you might have half the neighbouring kids looking for a spin.
Truth be told, though, there is a large number of people out there for whom the sizeable boot is far more important than a tiny one, squeezed by the addition of two extra seats that really aren’t used that often and will only accommodate an under-10 anyway.
And, with regard to the engine, while the 130 bhp on offer mightn’t seem like much, and the 11.4 second 0-100km/h time could encourage suspicion, I must say I found the car to be a pretty decent performer that did not leave me with ongoing concerns about its abilities.
The upsides of the unit are that there is a massive 320 Nm of torque available at just 2,000rpm, so if you keep the engine spinning in its rev range sweet spot, you are not going to find it depressingly unengaging.
The 185km/h top speed is more than adequate, and I found the six-speed manual gearbox to be very live-able with.
So too the consumption rate of 4.9l/100 km (57.1mpg) and the 128g/km emission figure which adds up to a tax bill of just €270 annually.
But the big draw I found with this car was on the inside. This might not be a sensational performer by any stretch, but once you’re inside it and come fully to terms with all that’s on offer, then you’ll find yourself thinking that this thing has a lot going for it.
For a start, there’s the seats.
Although there may only be five of them, each is the epitome of comfort. We all know the French like their bit
of comfort — a sort of a blend between luxury and cosiness — and the Koleos delivers in spades here.
These really are excellent chairs — well-cushioned, supportive, and sturdy — and are probably better than anything the company has done in this department in recent memory.
But that’s just the start because — and this is an area where Renault are really getting to grips with their clientele — the specification level in this, the Dynamique S Nav model, is top drawer and punters are, genuinely, getting many bangs for their buck.
Stuff like cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, hill start assist, auto headlights and wipers, rear camera with front and rear parking sensors, and a seven-inch R-Link2 infotainment screen which incorporates DAB, navigation and connectivity systems, as well as 18in alloys and roof rails, all come as part of the package.
It might be said of the Koleos that it is not the best handling car on the market in this segment — and it assuredly isn’t — but it is not bad either.
There are no extremes when it comes to body roll or understeer, but the ride is a touch trashy, and the absence of 4WD would not inspire any off-roading excursions.
There are certainly better SUVs on offer right now — the Skoda Kodiaq, the Ford Kuga and the VW Tiguan come to mind — but there was something strangely engaging about this car and I think there will be a lot of buyers out there who will be quite prepared to overlook any deficiencies the Koleos may have in favour of what it does have going for it — like price, economy, comfort, practicality, and specification.
from €34,490 - €35,065 as tested.
the 1.6 dCi is actually a good fit for such a big car.
impressive.
not at the top of the class, but not far from it.
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