Of the French car imports Renault is by far the most successful here and its alliance with Nissan a real bonus. The second-generation five-seat Renault Koleos SUV is a reflection of this. Still very much a French design but built in South Korea it has very good build quality – I drove the Koleos Life entry model, a front-wheel-drive $29,990 drive-away with a CVT or continuously variable automatic – I’d prefer a six-speed automatic although I must admit the CVT grew on me over the week. The Koleos Life reflects the impressive value in many SUV’ s today – a huge amount of features – all models have a rear view camera, rear parking sensors, dual climate control air, alloy wheels sensibly shod with 60-series tyres, daytime running lights, hill start assist automatic headlights and rain-sensing windscreen wipers, tyre pressure monitoring and a leather steering wheel. A five year /unlimited kilometre warranty adds peace of mind as does $349 annual fixed price servicing for the first three years.
Excellent ride comfort and rear seat legroom are notable features in a much smarter looking body with daytime running lights. The interior nice French design although the 7-inch landscape orientation touch screen on the base model Life not as impressive as the 8.7-inch portrait screen on the top-spec Intens model. Combined cycle economy of 8.1 l/100 is average while as I said it benefits from an excellent five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. The Renault Koleos five-seat Life SUV is a handsome five-seater that doesn’t disappoint at a very sharp $29,990 drive-away. I’m David Berthon

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