Plus motors.

At the recent UK press launch of the R en au lt Koleos,11 rival models were flagged up as competition. A crowded field indeed.

Renault now have an SUV in each of three sectors, the Captur in B, Kadjar in C and now the flagship Koleos in the Dsegment.

You may recall the Koleos name from a few years ago. It had a short life and poor sales forced Renault to pull the plug after a couple of years. This time around they have high hopes for the new model. SUVs are the fastest growing sector in the automotive market with 140,000 UK sales last year, three times more than in 2011.

Although pricey at £27,500 for the entry model, new Koleos is well specified and the cabin is sturdy and practical although I am not overly impressed with the fake wooden trim and the hard plastics. The grab handles on the centre console are a nice touch and hint at the vehicle’s soft off-road credentials.

Designed to be comfortable for five adults, the long wheelbase means it has plenty of head and leg room and the seats are supportive with heating and cooling in the front and heating in the back. All four doors open wide and are designed so that the sills are kept clean.

There are two engines-both diesels - a 1.6-litre 1238bhp and a two-litre 173bhp. The smaller of the two engines comes with front-wheel drive only while the more powerful has a useful allwheel drive setting which was ably demonstrated during a short foray off-road on a country estate in the Chiltern Hills. The hill-hold did its stuff and the Koleos fairly romped up to the top of the track.

I initially had my doubts about the CVT automatic gearbox - available on the more powerful engine only - but was impressed by the smooth changing box and didn’ t feel the need to fiddle with the settings.

A vehicle this size is never going to be nippy and particularly agile but it does a good job of delivering a comfortable ride - especially at speed. It loses a few points around town as it makes heavy weather of speed bumps and poorly surfaced roads.

Koleos is designed to be practical and a range of accessories are available to facilitate this. These include door and boot sill guards which pop out when the doors are open (a marvellous idea) a removable tow bar that can be fitted without tools, boot organisers and roof bars.

Although quite chunky in design the nipped in rear and clever styling makes Koleos look quite svelte and it cuts quite a dash on the road.

The top of the range Signature four-wheel-drive CVT model with leather seats and an uprated infotainment system comes in at £34,200 and early indications are that this is likely to be the best seller from the sixstrong pack.