With no pre-existing model template to adhere to, Renault has taken the opportunity to be fairly bold with the Koleos’s exterior.
The influence of the Talisman (the firm’s unfamiliar but really rather good-looking saloon) is obvious enough, as is the same well-groomed design language that produced the current generation of the Mégane and Scenic.
The selective use of brightwork – that chrome strip running down the front wing, for example – is a somewhat unsubtle wink to premium-market shoppers, although the Koleos’s real attention-getter is arguably its physical size.
At 4672mm, the model is significantly longer than the average modern volume-brand SUV and it comes as a mild surprise to discover that the inside is strictly limited to five seats rather than seven.
Certainly, the modular platform beneath was conceived with boot-mounted jump seats in mind. After all, it’s the same CMF-C/D architecture that underpins the Nissan X-Trail (and the Espace and Scenic, for that matter).
Therein lies Renault’s people-carrying problem: it already sells an established seven-seater in the UK and would prefer not to pinch sales from the Grand Scenic.
