SUVs are popular, but sometimes, you can get a car that looks like an SUV without actually being one. This month’s car review discusses a true SUV and two crossovers. Let us find out what they are like!

Renault Captur

Price

• Starts from £15,730

Main features

• An SUV-hatchback crossover
• Petrol and diesel engine options
• Economy over 42mpg for all models
• One of the lowest-emissions cars in its class
• Excellent headroom
• A quiet and smooth ride

What is it like?

The Renault Captur has unanimously been hailed as the Clio-SUV crossover as it has more space but is not as big as a true SUV. In its 2019 avatar, the Captur comes with a rugged exterior – heavy-duty bumpers and sharper lights.

The car is higher, with more headroom, so tall passengers will have plenty of space overhead, but there might not be enough legroom for long legs.

Even so, it is a decent car for its category. In fact, it has some of the lowest emissions for its class, falling between 110 and 128 g/km.

The car comes with the option of four engines, three of which are petrol and one diesel. These are TCe 90 (the 0.9l petrol engine), TCe 130, and the TCe 150. The diesel engine, dCi 90 is a powerful beast but can be quite noisy. For a smoother, economical ride, your best bet is the TCe 90.

While none of the engines gives fuel economy lower than 42mpg, the TCe 90 ranges between 44.1 and 45.6mpg and CO2 emission as low as 122g/km. This 3-cylinder model goes from 0-62mph in 13.2s flat. Not a car you would race in, but still a decent performance.

Because of its popularity, the Captur does not depreciate greatly in value, which is another point in its favour. What remains to be seen is how it will fare against the competitors in long-term performance.

BMW X6

Price

• Starting from £57,580

Main features

• The option of a 4.4l turbo-charged 50i V8 engine
• Spacious and comfortable interiors
• 0-62mph in 6.7s
• Plenty of standard equipment included
• Adaptive sports suspension
• Low emissions for its class

What is it like?

The BMW X6 has been described as the ‘marmite car’. You either love the way it looks or you hate it. While the model is based on the X5, it loses some of the boot space and practicality in exchange for a sloping roof.

The interiors are comfortable, with plenty of headroom, legroom, and width. However, for the asking price, it doesn’t feel as luxurious and high quality as it could.

It does make up with the amount of standard equipment it comes with. For example, you get 6 airbags, tyre pressure monitoring, and automatic emergency braking as standard safety equipment. It also comes with an alarm and immobiliser included.

All models come with an adaptive sports suspension as well, so you can customise your ride. The car is smooth and quiet on motorways. However, town driving at low speeds can be bumpy.

It comes with 3.0l 6-cylinder petrol or diesel or 4.4l turbo-charged 50i V8 engine options. The 30d diesel might be the best choice for a company car with its low list price and some of the lowest CO2 emission rates in its category.

Mazda CX-30

Price

• Starting from £22,895

Main features

• Crossover car based on the X3
• Great set of standard equipment
• Plush and expensive-looking interiors
• Choice of 3 engines
• Skyactiv-X engine option for petrol characteristics with the fuel economy of diesel

What is it like?

The Mazda CX-30 came about as a crossover between the CX-3 and CX-5. Logically, it should have been named CX-4, but Mazda already has an exclusive Chinese model by that name.

The car handles well and is quite good-looking inside with the interiors looking a lot more expensive than what you would expect for the price. Whilst it has plenty of space in the front, the back doesn’t have the greatest amount of legroom but the extra height of the car means there is plenty of headroom.

There are 3 engine options available – Skyactiv-G (a 2.0l Naturally Aspirated 4-cylinder petrol engine with ‘some hybrid tech’), Skyactiv-D (A 1.8l 4-cylinder diesel), and Mazda’s innovative Skyactiv-X, a petrol engine that gives you the fuel economy of diesel!

The emission levels are on the lower side, with the 120bhp 2.0l manual engine emitting 116g/km of CO2. The figure goes up by 10g/km with an automatic transmission.

Even the fuel economy is not too bad. The 120bhp 2.0l officially gives 45.6mpg and the 178bhp 2.0l offers 47.9mpg.

So these are some of the cars you could be driving in the future. Which of these do you prefer and would like to test-drive? Are there any other cars you’d like us to review? Send us a message and let us know!

Further Reading

At GKL Leasing, we offer a variety of vehicles for leasing and hire. Here are some additional resources that could help you decide on which car you’d like to lease.

• SEAT Tarraco, Volvo XC90, and Ford Mondeo Facelift car review
• Skoda Kodiaq VRS review
• What is the Road to Zero and its impact on your business

If you wish to lease one these SUVs or any other vehicle, give us a call on 01844 852000 or email us. Our team of specialists will help you with all the information you require about them. We can even book you a test drive so you know first-hand how they handle.