Review of the new Renault Kangoo - Long Term Test

I've often thought that there's not much point in a motoring journalist testing a budget people carrier like Renault's Kangoo. This van-derived family-friendly MPV is totally alien to the kind of driving and lifestyle that most would-be Clarksons desire. Yet it's exactly the kind of car most modern families - and businesses - need.

At the end of the day, the needs of business people and parents aren't that different: it's about space, durability and cost and whether you're running a fruit and veg stall or a modern household with 2.4 children and a Labrador, the basics you need from your vehicle are similar. That's the genius of the Kangoo and its ilk.

We've just added the latest generation version of the car to our long term test fleet. Later, we're going to be letting my sticky-fingered kids crawl all over the car on the school run but before subjecting it to all of that, we thought we'd use it in the way that a potential small business customer might. The kind of company that might want a Kangoo, we think, is the kind that regularly needs to transport both people and large packages. While a courier company would have a van and a taxi company a normal MPV, others will want something able to do both. Something like this passenger car version of the Kangoo.

One such company is Vivid Broadcast based near Horsham in Sussex, the film production organisation we work with to produce our road test videos. Managing Director Rory Springthorpe was interested to see if this French multi-purpose runabout would work on a business day-to-day level. After around 1500 miles behind the wheel, he thinks it very well might. "Yes, of course it's not the most trendy thing to be seen in but the Kangoo's grown on me," he says.

"It works well as budget family transport and it also seems to fulfil the needs of a small business quite effectively too."

"It's fantastic for moving crew and kit around, plus I can easily fit in long items - tripods, timber and so on. This car has twin back doors rather than a one-piece lift-up tailgate and this is a far better solution for us in everyday use, even if it does look a little van-like. The huge interior height initially seems a little odd but it certainly makes the cabin feel spacious and it offers up room for all kinds of interesting little storage solutions." The Renault's carrying capacity, he thinks, has many pluses but also a few drawbacks. "As I've said, there's loads of room for big items, though you can't load this vehicle up as you would if it were a van because there's of course no bulkhead to stop things flying forward into the driving area."

But then, this is an MPV not an LCV, with all that entails. Clever stowage ideas for example. There are no fewer than 77 litres of additional areas of storage dotted around the cabin in numerous cubbies and compartments. Rory has his views on this too. "At first glance, yes, it's true that there are lots of little compartments to put things in. In regular driving though, you tend to find that many of these little cubbies are rather small (the glovebox has enough room for a glove!) and that things that get put in them tend to find out easily."

The Vivid team have appreciated the way that the 60:40 split rear seats fold down to create a flat load floor. This can boost the 660-litre boot capacity to an enormous 2,866 litres if you specify your model like our long term test car with a collapsible front passenger seat. The various fixtures and fittings are sturdily built but the design does lack a little sparkle. The tough plastics of the otherwise impressive dash hint at the Kangoo's working class roots but all thought that they would be sure to stand the test of time.

Renault has attempted to give the Kangoo's exterior a personality beyond that of a compact commercial vehicle but its designers didn't have a whole lot to work with. The look is chunky and distinctive but it's clearly van-like. Still, there are positives to that. The sliding side doors for example, that open wide to give easy access to the rear seats. Renault has even engineered electric windows that disappear within these doors when lowered. At the rear, the slab like tailgate or the twin doors (depending on what you've specified) open to reveal a flat load floor and a very low loading height so that there's not too far to hoist heavy items. The parcel shelf can be positioned at two different heights and bear a weight of 50kg, so yes, you can stick the dog on it. Cleverly, it can also be slid down against the back of the rear seats so there are no worries about where to store it when it's not in use.

At the wheel of a Kangoo, we've all found that you sit very upright and the huge glass area gives an excellent view ahead. On country toads, there's actually a reasonable amount of grip, whilst in town, light power steering makes it easy to slot into tight spaces, although until you get used to the shape, judging the extremities of the car during parking manoeuvres can be slightly difficult as the bonnet slopes away from you.

Performance is leisurely, with even the fastest petrol and diesel models taking 13s to reach sixty from rest on the way to 106mph. At least with the diesel fitted to our car, there's the compensation of prodigious torque - 240Nm of it if you go for the 106bhp version we have, compared with just 185Nm for the equivalent petrol unit. That means fewer gear changes for diesel drivers and a much more leisurely feel. As the Kangoo's miles have clicked by, the Vivid Broadcast team have enjoyed the little touches - the remote controls for the stereo off the steering wheel for example (though they did find them rather fiddly to use).

Standard equipment across the range includes remote central locking, electric front windows, a CD radio with fingertip controls and 'see-you-home' lights that remain on for a little spell after you park up at night so that you can see to scrabble around in your bag for those elusive front door keys. Safety stuff runs to ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution, plus twin front and side airbags and isofix childseat attachments for the two outside seats in the rear.

Overall then, the scorecard for our Kangoo is pretty positive so far. It works well as budget family transport and it also seems to fulfil the needs of a small business quite effectively too. We'll leave the final word to Vivid Broadcast, our guest testers. "We couldn't run one as our only company vehicle," comments Rory, "our transport needs are too that for that, but as a runabout to supplement something much larger, it's pretty much ideal. I'd never have considered a Kangoo before. Now it's very much on our radar."

TOP 5 KANGOO DEALS

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Renault Kangoo 1.5 dCi 68 Extreme 5dr Diesel Estate
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