Autocar - First for car news and reviews

To begin with, and certainly when its engine is cold, the Captiva can appear crude mechanically. The 2.0-litre common-rail turbodiesel rattles like a washing machine full of coins on start-up, and until it is warmed properly – which takes no more than a few miles, admittedly – the din is prolific enough to make you keep as far away from the lightly weighted throttle as possible.

Once its engine has warmed up, however, the Captiva becomes a pleasant, reasonably refined performer, albe...Read the full article

i purchased one in sep 07 and am totally disappointed with the fuel consumption.

it professess to hod 65litres but i have run it so there are 35miles left (which is rock bottom). when i fill it up i can only get 58 litres into the tank.

when i do fill up it tells me i have a maximum of 350 miles left. i have worked it out that i am getting 26mpg which is totally different to the data in the booklet.

 bitterly disappointed and won't be buying another

I just ordered one of these on a 2 year lease through the world famous Lings Cars. For this top of the range LTX with manual box it costs less than £300 pcm (inc vat). That's cheaper than our second car, a Grande Punto Sporting. I really wanted something a lot more svelte and sporty but we still need the extra seats occasionally and I desperately wanted to be driving something other than an MPV. Apart from the deeply underwhelming 308 SW there is nothing that carries more than 5 people that isn't an MPV or a SUV.

This car is stupidly cheap on lease. It takes up the same amount of space on the road as my current Espace, it has vaguely similar mpg, has many more toys and luxuries than the Espace and my RFL is paid for by the finance company every year too. OK, it wont ride as smoothly as the Renault, the handling will take some adjustment and i'll get eggs thrown at me by nutter campaigners if I dare to drive anywhere near an urban context (I do live in the country btw) but it just seems like a more interesting way to carry my hoards around.

I hope i'm right.