Chevrolet Captiva

The Chevrolet Captiva is the best Chevy to grace UK shores so far. Sounds like damning with faint praise, but this is a relatively cheap little SUV with seven seats. Worth a look, surely?

• Comfort

  The revised suspension over the first-gen car - stiffer springs - does sharpen up the Captiva's road manners, but the ride isn't as relaxed as it should be for a car of this class.

  

• Performance

  The new 2.2-litre diesel replaces the old 148bhp 2.0-litre unit, available in 161bhp or 181bhp tune. The latter, complete with 295lb ft of torque, is enough to drop the 0-60mph time in 9.3 seconds, which is almost two seconds quicker than the old car.

  

• Cool

  No. Except maybe to Chevrolet Lacetti owners.

  

• Quality

  Can feel budget in the plastics, but this feels like a car to take on real life rather than ponce around in. Nothing to worry unduly about.

  

• Handling

  No permanent 4x4 (‘Haldex' clutch is front-drive until the wheels lose grip and then the rears push) and the base model is front-drive only, but the Captiva is tidy enough. There's plenty of safe understeer if you push too hard and the suspension copes well with the UK, even if it is a bit soft.

  

• Practicality

  Superbly practical. Seven seats, masses of headroom. Worth noting that as with all seven-seat SUVs once that third row is in use, the bootspace drops from 465 litres to a teacup-sized 85 litres. So seven people or luggage, not both.

  

• Running costs

  Used values are pretty rickety, but 42.8mpg combined isn't too shoddy at all.