Renault Laguna

Road test

The graphics of the optional infotainment screen are slinky too. We photographed the Initiale, which has wood and loads of kit, but it's the more modern-looking Dynamique, at £19,350, that did it for me.

There are only two petrol engines at launch, and they both have the same down- the-road poke because the 140bhp (Nissan-designed) 2.0-litre has a manual, and Renault's own 170bhp light-pressure turbo is saddled by an auto. It's a six- speed and pretty modern, but doesn't seem to talk much to the engine - the shifts are sometimes badly timed against the arrival of boost.

So the 2.0dCi diesel is the engine to have, and it comes in three outputs. I tried the very satisfactory 150bhp version, or there's a 130 - same economy, so why would you? - and coming soon, a 175bhp edition of the same thing. Oh, and V6 petrol and V6 diesels later on, but they'll be strictly minority interest.

As the day wore on I found the Laguna gradually creeping up on me, even if it is timid and short of character. Even more strangely, the design gradually grew on me, or more particularly the centre section with its rising wave that runs from the front wheelarch back through the door handles.

But to my eyes the front is jowly and the tail bulbous. You might think differently, but if you want something that'll strike everyone as good-looking, wait for the coupe, to be shown this year and put on sale mid-'08.

Look at the . The body is real: all they've done is apply motor-show jewellery like sinister wheels, twinkly lights, spoilerage and an unfeasible paint sheen. OK, so the coupe won't sell many copies because big French coupes never do, but its importance is to show Renault hasn't entirely lost the design mojo.

There's a backstory. Renault high-ups finally admitted to themselves, three or four years ago, that their cars damned well deserved their reputation for flakiness. They had to fix it and they had to be seen to be fixing it. They quizzed people who'd rejected a Megane, and were told its jagged angularity made it look fragile. So design got roped into the quality strategy.

The Laguna had to look solid at all costs just to get taken seriously, and in the ensuing over-reaction it seems the style got sucked out of it. When the cars start to do OK in the reliability surveys, the designers will be allowed off the leash a bit. If that seems harsh, it's worth noting that Patrick Le Quement, the design chief, was for some years also the quality chief.

Renault wants to be a player in big cars. Just for 2008, it has the Laguna Sports Tourer, and Coupe, plus an unrelated 4x4 called the Koleos previewed by a concept at Geneva in March this year. Then there's a new Espace.

But big chief Carlos Ghosn promises more than that. Renault Samsung, the Korean affiliate that will build the Koleos, will soon renew its two biggish saloons, the RS5 and RS7. The RS7 will make it to Europe.

Of course, a French-labelled large saloon in Britain pretty much defines the phrase hopeless case, but the company is optimistic it'll do the businesss in Korea, South America and China. There will also be a crossover SUV bigger than a Koleos, sometime around 2010.

That's an awful lot of big cars. Sure they'll help turn Renault into more of a global force, but British dealers, still doubtless smarting over the Vel Satis and Avantime, are going to have to swallow a pretty strong brave pill before they go looking for customers.

Paradoxical, then, that Renault thought the only way to start out on such a brave plan was to build a car that looks so cautious.

Paul Horrell