Behold the new, slightly different Renault Kadjar

Big news! The Renault Kadjar has been updated, and it may be the most important thing you’ll read about all day.

Alright, in a world edging closer and closer to Armageddon, it’s probably not the most important thing you’ll read today. But surely some fancy new LED lights on a mid-sized Renault SUV are a nice distraction from our collective impending doom?

LED lights that use six times less energy than their halogen equivalents on the old Kadjar, in fact. We know you’re impressed. The rest of its tweaks are similarly subtle, but all pretty well-informed from what the people want: a new touchscreen media system that properly connects to your smartphone of choice, air vents and USB charging points for the rear passengers, and front seats that now have an extending cushion at the front, like proper premium cars do.

All useful to properly compete against the 14,536* other mid-sized SUVs currently available to buy. There are new engines, too; if you want petrol, it has to be a 1.3-litre turbo, but don’t worry about its miniscule size, as it can offer up to 158bhp and comes with a choice of manual and automatic gearboxes.

You can also have a diesel – should you not have jumped that particular ship yet – a 1.6-litre offering up to 148bhp, its top-spec tune being the sole engine you can specify all-wheel drive with. Renault’s happy to concede it’s pilfered a 4x4 system from its chums at Nissan, and it’s a proper system with switchable modes and a locking centre diff, allowing actual off-roading. Renault even talks up the Kadjar’s ‘angle of attack’, yielded by its 200mm ground clearance. Yikes.

If you’d like to attack things from angles but with petrol power, then front-driven Kadjars come with the option of an ‘Extended Grip’ system that brings knobblier, all-season tyres and various traction control modes that will surely cater for all the off-road excursions a car like this will ever have to face.

No word on prices just yet, but the teeniness of the Kadjar’s tweaks mean its current £20,000 starting point shouldn’t change too much. We’ll likely find out more at the Paris Motor Show in a couple of weeks.

*Estimated