Renault Rafale review

Flagship French cars always suffered crippling depreciation – here Renault has smartly crafted some tempting finance deals which ought to help shore up the leaks. It’s the same thinking that’s led to so many Arkanas trickling around on our roads. Thankfully the Rafale is a more convincing proposition that you can still enjoy for under £300 a month if you’re willing to have a short, low-mileage deal and can lay down a stocky deposit.

It's more like £400-600 monthly on typical, 10,000-mile-per-year, 36/48-month terms, which makes it very competitive with Peugeot's startlingly similar 408 crossover. Such figures also help bridge the large six grand leap between an Austral and Rafale, one we’d otherwise try to talk you out of unless you really like the looks here. This is a less rational purchase than most of Renault’s other SUVs. Perhaps that’s the appeal.

What do I get for the money?

Base ‘Techno’ trim gets 20in wheels, the full touchscreen experience, front/rear parking sensors a reversing camera, LED lights all round and a whole host of active safety kit. It starts at £38,195. A further £4,000 (precisely) takes you to a Techno Esprit Alpine, which smartens up the trim inside and out, adds heated and electrically adjustable front seats, a heated steering wheel, a head-up display, the trick rear armrest and an electric tailgate. Perhaps more enticingly it brings adaptive cruise control and 4Control four-wheel steer, the two options that’ll make most difference to how it actually drives.

Topping the range is the £44,695 Iconic Esprit Alpine, which takes all the kit of the trim levels below and adds 360-degree cameras, self-parking, a 12-speaker Harman Kardon stereo and the delightful sunroof.

Every Rafale ‘full hybrid’ has a 26 per cent BIK rate; the plug-in hybrid version will inevitably be a much more enticing business car prospect with the eight per cent rate.