The 2017 launch of the Renault Koleos large five-seat SUV effectively marked the return of the range-topping Renault. Now, for 2018, the firm’s completing the luxury-line emphasis with the roll-out of a decadent range pinnacle called Initiale Paris. Ordering is open now from £36,700.
That’s quite a jump up from the £27,500 starter price for the Koleos range, which itself sits above the mid-sized Kadjar (yours from £19,785). But, in true range-topping Renault tradition, it has a staggering level of standard equipment to justify this.
Spec-watchers, take a deep breath, because the Koleos Initiale Paris comes with heated and ventilated two-tone Nappa leather seats, panoramic sunroof, bespoke 19-inch two-tone alloys, full LED headlights, electric tailgate…
… 8.7-inch Tesla-portrait-style R-LINK2 infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, TomTom sat nav with live traffic updates, a panoramic sunroof that opens, rear seats that fold flat in one touch, a 13-speaker Bose stereo, all-round parking sensors, automatic parking – dammit, even the cupholders are heated. And cooled.
The only options are metallic paint, for £550 (the fancy Amethyst seen here is exclusive to the Initiale Paris), and a spare wheel.
It’s powered by a 2.0-litre dCi 175 turbodiesel engine, which has all-wheel drive and an X-Tronic CVT automatic gearbox as standard; this returns 47.9mpg with CO2 emissions of 156g/km.
Despite being a largish SUV, the Koleos is only offered as a five-seater: Renault UK told us last year this was to emphasis its luxurious space and comfort for five people, rather than making compromises to squeeze in a third row of seats which may be little-used. The 458-litre boot’s expandability to 1,690 litres is another positive of this, they added.
Deliveries of the new Renault Koleos Initiale Paris, which is offered in just the single £36,700 model variant, begin in spring 2018.