RENAULT has been on a roll in recent times and has just launched its long awaited crossover offering in the hotly competitive family market.

Named Kadjar, it is the big brother to the successful Captur and comprises of an 18-strong range of highly-efficient two and four-wheel drive models.

It is built on the versatile new Renault-Nissan Alliance CMF platform which means it has out of sight links to vehicles such as the successful Nissan Qashqai - but this is a very different animal to the Nissan.

The Kadjar features an effervescent French character and makes a positive visual statement that it is there to help you enjoy life a little more.

Although Renault was one of the great pioneers of the MPV, its history with crossovers - a mixture of hatchback and SUV - is quite recent.

It all started at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000 with the Koleos which became a production reality in 2006. Again a Renault-Nissan Alliance project.

Then in 2013 Captur appeared and was a hit with its urban approach to motoring, and now the Kadjar takes up the story as an all-weather soft-roader for those who want a lot more from their everyday vehicle.

Of course it can be used as an everyday car with its 2WD version or mode but it can tackle some tough tracks with all-wheel drive versions that can be fine-tuned according to road surface and weather.

There is a generous ground-clearance of 190mm and approach and departure angles of 18 and 25degrees respectively.

But there is much more than a hatch/SUV cross with this model as it is also a credible estate car. There is a boot-mounted One-Touch easy folding rear seat system on the Dynamique S model and above. These release and fold the 60/40 split rear seats in one action. There are high and low boot floor positions which offer simplified loading or increased boot capacity according to requirements.

In the power department there is a choice of three engines and two gearboxes. The engines range from the 1.2 turbo TCe direct injection petrol, the 1.5 -litre ENERGY dCi diesel and the 1.6 ENERGY 130 diesel.

A drive in the dCi 130 demonstrated that this is a very engaging and pleasant vehicle to drive for the outlay of £27,450.

With a respectable economy figure of 62.8mpg combined it was capable of 118mph and featured a 0-65mph sprint of 9.9 seconds. CO2 emissions are 117 g/km.

There is little doubt that this vehiclehas taken some time to appear on the UK's roads and now that it has I suspect that it will become a very familiar sight.