THE demand for compact crossovers is showing no signs of easing off with buyers demanding attractive cars that are reasonably priced, yet offer a world of practicality along the way.

And the Renault Captur - which takes on the likes of the Nissan Juke - seems to tick all the right boxes.

The car looks stylish from any angle and the interior is deceptively spacious with ample room for four adults to travel in style.

The Captur has a real fun and funky appeal to it with a modern design ethos throughout thanks to the contrasting roof colours and decals.

Personalisation traits are all the rage in recent years and the Captur is no exception as buyers can choose a colour scheme that they like with two-tone paintwork that differentiates the roof, pillars and door mirror housings from the rest of the body.

The interior is simplistic in its layout, but once again buyers can mix and match colours and materials to suit their tastes. And the seat covers actually unzip if you fancy a change of look.

There is a lot of plastic on display, but the Captur has lots of techno treats such as an easy-to-use sat nav system, air con, a good sound system, a push button start-up, electric front windows and plenty more besides. One feature I found slightly annoying though was the size of the cup holders - they are simply too small and one in particular is too tiny to even hold a tin of pop.

But that aside, the interior is well thought out and light floods into the cabin to create a warm and bright environment for all occupants and the boot can accommodate 377 litres of luggage which can be increased to 1,235 litres with the 60:40 spilt-folding rear seats flat.

The high seated driving position results in excellent all-round visibility and generally the Captur is an accomplished vehicle in all aspects.

This car was powered by a 1.5-litre 90ps diesel engine that delivered ample power as it moved smoothly through the five-speed manual gearbox. I did find it lacked a little bite at times - mainly when tackling long inclines, but that aside, the Captur performed well in busy city centres and on faster-moving motorways.

It may not be the fastest out of the starting blocks with a 0-62mph sprint time of 13.1 seconds, but it's impossible to ignore the highly impressive running costs with a combined fuel economy of 76.4mpg.

The car is packed with a comprehensive range of safety features that helped it achieve the maximum five stars in the Euro NCAP safety ratings.