THE new Renault Captur compact SUV will be priced from £17,595 when it arrives in the UK next March - an increase of more than £2,000 over the previous model.

Larger and with more equipment as standard, the new model will be available in three trim grades with prices topping out from £24,795 for a diesel model fitted with Renault's electronic semi-automatic gearbox.

All versions have LED headlights, full smartphone compatibility and a new-look interior while there are five engines available - three petrol and two diesel.

Later in 2020 a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid version will be launched - the first such vehicle in the small SUV class.

The cockpit of the new Captur follows on from that of the latest Clio and has a 7.0-inch display screen on Play and Iconic trim models with the higher specification S Edition having a larger 9.3-inch screen with a ‘portrait' set up.

The cabin is larger than before with more leg room in the rear and boot capacity on the new model has been increased by 81 litres to a maximum of 536 litres with a sliding rear seating arrangement.

Standard safety features across the range include lane departure warning and lane keep assist, while traffic sign recognition with speed alert is also included, as is cruise control with a speed limiter function.

There is also an active emergency braking system which can detect cyclists and pedestrians.

On the petrol front, Renault is using its three-cylinder 100ps TCe engine across the range as well as a more powerful 130ps variant which is capable of 0 to 60 acceleration in 9.6 seconds when mated to the EDC transmission.

A higher performance 155ps TCe engine is offered on higher grade Iconic and S Edition models while diesel engines with either 95 or 115ps on tap are available across the range.

Fuel economy ranges from an average of 47.1 mpg for the TCe 100 to 58.9 for the diesels. Emissions run from 124g/km for the higher powered petrol engines to 106g/km for the 95ps diesel.

Renault is also offering the new Captur with a series of option packs which include orange trim highlights for the interior at £350 on all but the basic model and from mid-2020 the S Edition grade will be available with a 10-inch ‘smart' TFT instrument panel for an extra £250.