Captiva: The family will be captivated

The fully loaded Captiva turbodiesel gave a compliant and settled ride on the wide open roads of the south. Photo / Supplied

Funny how a vehicle can make such a different impression when you change the location. A few weeks ago in Auckland, I road-tested the Holden Captiva 7 LX with the 3-litre V6 SIDI engine. I Liked the looks, price and equipment, but felt the powertrain was lethargic and couldn't get on with the fidgety ride of this flagship model, which rolls on 19-inch wheels.

All in all, I thought, if you're considering a Captiva 7 LX you'd be better to spend the extra $2000 and go for the 2.2-litre turbodiesel version, which has another 112Nm (peak 400Nm) and should soon recoup the extra purchase price by returning outstanding economy figures.

Well, I've just spent a week and 800km in the Captiva 7 LX diesel in Central Otago and I'd still be of a mind to go compression-ignition - but not for the reasons I predicted.

The biggest difference was ride - while the petrol car got annoying very quickly, the diesel seemed a lot more compliant and settled.

Why? Partly the extra weight of the diesel vehicle, partly the wide open roads of the south - although in what ratio I can't say without a back-to-back test.

Surprisingly, the biggest disappointment in the diesel was fuel economy. With a mixture of Auckland-city and open-road driving in the Captiva V6 petrol I averaged 12.3 litres/100km, which is not too far off the combined claim of 11.3 litres.

With hundreds of kilometres of steady-as-she-goes 100km/h work in Central Otago and not an urban road to be seen, I thought the diesel would almost have been filling up as we drove along.

Sadly not: I did no better than 10.3 litres/100km for the week (official Combined figure 8.3 litres). I'll give consideration for 70kg worth of holiday luggage, but in the same conditions I reckon I could have done almost as well in the V6 petrol version.

The diesel still gets the driver's thumbs up for loping along so effortlessly in sixth gear with all that torque to draw upon, even if the handling attitude is unrelenting understeer.

Even the smoothest possible line through a sweeping corner results in the nose drifting wide as soon as you turn the wheel.

In some respects, the Captiva 7 LX is a hard thing to get your head around. Its unique selling proposition is that it's a seven-seater with a load of luxury equipment, priced quite a bit below its obvious rivals. The qualification is that it's also slightly smaller than its obvious rivals. Although the Captiva 7 doesn't have the sheer space of a Ford Territory or Hyundai Santa Fe, it remains a useful family vehicle.

The third-row seats fold flat into the floor in one movement and are fine for occasional seating or children. The second row can also be dropped flat for van-like cargo-carrying. There's a pretty decent 465 litres of load space in the five-seat configuration, or 930 with all rear seats stowed.

In LX specification Captiva comes with leather upholstery, touch-screen control for the cabin functions, parking radar/camera and an eight-speaker stereo with USB/SD input (but strangely, not iPod integration as with the Cruze and Commodore).

There's satellite navigation too, although I got a bit frustrated with it once I started using it away from the environs of the big centres. It's a full Australasian mapping package and I have a feeling a lot more work went into the Aussie side of things than the Kiwi. Neither the Crown Range nor Lake Hayes roads were on the system, and the sat-nav was unable to plot a course to Dunedin's Momona Airport from anywhere in Central Otago during our trip.

Alternatives

* Ford Territory Titanium TDCi
$69,990
* Kia Sorento R EX
$57,490
* Holden Captiva 7 3.0 V6 SIDI
$55,890
* Hyundai Santa Fe CRDi Elite
$66,990
* Peugeot 4007 Luxury
$59,990

Spoiled for choice

If you can navigate your way through the possible combinations of Captiva's two body styles, three powertrains and trio of specification levels, you're doing better than us. But for the record, the 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine comes in both 5 and 7 models, and in entry SX, mid-level CX and flagship LX grades. However, while the diesel powertrain features all-wheel drive in the Captiva 5 and Captiva 7 CX/LX models, it's front-drive only in the 7 SX.

The bottom line:

Korean-built Captiva 7 LX has found a nice little niche: a compact-crossover with seven seats and lots of luxury equipment. Diesel not as thrifty as you'd think, chassis not as engaging as you'd like it to be.