Chevrolet adds new top version of Captiva SUV

Chevrolet has added a new top-of-the-range variant to its Captiva SUV range, the LTZ. This has a long list of standard equipment that includes full leather upholstery, climate control, a reverse parking camera and touch-screen sat-nav.

The company points to Chevrolet's SUV heritage, and it can fairly claim to have invented the category in the US market, although the Captiva itself isn't really part of that tradition – it is instead a global General Motors product sourced from GM's Korean operations and sold under a variety of badges around the word, including in the UK as the Vauxhall Antara.

The Captiva is pretty sound on the basics such as road behaviour, space, practicality and so on, but lacks a bit of polish in areas such as the appeal of its interior trim compared with the best European models. It will be interesting to see whether the LTZ's bulging equipment list and 2.0 litre VCDi diesel engine can compensate for that.

Chevrolet say that the Captiva LTZ's pricing - £27,305 for the manual and £28,630 for the automatic – makes it £20,000 cheaper than an entry level BMW X5 or Range Rover Sport but compared with those, the LTZ is probably going to be something of a Low Taste Zone. A more appropriate comparison would be with Kia's capable new Sorento, which starts at under £21,000, and in that company the new top Captiva's pricing looks a bit steep.