With electronic stability control on all versions, six airbags across the range and Isofix child-seat mounting points on the middle row of seats, the Chevrolet Captiva safety repertoire ticks most boxes. An alarm is also standard across the range. Models from 2011 onwards also come with Hill Start Assist (this stops the car rolling back before when you take your foot off the brake to accelerate) and Hill Descent Control which limits the speed the car can travel down hill.

The Captiva was tested by Euro NCAP in 2011 with a five-star score for crash safety.

One of the Captiva’s strongest suits is practicality, with decent luggage capacity in five-seat mode (465 litres of luggage space up to window height) and a maximum of 1565 litres with the middle row folded down. However, on seven seat versions, with all seats in use there’s only enough luggage space for a few carrier bags of shopping. There are plenty of cup holders though, a chilled section of the glove compartment (on diesel versions) and generous sized door bins.

All models have self-levelling rear suspension, and maximum towing capacity of the manual diesel is 2000kg, although other versions have a lower limit.