3.0D premium luxury on optional 17in wheels

Could be great, but there are too many niggles.

First impressions are that it’s a gorgeous shape – in my opinion, much better-looking than the parent saloon. What took them so long? Like the saloon, it’s a cossetting place to get into – the leather seats are comfortable with plenty of adjustment, and the fit and finish seem to be good. The rotary gear selector rises out of the centre console when you push the “engine start” button – a nice gimmick, but the novelty is starting to wear off. The keyless entry/keyless start system that comes with the premium luxury models seems to be an overcomplicated hostage to future reliability and I’ve got to remember to keep the keys in my pocket; I’d recommend the “luxury” variant with upgraded seats and the rear reversing camera (which is pretty much essential, as the rear window is a bit of a letter-box slot). Rear ¾ vision isn’t bad for pulling out of oblique junctions though.

The load space is square and nicely plush, with tie-down points in the floor. The split rear seats fold from handy levers just inside the tailgate. The load-space cover comes in a removable cassette, but there is no retractable load net/dog guard, even though there are fittings in the headlining for one to slot into.

The 3 litre engine is brilliant. It suits the car much better than the 2 litre versions, as it’s smooth, unstressed and quiet and matches the gearbox so well that I never feel the need to argue with its choices and play with the gearshift paddles. Wind noise is low and on smooth roads high speed long distance cruising is a pleasure. Given the weight of the thing, fuel consumption isn’t bad – after nearly 4000 miles at mostly-legal speeds in the UK and France I seem to be getting about 42mpg overall (although the trip computer lies through its teeth).

However, while I realize that the Sportbrake is aimed at the sporty market, the ride can charitably only be described as “hard”; at legal speeds over broken roads (ie English ones!) every small bump and cats-eye transmits audibly up through the bodywork to give a very jiggly feel (even on the smallest wheels available) and the back feels as if it’s about to bounce out of line on fast but bumpy corners. I tried one with 19in wheels and that was frankly awful. Matter of taste, I suppose.

Sadly, although the major controls are well-nigh perfect, the rest of the cockpit is a bit of an ergonomic shambles. Minor controls are scattered about apparently randomly (the button for the rear fog light (there are no front ones) is buried by my right knee, out of my eye line right under the button for releasing the tailgate, with the obvious potential for pushing the wrong one). The front parking sensor only comes on after you’ve selected reverse (!), unless you override it by pushing the button in the overhead console just before you hit the garage wall in front of you. I may get used to that in the end, but would prefer it to come on automatically when the speed gets below (say) 5mph. Having the touch screen control everything is a nice idea, but poorly implemented, with too many functions buried under several layers of menu (4 different button presses to turn on the heated seats, and the same to turn them down or off), and because it’s not at all intuitive it means taking your eye off the road too much. It’s about to go back to the garage for the third time to try and fix some apparent software glitches, which isn’t very encouraging. The Satnav is really showing its age – it’s quirky, clunky and very slow to programme or change.

There’s no oil dipstick, and the manual says to check the level (via the trip computer) 10 minutes after turning off the engine, not when it’s cold. I suppose there’s a reason for that. I miss having a water temperature gauge (as well as front fog lights) – for a sporty car, I don’t know why they didn’t put a display option for engine info instead of the big clock between speedometer and rev counter. For some reason, that clock stays much brighter than the useful dials either side of it when you dim the cockpit lighting in the dark, which is a sloppy bit of design.

In summary, it could be a really great car – it looks wonderful, goes as you would expect, but is let down by poor attention to cockpit design and (for me) the very harsh ride.

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