The new Renault Laguna is off to a promising start, having received widespread acclaim for its impressive refinement, well-appointed interior and overall feeling of quality. Launched across UK dealers from today, the French marque’s upper-medium contender now looks set to take the challenge to its rivals with an equally impressive residual value forecast, up by 7.2% on its predecessor.

With keen pricing and a standard 3 year/100,000 mile warranty (including the first two years of unlimited mileage), New Laguna already has one of the most compelling set of total cost of ownership figures in its class, so such an impressive residual value forecast will be even sweeter news, for both private and fleet buyers alike.

The likely New Laguna best-seller, Hatch Dynamique 2.0 dCi 150 is expected to retain 32.1% over 3 years/60,000 miles*. This represents an impressive 1% gain over the new Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 140 Zetec at 31.1% and an impressive 4% above the Peugeot 407 2.0 HDi SE 136 at 28.1%.

For lower mileage drivers, the costs stack up even more in favour of the new Renault flagship. Over 36 months/36,000 miles, the same New Laguna retains 37.2% of its value, against just 36% for the equivalent Mondeo, 1.2% above its key Ford rival.

Rounding off the low costs of ownership for New Laguna are its low insurance groups, which have recently been re-rated to make the new range even more attractive.

With its stylish lines, innovative Super-fold rear seat system and wide range of trim level and engine combinations, Renault has high hopes for its new Laguna Sport Tourer. Available to order now, the new load-lugger is priced from £16,940 to £24,350.

Sport Tourer is expected to take a large proportion of New Laguna sales, and as such, to entice even more customers into the showroom, has seen its former price difference between Hatch and Sport Tourer models cut by £150 to £950.   

The new Super-fold system enables the rear seats to fold down simply by pulling a small lever concealed in the rear hatch or by the rear seats, thereby giving a cavernous and completely flat load area of 1,593 litres right up to the rear of the front seats. Roof bars are standard across the range and vary in colour according to trim level.

New Laguna Hatch launches in UK dealers today, priced from £15,990. The DCi 1.5 (110bhp) from £16,350 comes in with a low 130g/kg CO2 emissions.  Order books for Hatch Initiale and Sport Tourer models are also now open.