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New look, more tech: Renault Captur Hybrid First Drive

A host of tweaks rather than headline changes combine to significantly improve Renault’s small SUV.
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10 July 2024

What is it?

The Renault Captur is quite simply an SUV version of the French brand’s hugely successful Clio supermini – described by Renault personnel as “Clio’s big brother”. And the Clio’s success has rubbed off on the larger car – since launch in 2013 the Captur has sold just under two million across Europe with 194,000 of those going to UK buyers.

Now what is currently an extensive renewal programme across the Renault model line-up is focusing on the Captur – the current model, on UK sale since 2020, has undergone a facelift that focuses on revised visuals and the addition of the latest technology that has been rolled out recently to other Renault models, notably the the larger SUVs.

While the electric vehicle domination of the market is ever growing and Renault has new small EVs on the way in the form of the long-awaited Renault 5 and the yet to be revealed Renault 4, the Captur is a petrol-electric hybrid. It’s also available with a 1-litre 90hp petrol engine to provide an affordable entry point to SUV ownership, particularly for those moving up from the Clio. Unsurprisingly the diesel option of the previous variant is no longer.

Renault builds its EVs and its hybridised cars on totally separate platforms, arguing that this allows the most effective packaging of the differing powertrains with fewer compromises. Clearly fleet buyers will be most attracted to the hybrid and our test car is to this format – it mates a 1.6-litre petrol engine to two electric motors, the second serving as a starter motor generator. The result is 145hp, official CO2 emissions levels of 105g/km (meaning 26% in BIK tax in 2024-25) and a WLTP-certified driving range of up to 630 miles.

Mechanically the Captur has undergone little in the way of updates, simply gaining revamped dampers and tweaks to the power steering to make it more responsive. The big changes are to the looks and what one gets in the form of equipment.

The exterior gains the latest Renault look, with a more sculpted appearance compared to its predecessor particularly on the front-end surrounding the latest Renault logo, plus changes to the front and rear LED lights to make them more distinctive.

Inside the main design changes centre on the availability of Renault’s latest esprit Alpine trim for the first time on the Captur, evoking a connection with the brand’s motorsport activities. Esprit Alpine tops the three trim levels above entry-level Evolution and Techno, and as well as detail touches to the exterior and larger alloy wheels, inside there is French flag colouring, for example with red, white and blue stitching on the steering wheel.

The esprit Alpine variants also make the most use of recycled materials in the interior fabrics – Renault is quite proud of the fact that there is no leather available in the Captur, arguing that use of the hide requires 10 to 20 times more water than the bio-sourced materials employed and produces a five to 10 times higher carbon footprint.

Hey Google

The most pertinent updates to the Captur are in terms of equipment, principally the availability of the open AI infotainment system with Google built in. All trim levels now have a 10.4-inch central touchscreen in the increasingly popular vertical format, and on all bar Evolution versions this includes access to a host of Google services including Maps, Assistant and apps such as Waze, Spotify and Youtube.

While these are missing from the entry-level Captur, it does get wireless smartphone connectivity and a charger, a rear-view camera and a seven-inch display on the driver’s instrument panel. On Techno models, expected to be the most popular among buyers, this screen increases to 10.5 inches allowing it to display Google Maps information, while the boot gains a modular floor. Boot space by the way is 616 litres, helped by a rear bench that can slide forwards and backwards by 16cm – with the rear seats folded the resultant flat floor will accommodate 1596 litres.

Choose the range-topping esprit Alpine and the extras include electrically adjustable front seats which are also heated, as is the steering wheel. The top model also gets the full suite of ADAS safety aids, adaptive cruise control only available on this version. While the Captur is yet to be specifically tested by Euro NCAP, Renault expects it to earn a four-star rating – with the latest test criteria heavily focusing on ADAS, most brands consider that fully equipping small cars with all the aids necessary to achieve a five-star rating would make them prohibitively expensive to many buyers.

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What do we think of it?

The visual updates to the Captur have not harmed it in the least and on first viewing it strikes a compact but purposeful pose. Moving inside it’s comfortable and reasonably roomy for what is basically a supermini on steroids.

Renault appears not to want to follow the trend to having everything on the large, central and sensibly vertical-format touchscreen and so there are three stalks around the steering wheel, the one charging the audio settings a little small and hidden.

Generally, however, everything comes naturally to hand – the touchscreen is easy to use and the replication of the maps in the centre of the driver’s display on all bar entry models is particularly useful. We also like the fact that said display is totally traditional, eschewing the rather style-led version of new sister the Scenic.

The test cars supplied were all the hybrid model, which will without doubt be most of interest to Business Motoring readers. Renault expects initially the hybrid to take 60% of Captur sales, but also predicts that this figure will decline slightly once the slightly larger and £3,000 more expensive Symbioz joins the range, buyers moving up in the same way one might go from Nissan Juke to Qashqai.

In a word where most new cars these days are EVs the slightly over-eager engine roar one traditionally gets when first starting a hybrid powertrain seems initially slightly intrusive but it soon settles down, and the Captur does appear to spend quite a reasonable amount of time on the electric side of its propulsion options. There is also an eSave button which can be used to reserve 40% of the battery capacity for deploying with heavy loads or on more demanding roads.

Another choice drivers can make is in the safety. A new button – My Safety Shield – lets the driver activate or deactivate the preferred settings of five ADAS features at the same time, choosing whether they are active and whether they produce sound alerts. For example this car of course has the latest Euro-mandatory speed limiter and the various alerts associated with such technology can be irritating.

On the road the hybrid makes for a perky performance and combined with a more than adequate chassis journeys in the Captur are generally enjoyable. It’s no sports car, but it’s not meant to be, just a reliable performer whether popping round to one’s local office or clocking up many motorway miles, and in this the Captur performs well.

Captur prices with the hybrid engine start at £24,495 on the road but we would recommend paying an extra £1700 for the Techno version as the extra equipment, particularly the Google apps, justify the cost. The range-topping eSprint Alpine is £27,995.

Overall the facelifted Captur is a definite step up from its predecessor, with Renault having addressed criticisms that mainly focused on the poor interior quality and underwhelming on-the-road performance. The facelift has not added any headline-making updates but the combination of small changes has produced a significant improvement in what is now a good all-round small SUV.

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Performance

Tested model: Renault Captur e-Tech Hybrid esprit Alpine

Max power:  145hp

Max Torque: 148Nm (ICE) / 205Nm (EV motor)

Top speed:   106mph

0-62mph:  10.6 seconds

WLTP economy:  60.1mpg

CO2 Emissions: 105g/km

BIK: 26%.  VED (year 1): £185

OTR price: £27,995, range starts £21,095

Key rivals: Nissan Juke, Toyota Yaris Cross, Hyundai Kona, Vauxhall Mokka, Peugeot 2008

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Andrew Charman

Andrew Charman has been a motoring journalist for more than 30 years, writing about vehicles, technology and the industry. He is a Guild of Motoring Writers committee member and has won several awards including for his business coverage.

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