The Renault Austral
(Picture: Renault)A few years ago Renault pensioned off most of its models in the hotly contested C segment – cars the size of, say, a VW Golf or a Nissan Qashqai.
Then a year or so ago it started trying to claw back a share of this market with the Arkana hybrid and then the Megane E-Tech EV. Now it has unveiled its latest weapon in this battle, the oddly-name Renault Austral.
This is a full hybrid SUV with a brand new 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor, together developing 200hp. The version we will be getting in the UK, the Austral E Sport Alpine, won’t be here for a good six months and so the cars we tried at its international launch in Spain were pre-production vehicles.
Variations
Despite the cars being theoretically identical, this may explain some variations we encountered. Car number one felt a bit grouchy, with some jerkiness in the drivetrain as it switched between electric and petrol power.
Also, under hard acceleration or when it tackled gradients we were very aware that the little 1.2 engine was working quite hard to move a vehicle as big as this.
The next day, in a different car, it was a very different story. The engine immediately felt quieter and more refined, and we have to assume this would be more typical of the finished models we can expect in the UK.
One of the Austral’s ace cards is its optional four-wheel steering system, called 4Control. This means the rear wheels can turn up to 5 degrees the opposite way to the front wheels, giving it a city-car-rivalling turning circle of 10.1 metres.
In manoeuvrability tests we compared the Austral with a smaller B-Segment Renault Kadjar, which the new car replaces, and a still smaller Renault Clio. Despite its size disadvantage the Austral proved the easiest to thread through a tight slalom of parked cars.
Conservative
The car’s styling is quite conservative. In profile it looks a bit like a Nissan Qashqai, although its wide front and rear lights are typically Renault and both ends of the car sport Renault’s smarter new logo. The cabin is unfashionably dark, with large expanses of piano black, dark seats and a black rooflining.
The only bits of colour are some pale blue stitching on an Alcantara panel ahead of the front passenger and on the centre console, which features a large sliding armrest for when the driver uses a central row of nine switches for the heating and ventilation system. There is also a phone-charging panel on the armrest.
There are also some silver trim panels around the door handles and some blue ambient lighting only visible after dark, but apart from that the cabin is a bit funereal.
There is plenty of room in the front to find a comfortable driving position, but the short seat squabs don’t provide much support for your thighs. Rear seats can slide backwards and forwards, potentially adding 130 litres of space for rear passengers.
On the move, car number two was impressively refined at motorway speeds, although overtaking manoeuvres sounded a bit frantic and it didn’t really feel like a 200hp car.
Roar
On smooth but twisting Spanish mountain roads the tyres generated noticeable roar on even mild bends at modest speeds. Not dangerous but it felt mildly distracting.
A 9.3-inch head-up display was admirably clear but the speed limit indicator bore little resemblance to what the street signs were telling me. The car is crammed with 32 safety systems, including active driver assist, matrix LED vision and automatic headlamp dipping, and there are no less than 13 chassis settings.
The version coming to the UK has a 485-watt Harman and Kardon hi-fi system with more than 10 speakers.
The variations on the three cars I drove left an impression of the Spanish-built Austral being not quite finished, although by the time it arrives here next year, hopefully these niggles will have been sorted out.
The Facts
Renault Austral E Sport Alpine Hybrid
Price: to be announced
