Renault Captur SUV (2024 - ) review

The price of the Captur is very good, undercutting much of the competition, and finance deals from Renault are normally enhanced by a manufacturer contribution, further sweetening the deal. You can have a small petrol engine or a petrol hybrid, with the battery charged by the engine and boosting the power intermittently. Both mean low fuel consumption for the driver, alongside lower insurance premiums and road tax; the pure petrol will be the more frugal while the hybrid will save you tax if you’re a company car driver.

Renault lives down to French expectations here which is a shame because otherwise the Captur could well be a five-star car. But the brand does not fare well in reliability surveys, coming 23rd out of 32 manufacturers in the What Car Reliability Survey, while the previous Captur finished in the bottom third of model reliability league tables. There’s an industry-average three-year warranty.

All levels of the Captur come with a comprehensive suite of safety features, including cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance that steers you back into line if you stray outside your lane and a button to summon help in an emergency. That’s really impressive for the price of the standard version. Pay more and you can add a parking camera and active cruise control among other toys.

The seats offer great lumbar support; the basic trim gives you manual levers to move them while the more expensive version comes with electric buttons. The storage space up front is impressive; the Esprit Alpine trim gives you a floating console with a tray underneath it alongside the standard main tray on top, two cup holders, a very deep central bay between the front seats and deep holders for bottles in the doors. The boot is bigger in the pure petrol version, but both give you a moveable floor so you can keep your bags high enough to reach them, or store bigger items at a deeper level. There is plenty of room up front but not much leg space for rear passengers, which is fair enough given the overall size of the car. One disappointing factor is the huge blind spot over your shoulder as you pull out into a different lane.

The huge benefit Renault offers over so many of its rivals is its Google connectivity, available on Techno and Esprit Alpine trim levels. The satnav is therefore Google Maps, which gives easy-to-use navigation and route planning, plus the little microphone graphic which means you can name any hotel, restaurant, place or destination by voice command and it will send you there. There are more easy, colour-coded graphics for information about the car, electric performance and media. You get smartphone mirroring and wireless charging too, plus at least four USB-C ports.

This is a difficult one: you either go for the higher powered (145 horsepower) hybrid, the engine of which holds on far too long to its revs before changing down and is slightly unpredictable in how it delivers its power, or you go for the smoother, quieter petrol version, which has a weedy 90 horsepower that may come back to bite you if you’re carrying four adults. We’d go pure petrol because it’s smoother and more frugal on the fuel, and we couldn’t stand the ridiculously high-revving hybrid; we found ourselves holding our breath, willing the transmission to change down a gear. Both options have lovely steering however, and good handling, and the complete package still offers unarguable value for money.