2022 Renault Captur review: The F1 inspired SUV

CarExpert

The Renault Captur has been out for a little while, but Renault has just rolled out an update to the Captur. This one has an 'F1 Inspired' front end - is it any good? Paul Maric gets behind the wheel to find out!  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Renault content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/renault More Renault Capture content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/renault/captur  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 0:50 Interior 3:23 Infotainment 5:05 Safety tech 6:42 Practicality 7:45 On the road 11:32 0-100 16:57 Verdict 17:43  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #renault #captur #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.

00:01 Renault is leaning on its Formula 1 Naos

00:04 with an F1-inspired version of the Captor.

00:08 It's a new one to Australia,

00:09 so today we're gonna check it out.

00:10 This is called the Renault Captor RS line.

00:14 It's priced at just under $41,000,

00:16 but if that's too expensive,

00:18 the entire range kicks off at a little over $30,000.

00:22 This competes with things like the Ford Puma,

00:24 the Toyota Yaris Cross, the MG ZS.

00:28 It's that size of vehicle.

00:30 Today, we're gonna do a detailed review of this car,

00:32 so if you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of the review,

00:35 you can use the time codes on the screen,

00:36 or if you're on YouTube,

00:37 you can scroll down and use the chapters below,

00:40 and if you haven't done so already,

00:41 please subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon,

00:44 'cause that's gonna tell you

00:45 every single time we drive a virtually F1 car.

00:47 Let's talk about the exterior design.

00:51 So you've got eight colors to pick from,

00:53 eight combinations of colors.

00:55 So all but solid blue is gonna cost you 650 bucks,

00:58 and you can also get two-tone colors like this,

01:00 where you have one color on the body

01:02 and then one color on the roof,

01:03 and I really like that setup there.

01:06 Now, when I said this had an F1-inspired design,

01:09 I was talking about down here.

01:10 So Renault, of course, is in the Formula One,

01:14 and this doesn't have any performance upgrades,

01:16 but Renault has sort of changed the front end here,

01:18 and it looks a little bit different to a standard Captor.

01:21 I actually think this is a pretty good-looking car

01:23 just in general, so it's cool to see

01:25 they actually do this sort of stuff

01:27 and give you a bit of inspiration from F1.

01:30 So big Renault logo there.

01:31 You've got these chrome highlights along the top

01:33 and then along the bottom here,

01:35 and if you move further down there,

01:36 you see the radar sensor,

01:38 and then also these sort of gray-colored sections

01:41 down the bottom.

01:42 Over here, you have a set of LED headlights

01:45 with LED daytime running lights and LED indicators,

01:48 so a lot of LED action just there.

01:51 Round here, let's have a look at these wheels.

01:52 A set of 18-inch alloy wheels,

01:54 machined finish on the outside with that sort of,

01:59 I don't know, what color is that?

02:00 It's like a graphite-y style color

02:03 on the inside there as well, so yeah.

02:06 Nice-looking wheel design.

02:07 Small brakes, but I guess it's a small car,

02:10 so we'll see how that performs later on.

02:12 A little bit of wheel arch cladding.

02:13 Now, this is front-wheel drive only.

02:15 It has a ground clearance of about 160 millimeters,

02:17 so you're not gonna be doing any off-road driving,

02:19 but it does sit a little higher off the ground

02:21 than a typical hatchback, so it's nice to see.

02:24 RS Line badge, so this is also part of that RS Line package.

02:28 So they've nestled that in the side there

02:29 with a bit of Piano Black and chrome.

02:32 Up the top here, you have Piano Black on that wing mirror

02:34 with an indicator built into there

02:35 and a camera for the 360 camera.

02:38 Along here, you've got more of that chrome highlight.

02:40 Up the top there, you've got some roof rails,

02:43 privacy glass, and then come around to the back with me.

02:46 Love this taillight design.

02:48 So LED elements here, but kinda has a bit of depth to it.

02:51 It's a 3D design with these strafes

02:53 along the side there as well, so pretty cool-looking setup.

02:56 Another RS Line badge there.

02:59 Captor shark fin aerial over there.

03:00 You've got a little boot lip spoiler there as well,

03:03 so, and some fake exhausts.

03:05 So let me know what you think about the design.

03:08 I actually think it looks quite handsome

03:09 here in the blue color.

03:11 They have like the Hero Orange color that still looks nice,

03:13 but this sort of blue really tops it off nicely.

03:15 So let me know what you reckon in the comment section below.

03:18 Are you F1 inspired by the Renault Captor RS Line?

03:22 Let me know.

03:23 So we are inside the Captor.

03:25 Let's start off with the key.

03:26 Sorry about all the stickers on here.

03:27 You've got unlock, lock, a button to illuminate the car,

03:31 and then you have a boot button.

03:33 On the back there, you have a Renault logo.

03:35 This is a proximity sensing key,

03:37 so you can leave that in your pocket,

03:38 and then push button start is just up here.

03:42 I don't know why they make them like this.

03:43 It's, they're just kinda too thick to be convenient.

03:47 So when you put it in your pocket, it,

03:49 I don't know, anyway, I just wish they made like smaller keys

03:51 or just no key at all.

03:52 It would make life much easier.

03:54 So let's talk about the design.

03:56 I really like the way this looks.

03:57 If you look at the rest of the cars in this segment,

03:59 Renault really has gone to a lot of effort here,

04:01 especially on the top spec grades of Captor

04:03 to make this look and feel quite premium.

04:06 And that means soft touch materials along the dashboard.

04:08 There, this sort of carbon-esque material

04:11 that sort of wraps around the side of the car there,

04:13 F1 inspiration, and then this kind of metallic material

04:17 through the rest of it.

04:18 The RS line comes with all the offset stitching

04:20 and then the colored seat belts as well,

04:23 which I think is kinda cool.

04:24 And then it's all central to this big screen here,

04:27 which sits high enough,

04:28 so you're not really having to take your eyes

04:30 off the road too much.

04:31 So really impressed with the cabin layout

04:33 and just how functional everything is here.

04:35 What about your touch points?

04:37 So it's pretty firm there and kind of okay on the door.

04:41 How firm are the touch points?

04:43 Well, we've got our durometer.

04:44 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

04:46 If you wanna see how this car compares to others

04:48 that we've tested before,

04:49 have a look at the link in the description.

04:51 Now, build quality.

04:53 Feels a little wonky through there.

04:56 Tiny bit loose as well.

04:59 So this feels okay.

05:00 Door.

05:01 Sounds very nice and solid.

05:06 Let's talk about the infotainment system.

05:07 So it measures just over nine inches in size

05:09 and it's vertical as well, which I like the look of.

05:12 It means that you're getting a little bit more real estate

05:14 and it works well just in terms of your driving.

05:16 So while you are driving,

05:17 all you need to do is glance over here.

05:18 You don't need to look down

05:20 and it's all sort of within easy reach.

05:21 So I really like this setup.

05:23 It's pretty easy to use.

05:24 So this is your home screen.

05:25 It's divided into sections.

05:26 You have your native satellite navigation in there.

05:29 That works okay.

05:30 Tiny bit laggy.

05:31 You can see it sort of lagging a bit

05:33 as I move my finger around there.

05:35 You then have a bottom section for the phone

05:37 and also your media devices.

05:39 On the media front, you have AM, FM, DAB, digital radio,

05:43 Bluetooth audio, and then also your smartphone mirroring.

05:46 On the smartphone mirroring front,

05:47 you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

05:50 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

05:53 So pretty much takes up that entire screen there.

05:56 I think that integration is fantastic.

05:57 So it still gives you enough room

05:59 to access the rest of the car's controls down here,

06:01 but then you get that full integration.

06:03 It is nice and snappy as well.

06:05 And this is what Apple CarPlay looks like.

06:08 So again, full screen integration there.

06:11 Nice and snappy as well.

06:13 Quite impressive.

06:14 On the audio front as well,

06:15 you've got a nine speaker sound system.

06:17 And then in terms of the rest of the stuff,

06:18 this is all pretty straightforward to use.

06:20 You can configure these screens

06:21 to show whatever you want on there.

06:23 And then you've got an applications menu

06:24 where you can watch video and photos

06:26 while you're stationary, which sounds like fun.

06:28 Head of the driver is another 10.25 inch display.

06:32 Digital cluster allows you to configure things as you go.

06:34 And then you can also change what appears on the screen

06:37 while you're driving as well.

06:38 So really comprehensive and good looking tech set up here.

06:42 Now, what about your safety features?

06:44 So you have AEB with pedestrian detection.

06:46 You have an auto dimming rear vision mirror.

06:49 You have radar cruise control.

06:51 You've also got a lane departure warning

06:53 and a lane keeping assistant.

06:54 Over on the wing mirror there,

06:55 you can see a blind spot monitor built into that.

06:57 You've got rear cross traffic alert.

06:59 On the parking front,

07:00 you have both front and rear parking sensors

07:02 and a 360 camera.

07:03 I'll show you what that looks like.

07:05 Ooh, that is terrible.

07:08 It's like a really low, low quality camera.

07:12 So that's looking out the front there.

07:13 Yeah, it's just really hard to see what's going on there.

07:18 And that's looking down the side as well.

07:21 And then you also have a set of sensors there too.

07:24 Yeah, the quality is just really not that good.

07:27 And you can see there,

07:27 we can't even really make out anything

07:29 on our suitcase either.

07:31 If I put this into reverse,

07:32 actually, I need to start the car here for a second.

07:35 If I put this into reverse,

07:37 you can't even see what the camera says.

07:39 So yeah, not that impressive there

07:41 in terms of the reverse view camera or the 360 camera.

07:45 Now, what about your practicality?

07:46 We'll start off with connectivity.

07:48 So you've got a 12 volt outlet down here.

07:50 You've got an auxiliary in two USB-A ports,

07:53 wireless charging down here.

07:55 Now, where are you gonna put your phone?

07:56 Well, you can pop it up the top here,

07:57 or alternatively, just whack it on the wireless charger.

08:00 There are plenty of options there to store it.

08:02 Then in addition to that storage of your other items,

08:05 such as your coffee cup,

08:06 fits in there nicely with room to grab your lid.

08:11 And our water bottle.

08:12 Yeah, it fits in there easily.

08:14 You've got teeth to hold it into place.

08:16 It's inside the door without any problems.

08:21 Let's try our big bottle in the door.

08:22 Look at that.

08:25 Really is strange.

08:25 The bottle fits perfectly in the door, this giant bottle,

08:28 but in some much bigger cars,

08:29 you can't fit a giant bottle in, which is kind of weird.

08:32 Glove box over here as well.

08:34 It's okay.

08:35 The dimensions are just a little bit weird there.

08:37 So yeah, it's a bit funny that one.

08:39 But I do like this tiered storage system.

08:41 It means that you can have stuff up here at your level,

08:43 but also down there as well.

08:44 So it's a pretty decent setup.

08:47 Center console.

08:48 That is so weird.

08:50 It's like really deep, but tiny.

08:52 So a little bit disappointing,

08:53 but the lid of that does move forwards and backwards

08:55 if you do need to rest your elbow somewhere.

08:57 Moving on to comfort,

08:58 you have single zone automatic climate control.

09:02 Now, the weird thing is you've got a heated steering wheel,

09:04 but no heated seats.

09:05 And then the seats are fully manually adjustable

09:08 for both the driver and front passenger,

09:09 which I thought was a little bit disappointing.

09:11 It's a top, top spec model.

09:12 It could at least have electric seat adjustment.

09:15 Seats are really comfy though.

09:17 So they've got that cloth and leather finish.

09:19 And I love that head design as well up top there.

09:21 It just looks really nice and classy.

09:23 Steering wheel is adjusted by both tilt and reach.

09:27 And then on the reach test,

09:28 all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.

09:31 So backseat of the Captur.

09:33 Not exactly a huge amount of room here.

09:35 I've got my driver's seat in its standard driving position,

09:38 which is quite far back admittedly,

09:39 but yeah, my knees are like right in the back of that seat.

09:42 So to get comfy, I kind of got to go like that.

09:44 But I do have decent toe room and headroom is okay.

09:48 I'm sort of just touching on the side here.

09:50 In terms of your other creature comforts,

09:52 map pockets in the back of the seats.

09:53 You've got two USB-A ports, a 12 volt outlet,

09:56 air vents, which is pretty good.

09:59 ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats

10:00 with three top tether points for the kids.

10:03 No center armrest there with cup holders.

10:06 You can put your bottle inside the door though.

10:10 Kind of fits in there without too many problems.

10:12 It is worth calling out as well

10:14 that this can slide forwards and backwards

10:16 to give you more boot space.

10:18 And I'll show you that later on,

10:19 but this is pretty unique to this segment.

10:21 I can't think of any other SUVs in this segment

10:23 that offer that kind of versatility.

10:26 Finally, our window test.

10:28 Yeah, so close.

10:31 Almost went all the way down,

10:32 but it's auto up and down, which is good news.

10:34 So cargo space, let's have a little sticky beak.

10:37 So you've got little over 400 litres of cargo space.

10:41 Now it may not look like much, but watch this.

10:43 What you can do with this guy is basically drop that down.

10:47 You've got more storage space under here.

10:49 Beneath the cargo floor,

10:50 you've also got a space saver spare tyre.

10:54 This does have a clever feature though.

10:55 If you do want a little bit of extra space,

10:57 you can actually move this second row forward.

11:00 So it gives you just a little bit more room there

11:02 ahead of that cargo wall.

11:03 So that's a pretty impressive setup.

11:05 I'll show you what it's like with our bags in there.

11:07 So laptop first,

11:09 and then our suitcase.

11:11 All fits in there nicely

11:13 without having to lower that cargo floor.

11:16 Means you can also put your valuables and stuff under there

11:18 without people seeing them from the outside.

11:21 Now, if you do want to expand that also,

11:23 so you have a flatter load floor,

11:25 you can just drop the second row out of the way.

11:28 That gives you a little under 1300 litres of cargo space.

11:31 (car engine revving)

11:35 So I've just hit the road in the Captur.

11:37 Let's start off with what is under the bonnet here.

11:39 So the entire range gets the exact same engine.

11:42 So regardless of which one you pick,

11:43 you're going to have the same drivetrain.

11:45 So it's a 1.3 litre turbocharged four cylinder petrol engine.

11:50 It's kind of,

11:51 if you look at the other cars in the segment,

11:53 you generally don't get the turbocharged stuff

11:55 until you get higher up in the price band.

11:57 So it's good to say that they offer it

11:59 across the entire level of grades.

12:01 And that produces 113 kilowatts of power

12:04 and 270 Newton metres of torque.

12:07 Now that's a pretty reasonable amount

12:08 when you consider how big this is.

12:10 It's only a small pint size car.

12:12 So having 270 Newton metres of torque on tap,

12:15 it's actually not a bad feat at all.

12:17 It's all mated though,

12:18 to a seven speed dual clutch transmission.

12:21 Now, this is the only thing I really don't love

12:25 about this car.

12:25 At low speeds, especially if you're on a slight incline,

12:28 what you find is that it can just be a little bit jerky

12:32 in terms of how it engages.

12:34 So it just takes a little while to get moving.

12:37 And if you try and jump on the throttle

12:38 from a standing start,

12:40 it kind of flares and just shunts you in the back.

12:44 It's not the most graceful thing.

12:45 So yeah, it's a bit of a shame,

12:48 but it only is at low speeds that you're feeling that.

12:50 When you are moving though, you can sink the boot in

12:53 and then it sort of gets up and moves fairly quickly.

12:55 It's not razor sharp, but it's quick enough.

12:57 You then also have these paddle shifters as well

13:00 to shift through the gears if you need to.

13:02 The thing I love about these is just,

13:05 it's kind of weird, it's an aesthetic thing,

13:08 but just the click that you get

13:10 just feels really nice and premium.

13:14 Feels F1 inspired.

13:16 So,

13:17 oh, that was terrible.

13:20 Let's talk fuel economy.

13:23 Renault claims a combined average of 6.6 litres per 100 Ks.

13:28 We are sitting on, let's have a look, 7.2.

13:33 It's actually not too bad.

13:34 So it's a pretty impressive fuel economy for a car this size.

13:38 I went for a fang around here earlier today as well.

13:40 So that number is pretty impressive, I reckon.

13:42 I will point out as well on that screen there,

13:44 you've got a horsepower and a Newton metre gauge.

13:47 So if I bury the throttle,

13:50 I get all of the horsepower and all of the Newton metres.

13:52 So it's a fun little thing to have.

13:54 One thing I do want to point out is just

13:59 how much noise is coming into the cabin here

14:00 at highway speeds.

14:01 We're on a country road here doing highway speeds.

14:04 There is a stack of noise coming over

14:06 what sounds like that wing mirror on the left-hand side.

14:09 It's really noticeable,

14:10 and there's a fair bit of tyre noise as well.

14:12 So it's not going to be the quietest thing in the world

14:14 if you are doing a long distance highway drive.

14:16 Let's talk about the ride.

14:17 So we've got our sine waves coming up here.

14:19 I'm going to jack the speed up to 130,

14:21 which is the fastest legal speed you can do in Australia.

14:26 We'll see what the body control is like.

14:29 Here we go.

14:30 Yeah, look, it is pretty bouncy.

14:35 So at that top end,

14:37 it doesn't really have a great deal of control,

14:39 which is interesting because in and around the city,

14:41 the ride is, I don't know,

14:44 the ride's firmer than what I thought it was going to be.

14:46 It sort of has a sporty tinge to it.

14:48 So it is surprising there on the sine waves

14:50 that it has so much hang time when the speed peaks up.

14:53 Typically with these cars,

14:54 if they are firm in and around the city,

14:56 they'll have good body control at the top end.

14:58 So I'll be interested to see how that affects it

15:01 when we go for a bit of a sportier drive.

15:03 Okay, let's talk drive mode.

15:07 So you've got a little button here

15:08 that brings up the drive mode menu.

15:10 You have My Sense, Sport and Eco.

15:13 Pop it into Sport.

15:14 Everything goes red.

15:16 I can feel the gearbox is in like a sport mode.

15:19 Let's see what it's like through our little track here.

15:23 This is surprisingly fun.

15:28 A little bit of wheel slip there from the front end.

15:31 It's holding the gears as well.

15:33 I like that.

15:34 This is actually pretty good.

15:36 It's getting up and moving a whole lot faster

15:38 than I thought it was going to be.

15:40 Wow, that is impressive.

15:41 And it's staying fairly flat as well.

15:44 It has a degree of body roll,

15:46 but it's nothing sort of too crazy.

15:48 Actually feels like a little hot hatch.

15:50 It kind of reminds me of the Clio RS to some degree.

15:54 Like it's not stupidly quick.

15:56 But it is way, way nimbler than I thought it was going to be.

16:06 If you compare this to something like a Toyota C-HR

16:09 or a Hyundai Kona,

16:11 this feels way more exciting to drive.

16:14 So let's roll it onto our back straight here.

16:16 I'll stretch its legs a little bit.

16:18 It's actually really good.

16:20 The steering feels great.

16:21 Sitting nice through corners.

16:24 All right, we're right on the throttle.

16:25 Let's see how it goes on the back straight.

16:27 It's moving along really nicely.

16:32 Far out, I was not expecting that.

16:34 It really has taken me by surprise.

16:37 This genuinely feels like a much sportier version

16:42 of a Captur.

16:43 To think that they all get the same engine set up,

16:46 I think is really impressive.

16:47 It has a lot of road holding

16:48 and it's actually just really fun to drive.

16:50 So that has really surprised me.

16:52 I can see where they're getting that F1 inspiration from.

16:55 Renault claims a zero to 100 time of just under nine seconds.

17:01 This is how it went up against our stopwatch.

17:15 Let's talk visibility.

17:16 So being a small car, it's pretty straightforward.

17:17 I can see clearly down the front there.

17:19 The wing mirrors are nice and big.

17:20 They have that slightly curved edge on them as well

17:23 to help you see.

17:24 Got a blind spot monitor built into there as well.

17:27 And then in terms of visibility out the rear,

17:28 it's not too bad.

17:29 It is a narrow envelope,

17:30 but I can clearly see out the back there.

17:32 Finally, turning circle,

17:33 it comes in at just over 11 metres, which is pretty good.

17:44 So the Captur RS line,

17:48 I was genuinely surprised by how fun this is to drive.

17:51 If you put aside the hesitation from standstill

17:54 with that dual clutch transmission,

17:55 once it's up and going,

17:57 this is actually an absolute hoot.

17:58 And the pricing isn't too bad either.

18:01 When you look at the rest of the competitors

18:03 in this segment,

18:04 this still actually presents good value

18:06 in terms of the technology

18:07 and a lot of the features that you're getting.

18:08 I wish it did get heated seats

18:10 and electric seat adjustment,

18:11 but outside of that,

18:12 it's actually a really good package.

18:13 So let me know in the comment section below,

18:15 have you bought a Captur?

18:17 What were you cross shopping as well?

18:18 I know a lot of people were looking at stuff like the Kona

18:21 and when parked next to this,

18:22 this is actually pretty good value for money.

18:24 So let me know in the comment section below

18:26 what you reckon about the Captur RS line

18:28 with its F1 inspired design.

18:30 I'm keen for your feedback.

18:31 If you did enjoy this video,

18:32 please make sure you like it

18:33 and you share it with your mates.

18:35 And if you haven't done so already,

18:36 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

18:39 But until next time, take it easy.

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