Renault Captur 2021 review It's MUCH better than the old one.
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TechTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So each time I stand here in front of you, it's either a small SUV or
00:04a dual cab ute that we're talking about. They're going gangbusters at the moment, and the latest
00:08one to get, I guess, a new version of its old self is the Renault Captur. The old one
00:13wasn't fantastic, so hopefully this one is better. This right here is the top specification.
00:18It's called the Renault Captur Intenz. It's priced at just under $36,000, but if that's
00:23a bit too much, the entry level starts at a little over $28,000. So there's a fair bit
00:28of choice in between there. This competes with things like the Nissan Juke, the Volkswagen
00:32T-Cross, the Skoda Kamiq. There are a lot of competitors in this segment now, and it's
00:37becoming a really popular option for manufacturers to make an SUV version of their smaller cars.
00:41Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this. If you do want to skip ahead to other
00:45parts of this review, you can use the time codes up on the screen there, or if you're
00:48on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,
00:52make sure you subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every
00:56single time we drive a very orange or gold-coloured car.
01:01Let's start with the exterior. So you've got eight external colours to pick from, including
01:05two-tone colours as well, and all but the blue is an additional $650. Let's talk about
01:11the design first. I actually really like it. I think this looks very mature and looks quite
01:17classy. So you've got highlights of chrome around the front there, big Renault logo,
01:21bit of piano black there, and then this matte finish on the centre of the grille. And all
01:26of this grille is like a 3D finish. It looks really cool the way that they've done that.
01:31Then in addition to that, they've loaded the entire range with LED headlights, but this
01:35top-spec model here gets, I don't know, I quite like the design of this. It looks like
01:39an old-school halogen headlight inside, but it's actually fully LED. Then you have the
01:44LED daytime running light around the sides there, and an indicator built in as well.
01:48I think it is a really cool design. I love this as well. You've got a little vent there
01:51that comes around to the side there. So it is quite a comprehensive design, and it looks
01:56really nice and classy and sporty at the same time. Whip around to the side here.
02:00So I've got 18-inch alloy wheels with 55 profile rubber, and then around that wheel arch,
02:06you've got this plastic cladding there. So everyone knows it looks like an off-road vehicle,
02:11even though it's front-wheel drive only. I like the wheel design. So you've got that
02:15shadow chrome on the outside with the darker finish inside the wheel.
02:19Now let me know in the comments section, sometimes when we talk about wheels, a lot of you say
02:24they look like they're hard to clean. So those of you who do clean your cars regularly and your
02:28wheels, what makes a wheel hard to clean? Is it extra amounts of spokes, or is it
02:32different colours or small holes? Let me know in the comments section.
02:36Little arrow-type thing on the side here. Indicator built into the wing mirror, and then
02:41you've got a camera down the bottom there. You've got yourself a set of roof rails on the top.
02:46Privacy glass. I quite like the way that the two-tone roof is split with this chrome. It
02:50really divides it up nicely. Two-tone colours on cars are really starting to take off now,
02:56and I think this is executed really nicely. Come around to the back, I'll show you these
02:59taillights. So this top-spec model gets what they call a 3D taillight setup. So you can see there,
03:04you've got a little shadow to that LED element. I love it when manufacturers put a bit of time
03:08and effort into lights and taillights, and I think this really stands out nicely.
03:13You've got a Captor badge down the back there, Renault badge over here. And I think overall,
03:18the design at the rear looks really nice too. It's very sharp, modern, and it looks sporty
03:23as well without being over the top. So I think they've done a good job with the design.
03:26Okay, we are inside the Renault Captor now. Let's start with the key. Here it is here.
03:32You've got unlock, lock, an illumination button, and then a boot button. And then on the back,
03:38you have the Renault logo and it's white. I don't think I love the key. Yes, it's a proximity
03:43sensing key, and then you've got a push button start inside, but I just find it really bulky
03:47and annoying. I just prefer something a little slimmer and easy. I find this is just a little
03:52complicated for no reason. So, you know, let me know what you think of the comments section below.
03:56Do you think that's annoying or do I just need to get over it? On the styling front,
04:01I think this looks fantastic. So again, big leap forward over the last Captor, and I think that
04:06really they have just gone to a lot of effort here to make this look and feel premium. So you've
04:10got this new big infotainment system down the centre. You have a lot of really high quality
04:14materials around the cabin. And look, we'll talk about storage in just a second, but I like this
04:18design as well. So they've capitalised on having a high centre tunnel without needing to take up too
04:24much room in the centre here. So that sort of encroaches on your space, gives you easy access
04:29to the gear lever, but then also provides you storage beneath it as well. So this is an
04:32interesting design. I haven't seen this before in cars, so I like the way they've done that. Now,
04:36what about the touch point? So it's a little firm there in the centre, but it's fine for your elbow
04:41to rest on, and same story on the door there. How firm is it? Well, we've tested it with our
04:46gyrometer. If you want to see how this car compares to other cars we've tested before,
04:50have a look at the link in the description below. Now, what about build quality? So I was having a
04:55play with this before, and that is very sort of loose in the centre there. You don't really have
05:01anything to anchor it down on, and so is that, so I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of that. Let's talk
05:06infotainment. So this is a bit of a statement piece to the interior. It's Renault's new 9.3-inch
05:12portrait infotainment system, so it sits nice and proudly there central to the cabin, and then you
05:17have shortcut buttons down the bottom in addition to the screen, which has a bunch of different
05:23controls on it, and you can also add widgets and things like that. So today I'll give you a brief
05:27overview of how all of this works. Here in the top spec model you have in-built satellite
05:31navigation that you access through the menu. There it is there. It's not a bad system. Slightly laggy,
05:37but for the most part it does a pretty decent job. There's also Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
05:43smartphone mirroring. Keep in mind they are both cabled, so you will need a cable to connect to
05:47those. Let's have a look at what that looks like. There you go. Not quite a full screen integration,
05:50but big enough. So I quite like the look of that, and this is what Android Auto looks like.
05:56There you go. That's not too bad. Same sort of screen size as Apple CarPlay, and it's a really
06:02high resolution screen as well. You can see there's no pixelation there around the main
06:07screen elements, which is really cool to see. Then on the radio front you have AM, FM and DAB
06:13plus digital radio. The top spec model comes with a nine-speaker Bose branded sound system as well.
06:19Now ahead of the driver it comes standard with a seven-inch LCD display, but here we have the
06:23optional 10.25 inch display. I like the look of it. It's nice and sharp and quick and fast and all
06:29the sort of stuff that you need it to be. And then you can also customize the display to show
06:33different things like your car information, radio, navigation and also information about the drive
06:39mode that you're in. And as you flick between drive modes it changes the screen color, and you'll see
06:44that when we go for a drive later. So yeah, this looks really cool and I think it really puts it
06:48right in the mix with the rest of the competitors in this segment on the tech front. Okay, let's
06:52talk about the main safety technology that comes fitted to the Captur. You get blind spot monitoring
06:57built into the wing mirror there, autonomous emergency braking, an auto dimming rear vision
07:02mirror, you have lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant. Then on top of that you have a
07:08360 degree camera with front and rear parking sensors. Let's have a look at what that looks like.
07:13Okay, now let me just caveat something here. Because we have the optional screen, we also get
07:18the optional side parking sensors and also the semi-autonomous parking function. So some cars
07:23won't have this as standard. I've got to say the quality of that camera is pretty poor. The rear
07:28camera is not great and then the 360 camera, I mean it looks effectively redundant because I can't
07:34tell anything around the car there. You can change the views there so you can see down the front
07:39and side of the car. I guess that's a handy view if you're parking or turning or doing anything like
07:44that. You can see the wheel moving there and it's also got guidelines that move as well. But for the
07:48most part I think they really could have improved the quality of the camera given that this is such
07:52a high resolution screen. You could definitely use a high resolution camera. Let's talk about
07:57practicality and we'll start with all your USB points. So get rid of that for a second. You have
08:01two USB A points up the front with an auxiliary port. You've also got a 12 volt outlet. In addition
08:07to that you have wireless phone charging down the bottom here. So you just lay your phone on that
08:12pad and that will kick off. Now where will you put your phone if you don't want to charge it? Well,
08:16easily fits into the cup holders there. You can also slot it up the top there. They're all grip
08:20pads too which I really like. Now coffee cup, where's that going to fit? Well it doesn't really
08:24fit in there. The lid catches on the edges and it doesn't reach the bottom. Let's try a bottle
08:30instead. That fits in okay. You have teeth there as well to hold it into place. Big storage in the
08:35doors as well for your bottle and other bits and pieces. Now this center console lid, it moves
08:40forwards and backwards but the actual center console itself is massively deep but absolutely
08:45tiny. So I can fit a bottle in there but it's sort of wedged into there which is a little bit
08:49strange. Glovebox, let's have a look at that. It's not a bad size, actually a really odd shape. It
08:54looks big but it's not too bad. It sort of goes right into the engine bay almost so that's not
08:59too bad at all. Let's talk about comfort and some of the features that you get. So you have single
09:03zone automatic climate control. You have heated seats for the front row with a heated steering
09:08wheel as well for those chilly days. What about the seats themselves? I think the design is really
09:12cool. In fact the top of this reminds me of a Volvo. It's got that similar headrest shape which
09:17is interesting but the seats themselves, I don't know, they just look really cool. You've got the
09:21white stitching in there. You've got these perforated sections and then the seat is
09:25really comfortable to sit in. It sort of hugs you in nicely. Electric seat adjustment for the driver.
09:31Steering wheel is cool as well. It sort of feels and looks sporty. Sits nicely in the hand with
09:36those paddle shifters at the back and then all of this is easy to reach but I have one problem and
09:41that is when you go to change any of these controls, you lean your hand on the gear shifter
09:46and you go to change the controls, you literally shift it into neutral each time you lean your hand
09:50on it and I don't know, I just find that really bizarre that they didn't check that during the
09:54engineering process and it can be a little bit dangerous because if you're driving along and you
09:57go to change the temperature, you flick it into neutral, you don't really realize the car's in
10:02neutral because it starts revving out. I'm gonna put it back. I don't know, just not a very good
10:06design and I think that probably needs some work. Righto, back seat. What's it like here? Well,
10:11I've got my driver's seat quite far back. You can see here I've got a decent amount of knee room.
10:17Toe room is excellent and headroom is pretty reasonable. If you're a little taller,
10:20you're going to be rubbing along the side there but for the most part, it's pretty comfy.
10:24Now, what about the materials? It's a shame that it's so good up the front there and then you get
10:28back here and it's just this nasty scratchy stuff. So, the back of the seats are nice but yeah,
10:34this stuff is just really average and unimpressive and it's quite dreary back here. It's very dark.
10:39There's no sort of colours splitting it up or anything like that. So, you have USB charging
10:43points down the bottom here and also 12-volt outlet. You also get air vents which is good
10:48news. Matte pockets in the back of the seats. ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats plus a
10:52little zip to keep it closed when they're not in use. Bottle, there is no centre armrest but you
10:57can pop the bottle inside the door if you want to. Let's talk cargo space. Now, yes, it's a small
11:04SUV but it's actually quite clever in terms of the amount of space you can sort of work with here.
11:09Now, just in this default position, you have about 400 litres of cargo space available but the clever
11:14thing is, yes, you have a cargo blind but you also have the ability to hide things under the cargo
11:18floor and then beneath that, you have a space saver spare tyre. The interesting thing here is you can
11:25shift this so that you have lower floor space available and then on top of that, you can also
11:30move your second row forward that expands the space to around 500 litres. So, that's pretty
11:36cool. We'll pop our bags in just so you can see how much space there is there. Look at that piece
11:42of cake and then I will show you what it expands to once you drop all of this out of the way.
11:49Drop our rear seats.
11:54Alrighty, once they're down, you have about 1300 litres of cargo space and remember you can lift
11:58that floor up to make it fairly flat as well. So, we've hit the road in the Renault Captur.
12:04Let's talk about the engine first. So, it's a 1.3 litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.
12:11It produces 113 kilowatts of power and 270 newton metres of torque. Now, here's a trivia,
12:17a little bit of quiz for you. Let me know in the comments section below, where else does this
12:22engine feature? Not in the Renault range though. Let me know in the comments. That engine powers
12:27the front wheels and it's mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Now, it's
12:32normally at this point that I start complaining about dual-clutch automatic transmissions but
12:36the one in this is actually really decent. So, at low speeds, it's fuss-free. On hills,
12:41it's fuss-free and it just drives normally. You're never really sort of left wondering
12:46what it's doing or waiting for it to jerk you around a bit. So, it is a really decent gearbox
12:51and it suits the characteristic of that engine really well. So, what does it feel like while
12:55you're on the move? We'll give it a little kick down here. Yeah, look, it's nice and quick to
13:00respond and 270 newton metres, it may not sound like a lot but this only weighs around 1,300
13:05kilograms. So, it's not a massively heavy car. So, 270 newton metres is enough to feel nice and
13:12sprightly behind the wheel. In terms of fuel economy, the official claim is 6.6 litres per
13:17100 k's. Let's have a look at what we're sitting on. 7.1, so pretty much bang on exactly where it
13:23needs to be. Let's talk about drive mode. So, you've got a few to choose from. You press this
13:27little button on the screen here. I don't actually know what the button's meant to be. It looks like
13:30a leaf or a fan or something like that but it activates multi-sense which is the drive modes
13:36menu. So, you can edit your own drive mode. So, you can set a custom one if you want to or you can
13:42go over to sport and then you can also go to eco. So, in between sport and eco, there's a noticeable
13:48change in terms of things like steering feel. You can feel it's nice and comfortable in the
13:53standard MySense and if you go to sport, it gets sort of heavier as well. Let's see what it's like
13:59in terms of handling. Tip it into this corner. Oh, that's nice and fun. It sits nice and flat and the
14:06feel through the steering is good. So, in sport mode, it's not overly heavy but it gives you a
14:10bit of feedback. So, I don't know, it feels nice and engaging behind the wheel. Now, Renault claims
14:15a 0-100 time of 8.6 seconds. We put it up against our stopwatch to see how it'd go.
14:31Now, let's talk about the ride. I quite like what they've done here. So, they've gone for a slightly
14:36sportier tune. So, it is comfortable but it's on the sportier side of comfortable. So, it's a little
14:42firm on those potholes and rougher edges and that kind of gives you the feel behind the wheel that
14:46it is quite a sporty and engaging SUV. But for the most part, when you're out on country roads
14:50and that sort of thing, it is going to be comfortable. You will just notice that tinge
14:55of sportiness to it but in and around the city, it's actually a really nice place to be seated
15:00when you're going over speed humps and cobblestones and those kinds of things. In terms of visibility
15:04at the front there, it's pretty good. You have front and rear parking sensors. So, parking in
15:08and around the city is straightforward. The wing mirror is a decent size and it's got that little
15:13curved edge on it so you can see down into your blind spots. There's also a blind spot monitor
15:17there. Visibility out the back is pretty poor. The window is very narrow and it's a little tricky
15:23to see out of. The turning circle is 11.1 metres which is pretty big for a front-wheel drive car.
15:31It means that it's not going to be super nimble in and around the city and you may have to do
15:35the occasional 3.2. Okay, so Renault Captur. Well, I can start by saying it is way better
15:42than the last one. The last one, I don't know, it just did nothing for me and it just wasn't a very
15:46good car. This one is a quantum leap forward compared to the last one. Now, in comparison
15:51to the other cars in the segment, it's actually pretty good as well because the engine is nice
15:55and punchy. The gearbox isn't too infuriating like it was in the Skoda Kamiq where it was just
16:00to stop and start. This dual clutch is actually programmed really nicely. So,
16:04from that side of things, it is a nice car. The things that did disappoint me though were
16:08that gear lever design. I just don't understand how they didn't notice during the engineering
16:13process how easy it is to knock that into neutral when you're doing something as basic as changing
16:16the climate control. So, I think that needs to be addressed pretty soon or if you do own the car to
16:21just make sure you don't accidentally knock it into neutral. Also, don't love the fact that it's
16:25got rear drum brakes like they should belong in ancient history, not on modern cars today. But,
16:31if you put those things to the side, it's pretty sharply priced in comparison to some of its peers
16:35at this top end and, I don't know, it's just really fun and engaging to drive. So, let me know
16:39in the comments section below, what do you think of the new Renault Captur? Have you driven one?
16:43Have you bought one? Let me know what you bought instead if you didn't. If you did enjoy this
16:47video, make sure you hit the like button and also don't forget to subscribe to our channel
16:50and press the bell icon. But, until next time, drive safely.