Renault’s clever Captur
The Renault Captur is a remarkably easy car to live with, says Damien O’carroll.
The Renault Captur is something of a late entry into the baby SUV segment in New Zealand, having helped pioneer the segment in its home country for the last few years, becoming a massive success for the French manufacturer during that time. The Captur is easily the best expression of the Renault’s current design language, with a strong family look and an extraordinarily stylish stance. It is sleek, modern and remarkably attractive, something that is particularly difficult to pull off on this body type. And it is not entirely without its odd little French quirks either, with the two-tone colour scheme you see here being one of several options available. Inside the Renault everything is stylish and sporty looking, carrying through the external design. With fantastic looking seats (that actually aren’t anywhere near as supportive as they look) and a steering wheel that looks and feels brilliant, the Renault is stylish and modern, but the dominance of hard black plastics is hard not to notice, while the shiny gloss bits are fingerprint magnets. Still, the Captur’s touchscreen interface and controls are remarkably sensible and extremely simple and intuitive to use. One remarkably clever feature that the Captur boasts is removable seat covers. Get a bit sick of the trim after a few years? No problem, just nip down to the local dealership and for $750 you can get the synthetic leather covers. Or just give the old ones a wash and pop ‘em back on. Very clever and surprisingly functional. The Captur is powered by an 88kw/190nm 1.2-litre petrol turbo fourcylinder engine hooked up to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. The engine is surprisingly strong and eager for a small 1,200, while the transmission is slick and smooth. While progress in the Captur will never be described as “searing” (unlike some of the colour options available) it is fantastically well-suited to city life, being nimble and remarkably easy to live with. It is easy to see why you see so many of them around French cities. Unfortunately, the Captur does suffer from a too-firm ride that unsettles thing around town and an absolute lack of steering feel that blunts things out on the open road. Enthusiastic driving soon shows up the little Renault’s weaknesses, with a strong tendency to lean heavily on the outside front wheel during cornering quickly sees things descend into understeer. However, razor-sharp handling is not what cars like the Captur are all about – ease of use, practicality and clearly stylish looks are the biggest selling points in this segment, and in all of these things the Captur shines. Ultimately, the Captur is a remarkably easy car to live with around town, with its smooth engine and slick transmission making it an absolute breeze to slip in and out of traffic or park. It looks great and is surprisingly spacious and practical for such a small car. It has its downfalls, but none of them are really deal-breakers. If you are after something different, then the Captur fits the bill nicely.