Captur some French ooh la la
THE RACER IN YOU WILL BE TEMPTED A compact SUV that stands out from the crowd and you’ll enjoy its driveability.
The growth the compact SUV segment has shown over the last few years is quite astonishing. A landscape that was once ruled by sedans and hatchbacks are these days flooded with little SUVs in various crossover spin-offs. And the more carmakers that either enter the space or up the game, the more difficult it gets for any of the contenders to really stand out from the crowd.
One which aces this challenge is the new Renault Captur. Long overdue, owing to various holdups spanning Covid to chip shortages, the French carmaker has finally rolled out the Captur locally.
The new Captur manages to hold its own through some sexy styling, a nice little turbo engine and heaps of driving pleasure.
Now we have been treated to a Renault Captur in top-spec Intens guise as a house guest for the next three months to see how its holds up to life’s little challenges.
We will use our long-term Captur for the purposes most buyers will, like commuting to the office, doing school runs, stopping for groceries and getting out of the city for the odd weekend.
During its stay with us we will get to see how comfortable it is, if it has enough space for everyone and everything and, importantly, how fuel efficient it is.
What we really like is the powertrain. The Captur is powered by a 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine which produces a generous 113kW of power and 270Nm of torque, sent to the front wheels via a seven-speed automatic double-clutch gearbox.
Renault claims it will sprint from zero to 100km/h in 9.6 seconds with a top whack of 196km/h, and we have no reason to doubt them.
Renault also claims it will sip 6.6 litres per 100km, which we will put to test. These smaller turbo mills can sometimes return disappointing fuel consumption numbers in hectic city traffic.
What we have enjoyed in its first week with us is its driveability.
The power combined with a smooth gearbox and great handling almost entices the racer in you. It feels planted and the more comfortable you get behind the steering wheel, the more you plant to throw it into corners. Not during the school run of course…
The Captur’s styling has typical French flair. On the exterior, it features distinctive C-shaped LED headlights and tail lights that extend into the tailgate, 17-inch aluminium wheels and bi-colour paintwork.
Inside it feels well-built with a nice combination of materials – soft-touch materials, satin chrome trimmings, elegant plastics, a black-and-grey seat design in cloth and leatherette and a leather steering wheel.
Reserved for the Captur Intens is a floating console which houses the e-shifter. The floating design frees up space below for wireless smartphone charging, whereas the e-shifter itself only requires the palm of your hand to change the gear selector without having
to press any buttons.
A 9.3-inch touchscreen vertical infotainment screen takes centre stage on the dashboard and features Renault’s Easy Link multimedia system which includes voice recognition, smartphone connectivity and navigation.
Other creature comforts include a digital instrument cluster and heated steering wheel.
The Renault Captur Intens comes with a comprehensive set of safety features which include: six airbags, electronic stability control, front and rear parking sensors and reverse camera, blind-sport warning, traffic sign recognition, lane-departure warning and blind-spot monitoring.