Car review: Renault Captur Iconic TC3 100

The Captur provides pleasant, easy-to-live-with transport, says Martin Gurdon

Renault

23 June 2020

If you like the Renault Clio supermini, but like the ‘high riding’ position that lets you peer over hedges and other cars, its Captur sibling could be the car for you.

It’s a compact sports utility vehicle (SUV), which basically means it’s a hatchback with 4x4 looks and a jacked up demeanour, so the seating position is high. Cars of this type have their critics but the public buys them by the transporter-load, in part because they like the view from the cabin.

The Captur is now in its second generation. The original was one of the better looking cars in a crowded class that includes the Volkswagen T-Cross and Ford Puma, so the new one looks similar, which is no bad thing. It also has some nice visual touches, including distinctive boomerang-shaped LED tail lights and a smiley grill.

The Captur is actually quite large, but not quite as spacious inside as you might imagine. It will seat four adults with decent knee, shoulder and headroom in the back, and would squeeze in a fifth. With the rear seats in place the boot is compact and bijou, although there’s a pretty substantial storage area concealed under a false floor.

The car is not short of safety kit, with features such as active emergency braking, lane keeping and lane departure warning systems, stability control and traffic sign recognition.

Equipment-wise, the Iconic TCe 100-spec Captur we drove had automatic air conditioning, a hands-free key card, which had a rather irritating habit of unlocking the car whenever I went near it, and rear parking sensors. The seven-inch touch screen is straightforward to use with a sat-nav function that was really good.

The car’s ride is slightly jiggly on minor roads, but this smooths out on motorways. Its 1-litre petrol engine is relaxed at speed but the slightly floppy five-speed gearbox needs a fair bit of use to get the car moving from a standstill.

Renault

The Captur steers with reasonable precision and the steering itself is very light. It is a little anodyne to drive, if perfectly pleasant, but then so are most of its rivals.

It could do with a bigger boot, but aside from that, the Captur provides pleasant, easy-to-live-with transport, particularly for young families.

Details: Renault Captur Iconic TC3 100

0-62mph: 13.3sec,

107mph top speed

47.1mpg (WLPT)

116g/km CO2

Price: £46,005

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