The Captur kick-started Renault’s range of popular SUVs and crossovers in 2013, and it has lived up to its name and gone on to capture a sizeable chunk of the market. It’s also Renault’s most popular car in the UK, outselling the Clio and the Megane.
In 2016 it was the best-selling model in its segment in Europe, so you could forgive the French company for not wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater with the mid-life refresh. The styling tweaks bring the Renault Captur into line with the rest of its SUV range, thanks to sharper-looking lights and more rugged bumpers with faux-metal skid plates front and rear.
Minor updates they may be, but finally, they give the Captur its own SUV-like personality, rather than looking like a taller, bloated Clio. Among the changes is a new front grille that wears some extra chrome to direct your gaze toward the oversize Renault badge at its centre. Complementing that, the lower corners of the front bumper get new C-shaped LED daytime running lights across the line-up, while higher-grade models also benefit from full-LED headlights.
Punters clearly like the level of personalisation available for the Captur, such as its two-tone colour scheme, so Renault has added more options. There are three new body colours, plus the option of a silver roof, bringing the total number of potential combinations to 36. Eat your heart out, Mini.
Dimensionally, the Captur is unchanged, and barely bigger than a Clio with its 4,122mm length and 1,778mm width, ensuring that it retains its manoeuvrable size with acceptable interior space for the segment. Inside, the main change to the cabin is a smattering of new materials, giving the Captur a more modern appearance. It’s still far from plush, though.
Buyers can choose from two petrol and two diesel engines, with either automatic or manual transmissions. All models in the Captur range are front-wheel drive, despite the more rugged looks.
The 0.9-litre TCe petrol engine, which is steadily becoming the most popular choice, makes for a sensible buy if you’re only doing the school run or driving around town. Despite its small size, this three-cylinder, 89bhp engine is smooth and feels faster than the 13.2-second 0-62mph time suggests it will.
If you disagree, or you carry a couple of people around regularly, you can upgrade to the 118bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine, which is available with either manual or automatic gearboxes. Officially, the transmission makes no difference to fuel economy, but the manual is just under a second faster to 62mph at 9.9 seconds. If you’d rather have a diesel, there is the familiar 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder option, offered in 89bhp and 108bhp guises.
While the Captur has stayed competitive up until its facelift, it’s about to fight a war on several fronts. New small crossovers from Hyundai, Seat, Citroen and Kia are all imminent in 2017. They all promise lots of spec and personalisation options, frugal engines and similar prices. The Captur’s good, but not exceptional, and may soon struggle to stand out against a European and Korean onslaught…
Despite increased competition, Renault was confident enough in the Captur’s abilities not to bother changing any of the mechanical underpinnings. Brave? Perhaps, but, first up, buyers in this sector don’t demand scalpel-sharp reflexes married to magic carpet ride comfort, and secondly, the Captur was already one of the best-judged.
Its extra height over a Renault Clio means longer springs and a little more cushioning. It’s quite a smooth car, especially over urban bumps, which it soaks up with ease. Even when you hit rougher surfaces, road noise is kept at bay well.
The more powerful diesel engine produces a useful 192lb ft of torque, which leaves you with plenty in reserve for overtaking or joining fast-moving motorway traffic off a slip road, but it does lose some of its appeal in slower-moving traffic. Constant gear changes aren’t helped by the new armrest design that can get in the way, particularly if you sit a little further back from the wheel.
It’s in situations like this that the quieter, more refined petrol engine shines. The more powerful turbocharged four-cylinder 1.2-litre unit is one of the sweeter engines in the small crossover segment right now. With 151lb ft (produced at a usefully low 2,000rpm), it has just the right amount of torque to pull the Captur along without the need for many revs.
No matter which engine you choose, it’s comfortable enough and the engines are above average, but the Captur lacks anything that might help it stand out in driving terms. It’s more sensible trousers than driving shoes.
As with the mildly tweaked exterior, you’ll have to take a second glance (and know the pre-facelift Captur pretty well) to spot the changes that Renault has made to the interior. A lack of mechanical revisions has, however, allowed Renault to spend most of the update budget on improving the feel and quality of the cabin, something it needed, in truth. Both the door cards and upper sections of the dashboard are now finished in a soft-touch plastic, while the new steering wheel, borrowed from the Clio, has a much nicer feel to it, even if it retains a familiar button layout.
One area where the Captur has always scored well is storage. The boot has a 455-litre capacity, which is more than rivals like the Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Vauxhall Mokka X. It also has a useful double floor that lets you lower the load height or keep a separate storage area beneath the floor. Folding the rear seats down increases cargo volume to 1,255 litres.
A new storage compartment in the top of the dashboard is now easier to reach and it’s big enough to swallow up your phone, keys and wallet, or purse.
The centre console remains a simple affair, and if you choose any model from Dynamique Nav grade upwards, you get a seven-inch colour touchscreen system with satellite navigation. It’s not a great system, with bizarrely small ‘buttons’ hidden in the corners of the screen and infuritating bings and bongs that can only be turned off by delving deep into sub-sub-sub menus.
All of the climate controls are slightly cheap-feeling knobs and buttons, but at least it’s easy to adjust without taking your eyes off the road.
Both Signature X Nav and Signature S Nav get a more advanced R-LINK media and nav system and Renault has added Android Auto to this as well, bringing smartphone mirroring to more people, but there’s still no sign of Apple CarPlay.
In the rear, there is a generous amount of legroom for the sector, and you get the ability to slide the rear seat bench forward or back depending on how much passenger or boot space you require. The Captur’s high roof means headroom isn’t an issue, even for taller passengers.
Article source: https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/renault/captur
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