Renault Austral Review 2024

Looking for a hybrid SUV that you don't need to plug in? Your choice is more extensive than ever, and the new Renault Austral is an option well worth considering. But can it compete with our favourite petrol-electric SUVs on the market? Our 2022 Renault Austral review aims to find out.

We'd understand if you were a bit confused by Renault's range of late. While established models such as the Clio and Captur remain, the Megane is now an electric car, the Twingo is long-gone and the Scenic went the way of almost every other traditional MPV. 

So where does this new Renault Austral fit in? Well, it's the direct replacement for the moderately popular but largely unremarkable Renault Kadjar, filling the family SUV void it left. 

Key competitors for the Austral, then, include the somewhat-related Nissan Qashqai, the venerable Volkswagen Tiguan, the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage. End of story? It's a bit more complicated. 

Over on the continent Renault Austral buyers can choose from a total of five petrol engines with varying degrees of hybrid assistance. In the UK we'll get two - at least for the time being - and we'll still have to wait until a few months into 2023. 

Anyway, at least the version we get - the Renault Austral E-Tech hybrid - is a relevant one. Available in 160PS and 200PS forms, it's not a plug-in hybrid, but Renault calls it "the world's most efficient hybrid powertrain". That's a bold claim, but with some basis in fact because the Austral drinks less fuel on paper than all its key competitors. 

With a neatly evolved exterior design, the Austral's interior shares a lot with the impressive new Renault Megane E-Tech EV. That means it's much more modern and upmarket than the old Kadjar, and it's plenty spacious enough for a big family car. 

Renault has even leveraged its sporty Alpine sub-brand, adorning the Austral with Alpine-inspired trim levels and badging. To that end one of the available options is four-wheel steering - a unique offering in the class - which benefits low-speed agility and high-speed stability. Is it any good? Read on to find out. 

You might be able to get the Renault Austral with Alpine trim levels, but this is no Alpine SUV sharing DNA with the A110 sports car. It's competent, and no more than that. 

Our experience so far was on Spanish roads smoother than the lanes in a bowling alley, so we can't give you a definitive view until we drive it in the UK. It performed pretty well on the twisty sections, with good levels of grip, direct and accurate steering and decent body control.

The caveat of this is that the models we drove all came with the 4Control four-wheel steering option. As part of this Renault also fits more sophisticated multi-link rear suspension, whereas standard versions have a simple torsion beam set-up instead. We need to try those before we can accurately judge the Austral.

The 4Control system is definitely an option worth considering though. It's a new generation of the system found on some older Renaults, and usually you'd only find it on posh stuff like the Mercedes S-Class.

By turning the rear wheels the opposite way to the fronts by as much as five degrees 4Control reduces the turning circle by over a metre (it's actually less than in the Clio) while at high speeds the rear wheels turn in the other direction to help keep the car stable. The result is a car that feels smaller and lighter than it is. It's a doddle to drive around town, and means the car turns into a bend keenly for a tall SUV. 

Is it as sporty as something like a Cupra Formentor? Not really, no, regardless of which drive mode you select. We also can't comment properly on the ride yet given the roads, though on what few bumps we could find our car on 20-inch wheels felt firm but not harsh. 

As we've said, you can have a pair of mild hybrid petrol engines in varying outputs in Europe. But only the 160PS or 200PS Austral E-Tech Hybrid were deemed necessary for UK buyers. 

Like the Nissan Qashqai e-Power it uses a turbocharged three-cylinder engine mated to an electric motor and starter-generator. Unlike the Nissan, though, the engine isn't simply a generator for the electric motors - both engine and motor power the wheels via a fiendishly complicated gearbox...

We'll try not to bore you too much, but essentially it's a gearbox with four physical gears and two electric 'gears'. In total that allows 15 different gear ratios depending on your speed and other factors. It doesn't have a clutch, instead it's a 'dog' box using electric actuators. 

Confused? The gearbox feels confused, too. It's pretty good around town and when cruising, where it'll stay in electric mode pretty easily (up to 62mph if you're really gentle with the throttle). When you ask for more acceleration the engine wakes noticeably but not intrusively. 

The problem comes when you put you foot down to overtake, because the gearbox can't make its mind up quickly enough about what ratio it needs to be in. The pause might only be a couple of seconds but it feels like a week when you need it to perform, and often it'll either hold onto revs for too long or not kick down when you feel like it should. It's not very satisfying, and won't please keen drivers. At least it's better than the Renault Arkana hybrid, which isn't very good in town or on the open road. 

The Renault Austral is so new that Euro NCAP hasn't got its hands on one to crash test. We know the related Nissan Qashqai achieved the maximum five-star rating, though, and we'd expect the same from the Austral. 

Renault also claims the Austral has a better protected passenger compartment than other models it sells, with high-strength materials and seven airbags as standard, including one between the front seats. As you'd expect there are three Isofix child seat mounting points (two in the rear, one in the front), plus a system that will notify the emergency services in the event of a crash. 

On the active safety front there is autonomous emergency braking for driving forwards and reversing (the latter for preventing parking dings). Lane keeping assistance, blind spot monitoring and a system that will pull you back into your lane during a really dodgy overtake are offered too, but we don't yet know exactly what is standard and what is optional in the UK. 

We don't yet have a towing capacity figure for the Renault Austral. 

The Renault Austral is pretty close to a VW Tiguan in size, with external dimensions making it 4,510mm long, 1,843mm wide and 1,644mm tall with the roof bars. It's also bigger than the Nissan Qashqai in every dimension.

As a result you get a roomy cabin. Up front there's enough head- and legroom for those well over six foot to sit comfortably, although the centre console is broad and somewhat restricts your knee movements. The seats are comfortable, however, and there's plenty of adjustment for the driving position. 

Renault claims class-leading rear legroom, and while we didn't have a tape measure to hand it certainly seems pretty generous for the mid-size SUV class. Aiding that is the sliding rear seat (this might be optional on basic UK specs) which allows you to juggle leg space and boot space depending on your needs. Headroom is a bit restricted by the panoramic sunroof option, however. 

Fit the Renault Austral E-Tech Hybrid with a fixed rear bench and boot space is 430 litres. That's 70 litres down on the petrol models we don't get. However with the sliding rear bench you can increase the boot capacity to 555 litres.

General storage is pretty good, too, and helped by mounting the gear selector on the steering column. You get a flip-up split centre armrest with a deep cubby underneath, good-sized door bins and a pretty big glovebox, plus deep pockets in the back of the front seats. 

The downside to having that column-mounted gearshift is you get three stalks mounted on the right-hand side of the wheel, including the wiper control and multimedia control. This isn't great ergonomically as until you get used to it you'll probably turn on the wipers instead of selecting reverse. 

We were impressed by the uplift in quality in the Megane E-Tech Electric, and things are no different in the Renault Austral. It's certainly a clear step on from the mediocre fit and finish in the old Kadjar. 

There's a premium air and a feeling of solidity in the high-spec variants we've driven so far, with lots of soft-touch trim, no rattles or creaks and a finish that's right up there with Hyundai and Volkswagen alternatives. You even get classy touches such as open-pore wood veneer, Alcantara or Nappa leather if you spec correctly. We've yet to sample more basic versions, though. 

The infotainment offerings were rarely a highlight in older Renaults, but the brand has bucked its ideas up for the latest models. The Renault Austral comes as standard with a 12-inch portrait-angled touchscreen and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, all linked in a neat gloss black glass bezel - like a Mercedes-Benz. 

Even better, the infotainment itself uses software designed by Google, and we like it when car manufacturers stop wasting money designing their own inferior systems and go to tech companies that know what they're doing. The Austral's is bright and clear, with nice graphics, a responsive screen and up to 45 apps available. 

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard fitment, but you might not need to connect your phone because Google Maps is the standard in-built navigation. You also get a Google-based voice control function, which means works far better than most systems. 

A novel touch in the Austral's cabin is a sliding handrest that moves back and forth in the centre console. It's designed for you to rest your wrist on while fiddling with the touchscreen, while it also houses the wireless phone charging pad and hides some storage areas. 

The digital dial display gives you different display options including a Google Maps screen (a bit like an Audi), and a Tesla-style display which accurately shows the different types of vehicle around you for the active safety systems. On top of that you get an info-packed 9.3-inch head-up display. Renault claims it's the largest total surface area of displays on the market, and we can't disagree. 

Four USB charging points feature throughout the cabin, while a 14-speaker sound system upgrade is available on the top trims. 

We don't yet have confirmed pricing for the Renault Austral in the UK. Spokespeople couldn't tell us either, but hints were dropped that a starting price approaching £35,000 is likely. 

While that makes it slightly more expensive than the cheapest Nissan Qashqai e-Power, it should come with more standard equipment. It'll also be squarely in line with the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson full hybrids. 

This is Renault's big message with the new Austral: you won't find a more efficient hybrid SUV. Although we'll have to ignore the (admittedly smaller) Kia Niro to make that work, it certainly beats its rivals in the official WLTP regime. 

The 160PS Austral E-Tech Hybrids promises up to 62.7mpg combined, with CO2 emissions of just 102g/km. Plumping for the 200PS model only drops that down a little to 61.4mpg, with 104g/km CO2 emissions. 

Rivals from Kia, Hyundai and Ford all have combined MPG figures of around 50mpg, with the Qashqai e-Power only managing 53.3mpg. We need to test the Austral more thoroughly to see if it's actually as efficient in the real-world, but at least we know road tax and company car tax contributions will be lower than rivals. 

Of course, plug-in hybrid alternatives like the Peugeot 3008 have much more impressive quoted figures. And if you can keep it charged up it'll use a lot less fuel than the Renault. But on longer journeys where the PHEV's battery depletes its charge we'd wager the Austral would fare better. 

Full UK specs for the Renault Austral have yet to be detailed. We will update this page when more information is confirmed.

We're expecting the Renault Austral Techno to be the entry point, with high-end Renault Austral Esprit Alpine and Alpine+ trims also offered. They will feaute 20-inch alloys, upgraded upholstery and design details plus an electric tailgate. Adaptive cruise control will be standard across the range.