Renault Austral Review

Introduction

Like certain other manufacturers, Renault has been busy phasing out most of its traditional fleet in favour of a bunch of SUVs.

There is the Captur, Scenic, Symbioz and Rafale – while even the Megane, although technically not a crossover, has the same stance as its SUV siblings.

Granted, there are still some non-SUVs, such as the Clio and, of course, the exciting relaunch of the Renault 5 supermini; however, even the new Renault 4 E-Tech is now considered a crossover.

It is understandable, as people have been abandoning traditional hatchbacks and saloons in their droves in favour of larger, more practical family cars.

Renault’s Austral, itself a crossover SUV, is one of the newer cars hoping to win customers over.

It was launched in 2022 as a replacement for the Kadjar – yet it’s already the oldest car in the entire fleet, with Renault having replaced or overhauled every other model it manufactures since.

Despite what you may think, the name 'Austral' doesn't specifically refer to Australia as a nation, although there is a common link. ‘Austral’ derives from the Latin word ‘australis’, which translates to ‘southern’ – and the Oceanian nation gets its name from the same Latin word.

That said, Renault has stated that it wants people to think of the “vibrancy and heat of the south”, which implies a connection to Australia, at the very least. Mind you, it could just be talking about the ‘south’ of France for all we know.

Anyway, the Austral needs to make itself as appealing as possible, as this is a very crowded segment of the market.

Renault has just facelifted it, making a bunch of improvements, including updates to the suspension, which should boost ride comfort, as well as enhancements to the seats and an upgrade to the Austral's soundproofing.

But have these changes been effective?

At A Glance

The Renault Austral has undergone some exterior styling tweaks to make it more appealing.

It looks less rounded than before, thanks to sharper lines and a grille which looks larger and more menacing, much like the larger Rafale.

The previously droopy day running lights now sit more aggressively out to the sides.

There are a couple of creases running along the bottom of the doors, adding style and definition. Around the back, the sweep-around taillights remain, with an almost horizontal light bar split by the Renault badge.

Underneath, there’s some black and grey cladding towards the bottom to punctuate the car's off-roading credentials, although it's not an off-roader at all.

Ultimately, the Austral looks slightly angrier than before.

The look may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a decent size and shape, with a modern and contemporary appearance.

Key Features

The Renault Austral is offered in three trim levels.

The entry-level Techno comes standard with 19-inch alloy wheels, a 12.0-inch infotainment touchscreen featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, a 12.3-inch digital instrument display, fabric upholstery, ambient lighting, and dual-zone climate control.

You also get LED headlights and taillights, privacy glass, a shark fin antenna, and power folding door mirrors.

The mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine features 20-inch alloys, some exterior styling tweaks, a glare-free high beam, carbon-fibre-inspired upholstery, door kick plates, and heated six-way electric seat adjustment with lumbar, massage, and memory functions.

A powered hands-free boot lid is also included, along with a heated steering wheel.

The top-of-the-range Iconic Esprit Alpine features a Harman Kardon premium audio system, a 360-degree surround view camera, a memory function for the powered door mirrors, hands-free parking, and a panoramic sunroof.

In terms of poke, you get a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, paired with an electric motor, producing 200PS and front-wheel drive.

There is no alternative, so we’ll hope it’s sufficient.

Performance & Drive

We are testing the top-of-the-range Iconic Esprit Alpine trim.

In all models, however, the Renault Austral boasts a respectable amount of clout, reaching 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds. It is adequate and about average compared with its foes, with some models being slightly quicker and others marginally slower.

You generally start on electric power, with the engine kicking in soon after. That is where the Austral feels a bit sluggish, as the electric motor is only responsible for around a third of the car’s overall power.

In addition, when you demand poke from the accelerator, there's a delay as the car determines that it needs the engine, switches it on, and then you'll begin to accelerate. It is only a slight delay, but it's enough to cause you a bit of hesitation if you're expecting instant acceleration as you navigate away from a busy junction.

To get around this, engaging the Sport mode keeps the engine in play all the time, and you’ll likely want that setting if you’re keen on making good progress.

Otherwise, Comfort mode is a good option for low-speed driving around town or in heavier traffic when the power available to your right foot isn't a significant factor. The Austral feels assured, smooth, and quiet at slower speeds.

When you get up to motorway speeds, the Austral feels more at home – a comfortable cruiser that’s relaxing to drive, wafting along without breaking a sweat.

In terms of handling, the driving experience depends on which mode you’ve got the steering wheel in.

You can choose between Low, Medium, or High settings. If you're a keen driver, only High will give you sufficient feedback to have confidence around faster bends.

There is plenty of grip, and the Austral turns in quite well, but there’s still quite a lot of body roll in the corners.

Thankfully, Renault's attempts to improve ride comfort have taken a step forward, partly through the removal of a technology called 4CONTROL, which included rear-wheel steering.

Despite Renault investing a decade's worth of effort in its development, it didn't work particularly well, making the car fidgety and even unpredictable. As a result, it has been removed from models arriving in the UK.

However, even the new Austral still doesn’t feel as well planted as some of its opponents and still feels a bit unsettled and bouncy, even on smoother roads.

What’s more, it isn’t as good at soaking up potholes, lumps and bumps compared with its rivals.

The new Austral is fitted with new, more aerodynamic door mirrors, but they still generate some noticeable wind noise at motorway speeds.

The regenerative braking isn't excellent, either – when you press the pedal, it's difficult to tell that the car is even slowing at first. Still, as you increase the pressure, the deceleration does eventually become more linear.

Running Costs & Emissions

Our Austral returns 58.9mpg, emitting 108g/km of CO2.

The figures are identical across the range, apart from the mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine, which officially emits marginally less carbon, at 107g/km.

Those are impressive figures that are good enough to beat many competitors.

However, given the Austral is only available as a full hybrid, it’s unlikely to win many hearts as a company car, given Benefit In Kind tax greatly favours cars that plug-in, whether hybrid or fully electric, due to their ultra-low (or zero) emissions.

Interior & Technology

The cabin of the Renault Austral looks satisfyingly premium, with numerous soft-to-the-touch materials, comfortable seats, and a lovely cockpit-like dashboard.

The steering wheel has a slightly flatter top and bottom compared with the sides, and it thickens out above the spokes to provide thumb indentations.

The nine and three o’clock spokes are covered in silver trim. There is more silver décor on the doors, around the centre console and, in our Iconic Esprit Alpine test car, the aluminium pedals. It breaks up the otherwise darkened colour scheme nicely.

The dashboard will instantly grab your attention – the 12.0-inch infotainment screen, which is in an unusual portrait orientation, blends seamlessly into the unit, which also houses the 12.3-inch digital driver's display behind the steering wheel.

Such perfect integration makes a difference in its appearance.

The infotainment system itself is impressive, offering crisply clear graphics, a very nice contemporary design, and it's pleasingly responsive to your inputs, touches and prods from fingers and thumbs.

Even better, there are still physical controls for the air conditioning – something many manufacturers are eliminating in favour of controlling the temperature from the touchscreen instead, which makes things trickier to do on the move.

We would like some of the icons to be larger, as they can be difficult to hit when you're on the move. However, overall, it’s an impressive system.

Furthermore, the screen is angled towards you for a better view.

The digital instrumentation behind the steering wheel is similarly impressive, offering a sharp display, attractive graphics and plenty of helpful information.

It can display the navigation map across the full width of the screen to make taking SatNav instructions easier, and you can then read your speed and other vital data on the head-up display.

The flat top of the steering wheel means you’ll always likely have some of the screen obstructed, but it’s nothing that can’t be solved by momentarily leaning your head to adjust your viewpoint.

The fit and finish in the Renault's cabin are a big plus, although there are some cheaper plastics, which are mostly found lower down.

It is a sophisticated design which, barring one or two minor limitations, has been well thought out.

Practicality & Boot Space

The seats in the Renault Austral are nice to look at and provide plenty of support, especially in our top-of-the-range test car, which features electric seat adjustment with a massage function, making it easy to find a comfortable driving position.

You will also get this, as well as a two-way lumbar adjustment, in the mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine trim.

The driving position isn’t what you'll find in a larger SUV, but you're higher up than in a hatchback, which provides good forward visibility. This is helped by Renault keeping the front windscreen pillars relatively thin, while the windscreen itself is enormous.

At the back, partly due to the angled rear windscreen, seeing out of the back is a little tricky. The problem is compounded by much thicker C and D pillars, which render the windows at the rear side of the vehicle almost useless from the driver’s perspective.

Front, rear, and side parking sensors are included as standard on all models, as is a rear-view camera. Our top-of-the-range Iconic Esprit Alpine model comes with a 360-degree camera instead.

There is a decent amount of legroom and shoulder room up front, so even taller drivers shouldn’t feel too hemmed in, although the cockpit-like feel of the interior does create something of a cocooning sensation, in a good way.

Despite the sloping roofline, there should still be enough headroom to accommodate taller adults in the back, too. However, three adults in the back will be uncomfortable. That said, legroom can be enhanced by sliding the rear seats back, albeit at the cost of some boot space.

Speaking of the boot, the exact capacity depends on how far back the rear seats are positioned, but the minimum amount you'll get is 527 litres if the seats are pushed back as far as they'll go.

Admittedly, you’ll struggle to fit adults in at all unless the seats are at least partly slid backwards, and that means boot space isn’t quite as competitive as some rivals.

If you slide them forwards, the cargo capacity increases to 657 litres, while folding them down altogether in a 60:40 split increases it to 1,736 litres.

It is a shame that Renault would go to the trouble of offering sliding seats but not also offer the more versatile 40:20:40 rear seat split. However, we can't have everything.

Unfortunately, folding the seats down creates a slight ridge that can be difficult to lift heavier items over, although at least all models come with a height-adjustable boot floor.

There is plenty of storage in the cabin, including cubbies, reasonably large door pockets, and a sunglasses holder.

There are a couple of cupholders, but using these prevents you from having full access to the central cubby beneath the front armrest.

Safety

The pre-facelifted Austral was crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2022, but its rating remains valid for the latest version.

It was awarded a full five-star rating, scoring 88% for adult occupants, 83% for children and 87% for safety assists.

The latter category includes automatic emergency braking, emergency lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, tyre pressure monitoring, a rear-view camera, and front, side, and rear parking sensors.

Mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine gets adaptive driving beam (so you don’t dazzle oncoming motorists) and autonomous driving level 1, with eyes and hands off detection.

The top-of-the-range Iconic Esprit Alpine features hands-free parking, as well as an upgraded rear-view camera with a full 360-degree surround-view.

Options

There isn’t much in the way of an options list for the Renault Austral.

White is the default body colour, while red, dark grey, dark blue, matte white, and matte dark grey are available for an additional fee.

You have fewer choices on the entry-level model, although you can opt for black instead.

The Techno Esprit Alpine and Iconic Esprit Alpine trim levels also feature two-tone paint schemes, with a black roof regardless of body colour – this is standard, but you can opt out of it without charge.

A spare wheel beneath the boot floor is also offered.

But that’s about it.

Rival Cars

The Renault Austral is in a busy segment of the automotive market.

The Ford Kuga, Hyundai Tucson, and Kia Sportage are three alternative cars that may tempt you away from leasing the Renault.

There is also the Honda ZR-V, the Toyota C-HR and, of course, Nissan’s Qashqai e-POWER.

Unlike the Renault Austral, some of these models are also available in plug-in hybrid form, which is worth bearing in mind if fuel economy is high up the priority list.

Verdict & Next Steps

Overall, the latest Renault Austral is a very worthy contender.

It has a very nice interior, good looks, is reasonably priced, and is a pleasant drive, as well as being economical enough on fuel to outperform many rival full hybrids.

However, plug-in hybrids will still outperform it in the latter category, and despite Renault's attempts to improve ride comfort, it still feels unsettled at times, with the regen braking lacking refinement.

Despite the advantage of sliding rear seats, some competitors still offer more boot space; however, the extra legroom is a significant advantage if you're not carrying a lot of shopping.

While we drove the top-of-the-range model, there's little to be gained by paying for all the extra features. On balance, we recommend pulling the leasing trigger on the entry-level Techno or the mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine model instead.

Overall, the Renault Austral has plenty going in its favour. However, there are better alternatives that offer superior ride comfort, especially if you plan to drive a lot of miles in it.

Where to next?

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Renault Austral

**Correct as of 25/07/2025. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 36 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £2,690.73 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.