Clever touches help Renault to Captur hearts

With various personalisation options, the Renault Captur is a striking looking car

Removable seat covers and a reversible boot shelf are just two of the features Renault is hoping will entice family buyers to its cheery new crossover, the Renault Captur (pronounced capture).

It’s a really striking looking car, the test model being orange with a white roof (it does come in other colours too with a range of personalisation).

While it looks quite compact from the outside, the cabin in this car is much bigger than you’d expect, with good legroom and headroom for driver and passengers alike.

Three smallies will be perfectly content in the back seat of this car, but just two adults would be more comfortable.

The cabin in the Renault Captur is well specced and spacious

There’s also loads of storage cubbies, with rear passengers literally being able to play the artistic-looking elasticated storage in the seat backs – pluck them, and they sound like a double bass.

While there’s a handy sunglasses holder in the middle of the dash, the Captur isn’t the best for bottle/cup holders.

I found the cupholders weren’t deep enough to safely hold a takeaway coffee cup and the bottle holders are optimised for bigger bottles.

Parents or those driving young children should be impressed with the removable seat covers, meaning spills and accidents no longer ruin your interior.

I also liked the raised boot which has a reversible shelf, offering a soft finish on one side and a plastic cover on the other side, allowing you to transport wet or messy items with ease.

As you’d expect, the boot is much bigger without the shelf but the rear seats can be easily lowered or moved forward to increase the size.

The cockpit in the Captur is well laid out and functional, with nice glossy surround on the touch screen infotainment unit. The USB port is also well positioned at the top of it.

The test car I was driving also had a key card, push button start, air conditioning, auto lights and wipers, Bluetooth and electric windows. The cruise control/speed limiter buttons were also well placed behind the handbrake.

The rear seats in the Renault Captur can be both moved forward and lowered to create extra boot space

The review model was a five-speed manual with a petrol engine. Our route saw us mostly in the city and, to a lesser extent, on the motorway and country roads.

It’s a nice, pleasant drive and perfect for pottering around the city, the high driving position giving you a commanding view.

Slightly longer than the Renault Clio it’s based on, the Captur was also very easy to park. I thought the wing mirrors could have been a bit bigger though.

It’s also a smooth motorway cruiser.

While it’s not the fastest at the lights, push it and you do start to get some fun driving, especially on the winding country roads. A more powerful 1.5 litre diesel engine is also available.

Overall, I thought the Captur was a beautiful looking, family-friendly crossover.

Two spec levels in the Renault Captur are available in Ireland, with prices for the entry level Life starting from €19,390. The Intense model I was driving costs from €20,690. Prices for diesel model start from €21,190.

Tech Spec
Engine: TCe 90 (petrol)
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 12.9 seconds
Maximum Speed: 171kph
CO2 emissions: 113g/km
Combined fuel economy: 4.9l/100km
Annual road tax: €200

Visit the Renault Ireland website or its Facebook page for further details.

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