Long Term Review: Three Months With The Renault Austral E-Tech

Forbes

6 days ago

The Austral's hybrid powertrain is very accomplished
The past three or so years have marked a significant turnaround for Renault. The familiar French brand has emerged from dull, budget-friendly shadows and become a trendy, highly relevant manufacturer. Everyone has seen (and swooned over) the new Renault 5 and the company is deftly striking the right balance between staying true to its heritage while forging a new path for its future.
Following the pandemic, Renault completely overhauled its lineup, introducing a range of new models. Spreading its expertise across hatchbacks, SUVs, electric and hybrid models, its cars now reflect a modern, more premium approach than ever before. After replacing the Renault Kadjar in 2022, the Renault Austral is the most traditional family SUV-style pick of the range. Competing with the likes of the Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson, Kid Sportage and Ford Kuga, it sits in a highly competitive market.
Even as the pre-facelift version, the Austral is stylish
To really get to know the Austral, Renault has lent me a techno esprit Alpine for six months, specified to £38,395 ($51,620). Although Renault has recently facelifted the Austral, this is the pre-facelift version. Typically, I only spend a few hours with a car at an international or home market launch or, at most, a week with it once it's been publicly unveiled. Driving the car over an extended period gives a much better insight into the realities of living with it. After three months of driving the Austral, here's the verdict so far.
First Impressions Of The Renault Austral
Renault is now competing with more premium manufacturers
Admittedly, I drove a Renault Austral at a launch event last year and it didn't leave much of an impression. Since Renault has updated its models, the interior feel across all its SUVs is very similar, so the Austral didn't necessarily stand out. With new names for each of its SUV models, I struggled to distinguish between them when I was less familiar with the brand. However, having had an Austral on the driveway these past months, I've started to get a feel for where it's positioned in relation to other family SUVs.
The techno esprit Alpine version I'm testing is the mid specification option, above techno and below iconic esprit Alpine. Regardless of trim, all versions come with the same 1.2-liter turbocharged petrol engine combined with a hybrid system to offer 200 hp. Unlike some of its rivals, there's no manual version or plug-in hybrid option. For most drivers, manual cars are more of an annoyance than a preference, especially in an SUV and unless you have access to charging, a plug-in hybrid isn't always the best option.
In 2022, the Austral replaced the Kadjar
So far, I've been impressed with its fuel economy. Over a variety of different long and short journeys, totalling more than 1500 miles, on average, the car is consistently achieving between 58 to 59mpg. With just a 55-liter tank, it's also very affordable to fill up considering it can cover over 600 miles before it needs refuelling. The fuel gauge is constantly reassessing based on your driving style, so most of the time it ends up going further than you anticipate.
What Tech Does The Renault Austral Have?
The tech-forward interior is super easy to use
For reference, my typical daily driver when I'm not driving a press car is a 2009 Volkswagen Polo. I love it but the extent of my Polo's tech features include an FM radio and heated wing mirrors, one of which no longer works. Stepping into the Renault Austral, the digital driver's display and central iPad-like screen are the focal points. It also comes with a head-up display which is very useful.
Instead of developing its own native system from scratch, Renault uses a Google operating system. Most of the time, I connect my phone using wired or wireless Android Auto. After the phone has been connected once, as long as you've got your bluetooth enabled, it pairs up quickly.
Android Auto and Apple CarPlay makes the car feel like an extension of your usual media experience
One of my favourite features is that the Android Auto system integrates with the driver's display and head-up display. Basic directions show on the head-up display and a map comes up on the screen in front of the steering wheel, so you rarely need to glance at the central screen for navigation.
To comply with new legislation, the vehicle's safety systems like speed limit warnings and lane keeping functionality activate every time you turn the car on. Unless you're on a particularly long journey with lots of changing speed limits, its alerts don't feel too invasive. Unlike other cars that start making sounds the second you exceed a speed limit, the Austral gives you a few moments to slow down before it gives you a warning.
The family SUV is well equipped to deal with passengers and luggage
Clearly someone at Renault had their thinking hat on when the company decided how to integrate its safety features. On the right hand side of the steering wheel, the My Safety button can be configured with your preferred safety settings. Just two taps of the button can disable things like speed limit warnings. This is infinitely easier than models from other manufacturers that have you searching through digital touchscreen menus to find out how to toggle something off every time you get in the car.
Keyless entry is often a bug bear for me seeing as most of the time it never seems to work and it can be a theft risk. Nevertheless, I've never had as seamless an experience with the Austral's keyless entry. When you approach the car with the key in a bag or pocket, it opens every time, even when you approach from the trunk and want to load luggage first. If all the doors are closed, when you walk away it locks itself and the wing mirrors fold in automatically. The distance feels right too, so you're still close enough to hear the car lock when you walk a few paces away.
What Is It Like To Drive The Renault Austral?
Most modern cars have annoying safety features but the Austral makes it easy to turn them on and off ... More as you wish
For a family SUV, 200 hp might not sound like a lot but the Austral feels far more enthusiastic than I expected. This is thanks to its hybrid system which gives you additional power at slow speeds. It helps to give an extra boost off the line and can take over to run the vehicle on electric only for short periods of time. Sometimes, the engine doesn't even need to start up when you turn the car on for the first time.
Its hybrid system smooths out power delivery for the most part. I found that when speed is kept at around 33 to 35mph, the seven-speed gearbox is indecisive and tends to stick to a lower gear which can make the engine a bit noisy. Once the gear change initiates, it calms down again and no other gear changes feel noticeable after that.
From every angle there's something to like
Since it's not a plug-in hybrid, the battery recharges using the engine and regenerative braking. Behind the steering wheel, there's two flappy paddles to control the level of regeneration. It's barely noticeable as the car flips between the engine and e-motors and the battery always seems to have enough power when you need it.
What's Next?
A powered tailgate makes it easy to load items into the trunk
Now it's summer time, I've got a few longer trips planned with the Austral. A couple of family holidays will see the back seats get some good use along with the trunk. It handles the weekly shop with ease, so I'm interested to see how it handles luggage for a road trip. This will also give me a chance to do some more fuel economy testing and work out how many miles I'm averaging from a single tank of fuel.
Although I'm very attached to my Polo, life with the Austral so far has been a significant jump up in technology and ease of use. Three months in, I'm very tempted.