Renault Austral review - Engines, drive & performance

As much as Renault would love you to think the Austral is a sporty crossover – especially in the racy Esprit Alpine trims – we found it’s better suited to leisurely cruising around town, which is ideal for most SUV drivers. Unfortunately the Austral’s suspension struggled to iron out the worst bumps and imperfections on roads at lower speeds when we tested it on 20 inch alloys. Rivals like the Hyundai Tucson are much more comfortable. While Renault tried to balance performance and comfort, neither approach has really landed.

When driving along, there is little wind noise to complain about, although many may find the piped-in engine sound a bit annoying. It can also take a while to get used to some of the controls, for instance, there are three stalks on the right-hand side of the steering wheel: one for the wipers, another for radio controls, plus a third higher up for the gear selector.

While the top Austral models launched with a four-wheel steering option, dubbed 4Control, which we found helped greatly with manoeuvrability. Renault has since discontinued this feature, but it’s not necessarily hugely missed because it wasn’t the best system at higher speeds.

We like the fact that the Austral gets varied levels of regenerative braking which takes energy that would otherwise be lost to braking and puts it back into the electric motor’s battery. The problem is that this isn’t the smoothest system and can make it hard to judge the braking through the pedal – at times it can feel too firm and other times too weak.

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Is it good to drive in town?

The Austral is pretty refined on the move, and the electric motor aids low-down performance, which is handy around town. As Renault promises, quite a bit of town driving is taken care of in EV mode, but push harder and the petrol engine fires up. Luckily it remains pretty quiet, more so than in the Nissan Qashqai e-Power or Toyota RAV4.

Is it good to drive on long journeys?

What lets the Austral’s powertrain down is the clutchless automatic gearbox which comes fitted to all cars. While this is supposed to offer 15 different gear ratio combinations to prioritise acceleration and/or smoothness, in reality, it can be sluggish to respond and dampens the Austral’s performance somewhat. There’s sometimes enough hesitation that you may question if there’s a sizeable enough gap ahead to overtake slower traffic, and that might not inspire confidence on the motorway.

Is it good to drive on B-roads?

As we alluded to previously, the Austral isn’t really a sporty model to drive. Its steering is light, but doesn’t offer much by way of feedback. Body control isn’t the best, either, so it can feel a bit wallowy if pushed – it’s best to take a leisurely approach to driving the Austral.

Hybrid model

There’s just one engine to choose from: a 196bhp self-charging hybrid. This comprises a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, alongside a small electric motor and gets the Austral from 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds, which is about average for a car like this. 

Carbuyer notes

“As you increase your pace, you’ll notice that light steering doesn’t instil much confidence, and you’ll have to learn to trust in the Austral’s strong reserves of grip.” Sean Carson, former associate editor