Renault Austral ticks all boxes for a practical family car
The Renault Austral: This large sporty car certainly ticks all the right boxes for a stylish, practical and spacious family car.
Renault has been moving decidedly more upmarket in recent times with its new cars but especially so with the arrival in July of its new Austral E-Tech full hybrid SUV which has already won Irish Medium SUV of the Year for 2024 in association with Continental Tyres.
This mid-size SUV with a self-charging hybrid system is the third strand in the brand’s new generation of electrified vehicles, joining the Arkana and Megane E-Tech Electric. Austral is seen as a replacement for the brand’s Kadjar but has more room for passengers due to its longer wheelbase.
This large sporty car certainly ticks all the right boxes for a stylish, practical and spacious family car. It’s sturdy and well-built and would grace any driveway.
As this is a high car, the driver sits high and enjoys a really good driving position and good visibility. The cabin is plenty spacious for five adults to sit in comfort with good head and knee room even in the back. And the seats are wonderfully comfy and the driver has a massage function.
The middle rear seat is actually quite big but the person seated here has to contend with the transmission tunnel. Fit and finish are really good with lots of soft finishes and real wood. Alcantara fabric upholstery has blue top-stitching, headrests featured exclusive esprit Alpine badges in my car and the aluminium pedals added a nice touch. The steering wheel sports red, white and blue stitching. Being a French auto, a small French flag is sewn into the sides of the seats.
A panoramic sunroof adds extra light into the car which is especially appreciated by those in the rear.
A big head-up display shows relevant trip info on the windscreen so you don’t need to take your eyes off the road. The dash is a work of art with an easy-to-work-your-way-around 12-inch portrait-style multimedia screen angled towards the driver and a 12.3-inch driver information display. The multimedia system offers Google-connected services just like with your smartphone. You can use it to talk to Google to plan your journey, and change the driving mode or the car’s temperature. Just say ‘Hey Google’ and give your command. I could also set my driving seat memory position from the central console screen.
Below this screen are physical buttons for climate control, air con and front seat heaters. The Harman Kardon system with a powerful 485-watt amplifier delivers through 12 speakers located around the cabin. Connectivity includes two small C-type USBs front and rear and a wireless phone charger. Austral has a good blind spot cover, a reversing camera, and parking sensors, and you can get over-the-air software updates. When meeting a large agricultural vehicle on a very narrow country road, the central console screen showed an overhead view of the ditch, my car and the other vehicle which allowed me to judge the space available to be able to ease my way forward.
There’s a wide storage area on the central console that also houses a wireless phone charger and cupholders and has a slide-across lid. Other storage areas are a bucket-type glovebox, a large area below the front armrest and very good door bins.
Austral provides 555 litres of boot capacity which can expand to a huge 1,525 litres with rear seats folded down. The rear bench seat can be slid backwards or forward by 16cm to allow more space in the boot if it is needed, and I always appreciate a power tailgate.
There’s just one powertrain, based on a turbo-charged 1.2, 180bhp 3-cylinder petrol engine complemented by an electric motor and a large 400V 1.7kWh lithium-ion battery. It can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.4 seconds which is plenty sufficient for a family car. The engine is matched to a nice 7-speed automatic gearbox.
The new 4Control advanced system with 4-wheel steering makes driving more accurate and safe and also provides a turning circle of just over 10m which is comparable to that of a small city car. At speeds of up to 50km/h, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the front wheels to reduce the turning circle. Above 50km/h, those rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front wheels to improve road handling and safety.
Drive modes of Personal, Comfort, Eco or Sport, are selected through the MultiSense round button off the steering wheel. Each gets its own screen. Up to 30 advanced driver-assistance systems include adaptive cruise control, Matrix Vision LED headlights that automatically adjust the light beam shape to the traffic and weather conditions; Rear Cross Parking Alert, a 360-degree view 3D camera that allows you manoeuvre safely, and all-around parking sensors.
On the move, the battery is recharged when you decelerate and brake as in city driving where you can make up to 80pc of journeys in full electric mode. Fuel consumption of 4.7L/100km is claimed — I achieved a combined fuel figure of 6.1L/100kms. The road tax is €180.
PRICES: Start price from €45,295. Price of this car without options €52,295; with options of Metallic Paint and black roof €56,470.
