Renault have been moving decidedly more upmarket in recent times with their new cars but especially so with the arrival in July of their new Austral E-Tech full hybrid SUV, writes Trish Whelan, recently winner of the Irish Medium SUV of the Year 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. It ticks all the right boxes for a stylish, practical and spacious family car. It’s sturdy and well built and would well grace any driveway.
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, with the driver's one including a massage function. Fit and finish is really good. Alcantara upholstery has blue top-stitching, headrests featured exclusive Esprit Alpine badges in my review car of that grade, 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 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. 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, 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 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 good blind spot cover, a reversing camera, 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 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. The rear bench seat can be slid backwards or forwards 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 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.
A new advanced system with 4-wheel steering makes driving more accurate and safe and also provides a turning circle of just over 10 metres, 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 selectable and up to 30 advanced driver assistance systems include adaptive cruise control, matrix LED headlights that automatically adjust the light beam shape to the traffic and weather conditions; Rear Cross Parking Alert, a 360 deg view 3D camera that allows you manoeuvre safely, and all around parking sensors.
On the move, Renault say that in city driving 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. Road tax is €180.
PRICES: Start price is €45,295. Price of this car without options €52,295; with options €56,470.
