2022 Renault Captur

Standard equipment in the 2022 Renault Captur Life includes:

• LED head- and tail lights
• Reversing camera
• Parking sensors
• Cruise control and speed limiter
• Paddle shifters
• Manual air conditioning
• 7.0-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• 4.2-inch colour trip computer
• Six-speaker sound system
• 17-inch alloy wheels

Moving to the Captur Zen gets you:

• Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
• Keyless entry and start
• Heated leather steering wheel
• Climate control air conditioning
• Rain-sensing windscreen wipers
• Wireless phone charging
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert

Opting for the Captur Intens brings:

• 9.3-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and satellite navigation
• Nine-speaker sound system
• 7.0-inch colour trip computer
• Eco LED headlights
• 3D-effect tail lights
• Satin grey roof rails
• 360-degree camera
• Powered driver’s seat
• Heated front seats
• Automatic brake hold
• LED cabin lighting
• Storage nets on front seatbacks
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• Dual rear USB ports
• Black leather trim
• Privacy glass
• Exterior chrome highlights
• 18-inch two-tone alloy wheels

The Captur R.S. Line adds:

• 18-inch diamond-cut alloys
• F1-inspired front bumper insert
• Dual chrome fake exhaust tips
• Gunmetal grey exterior accents
• Front and rear skid plate elements
• R.S. Line badging (exterior and interior)
• R.S. Line door sills
• Carbon fibre-look interior inserts
• Alloy sport pedals
• Red and Grey contrast stitching
• 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
• Frameless auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• Easy Park Assist (automated parking)
• Automatic high-beam

This is one of the nicest compact SUV cabins money can buy.

For starters, it’s a handsome little thing from behind the wheel. The design is clean and modern, with unique touches such as the wing-style centre console and iPad-style touchscreen helping elevate it above the crowd.

The materials all feel excellent, too. The leather on the seats is soft, and the steering wheel feels like a quality item. Even the dashboard and doors are trimmed in soft-touch materials, and pack ambient lighting with a range of colour options.

It’s not perfect. That wing-style storage space feels a bit wobbly when you bump it with your knee, and the transmission selector looks sharp but feels a bit toy-like.

Overall though, it makes a Ford Puma look and feel a bit mundane.

The fundamentals are good, too. The driving position verges on too high for tall drivers, but there’s more than enough leg- and headroom up front.

Most the major controls are where you’d expect them to be – cruise control is finally on the wheel, not the transmission tunnel – although the audio control pod behind the steering wheel takes some getting used to.

This is still a Renault, so there’s still some uniqueness there. We like the pod, others don’t. Try before you buy.

On the Captur Life there's 17-inch alloy wheels as standard with a single-tone exterior colour as standard. There are also LED headlights and tail lights as standard.

Stepping up to the Captur Zen gets you the same 17-inch alloy wheels as the entry-level Life but a black-painted roof as standard.

The Captur Intens gains 18-inch two-tone alloy wheels, chrome exterior highlights, satin grey roof rails.

The flagship Captur R.S. gains sporty-looking additions inside and out, including a Formula 1-inspired front bumper, but no extra power.

The Renault Captur is available in the following exterior paint colours:

• Smokey Blue
• Atacama Orange
• Flame Red
• Highland Grey
• Iron Blue
• Oyster Grey
• Pearl White
• Diamond Black

Every colour except for Diamond Black is available as a two-tone paint with a black roof.

For entry-level Life models, Smokey Blue solid paint is free, single-tone metallic paint costs $650, two-tone Smokey Blue solid paint costs $450 and two-tone metallic paint costs $1000.

For Life and Intens trims, single-tone and two-tone Smokey Blue is free, and single-tone and two-tone metallic paint cost $650.

The Captur is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and up to five years of 24/7 roadside assistance.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 30,000km, whichever comes first, and the first five are capped-price.

The first five years of servicing will cost you a total of $2385.

A compact SUV with a small displacement engine and a dual-clutch transmission doesn’t sound like a recipe for driving fun, but the Captur is seriously well sorted.

For starters, Renault has ignored the lower-powered engine fitted to the Juke and instead has brought only the more powerful option to Australia.

Sure, 113kW and 270Nm aren’t quite hot hatch numbers, but they’re more than enough to make this little Captur feel sprightlier than the average SUV.

It’s hooked up to a dual-clutch transmission that, although not quite as smooth as an old-fashioned torque converter, is relatively smooth around town.

It can be a bit hesitant off the mark, but once you’re up and rolling it shifts quickly and has a good idea of which gear you’ll need, and when you’ll need it.

Beware though, it’s slow to jump from drive to reverse, and is combined with a slightly vague little gear selector that doesn’t clunk from drive, through neutral, and into reverse. Three-point turns require a second glance at the screen just to be sure you’re actually in the gear you thought.

Like the related Nissan Juke, the Captur feels surprisingly lively. The steering is light and quick, and there’s plenty of grip from the Continental tyres if you get enthusiastic.

Of course, quick and light steering is also ideal for darting through gaps in traffic and sneaking into tight parking spaces. All-round visibility is good, although there’s a bit of lag from the slightly grainy camera system when you flick into reverse.

Even the ride is well sorted. There’s the occasional thud from the 18-inch alloy wheels over really sharp bumps, but otherwise the Captur floats along better than a small SUV on big alloys really should.

The only real knock on refinement is the amount of noise generated by the tyres on anything other than perfect tarmac. It’s not alone in being noisy – plenty of small SUVs get a bit uncouth on coarse-chip roads – but it’s decidedly out of keeping with the polished way the car otherwise drives.

The $1000 Peace of Mind package for the Captur Life brings:

• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert

The $2000 Easy Life Package for the Captur Intens brings:

• Hands-free parking
• Automatic high-beam
• 10.25-inch digital instrument binnacle
• Frameless rear-view mirror

There is stock in the country, however current demand exceeds forecasted production so some variants may require longer lead times.

Boot space is 422L with the rear seats in place, 536L including under-floor storage and the rear bench slid forward, and 1275L with the rear seats folded flat.

The Renault Captur competes in the ever-growing light SUV segment and goes head-to-head with the Mazda CX-3, Toyota Yaris Cross, Volkswagen T-Cross, Ford Puma, and Nissan Juke.

In 2021, Renault sold a total of 533 Captur models according to VFACTS. It was outsold by many of its competitors including the related Nissan Juke (2362 sales), Toyota Yaris Cross (7828 sales), Volkswagen T-Cross (6104 sales), and Ford Puma (3218 sales).

The last Captur was a real disappointment. This one more than makes up for it.

It ticks the boxes you’d expect a Renault to tick, with a unique look and stylish, luxurious interior relative to its strong set of rivals.

It also drives with some sophistication, thanks in no small part to the punchy engine under the bonnet.

Spec carefully, though. Adaptive cruise really should be standard on even the base model, and the digital instruments are worth having.

They undermine the value equation slightly, but they also improve what is already a classy little crossover.

There's soon going to be a Mitsubishi ASX successor based on the same CMF-B platform as the Renault Captur and Nissan Juke.

This will mean each automaker in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance will have an SUV built on the CMF-B architecture.

The ASX successor is going to be made at a Renault plant in Europe and sales will begin on that continent in 2023.