Goodbye to the Kadjar, hello to the Austral. Renault’s compact SUV changes its name to lead, together with the Arkana (video test at this link) and the new 100% electric Mégane E-Tech (video test at this link), the brand’s offensive in the segment of highest market sales. It shares the platform with the Nissan Qashqai (video proof at this link), but it has a completely different design, a highly technological interior, numerous driving aids and a four-wheel drive system.
The Renault Austral will be manufactured in Spain, at the Palencia plant, and will be on the market in the fall of this year. Prices? Not yet. Too soon. From the outset, we already warned you that the range of engines will only be hybrid gasoline. No diesel, no electric version, at least for now, and no electric e-Power variant with a gasoline generator from the Qashqai. The Austral will be available only with two 12-volt light hybrid gasoline engines and with a more powerful hybrid than the Arkana or Captur. And, yes, with a sporty-looking finish called Esprit Alpine that comes to replace the RS Line.
The Austral is an SUV, there is no doubt about that. Prominent wheel arches, raised beltline, front and side protectors, 17 cm of ground clearance… At the front, the grille has a chrome line that divides it longitudinally and goes into the headlights. The logo, the brand’s new rhombus, is very present and the headlights describe a C that we will find on the taillights at the rear. On the side we see many elements in shiny black, from the wheel arches to the mirror housings through the roof or the window frames that, depending on the version, can also be chrome.
The headlights can be LED, adaptive LED or matrix, the latter with dynamic turn signals. The brand will offer seven colours, two whites, one red, one blue, one black and two greys, one of them satin exclusive for the Esprit Alpine versions. Let’s go with the dimensions. The Austral measures 4.51 meters long by 1.83 wide and 1.62 high and has a wheelbase of 2.67 meters. It is slightly longer and with more wheelbase than the Kadjar it replaces and its wheels can be up to 20 inches in diameter.
Inside we find a design that sounds familiar to us. The Austral has the OpenR Link system already seen in the electric Mégane E-Tech, with digital instrumentation and a 12-inch central screen that forms a kind of lying L with the other. Both are treated to offer maximum vision in all types of light conditions, which has made it possible to dispense with the visor. The instrumentation screen is configurable with four different designs and the possibility of including the desired widgets.
As you already know, the OpenR Link system works with Google services and has Google Maps for navigation with real-time traffic information, simplified Google searches, voice control and constant mapping updates. It also incorporates Google Assistant for the personal assistant function and Google Play for music and social networks with all the usual functions of these interfaces.
To all this we must add the possibility of having a head up display on the windshield in a space of 9.3 inches (speed, ADAS and navigation). The steering wheel, meanwhile, is quite small and square. No, I don’t like square shapes on something that is by definition round.
Finally, the central console, high and wide, is free of all kinds of controls, concentrated on the steering wheel and the screen. And the air conditioning controls are kept out. It does, however, have a vertical support for the phone, which we can recharge wirelessly in a specific hole just below a sliding palm rest that allows us to operate the buttons and controls more comfortably. And there are, obviously, multiple holes for objects, in the purest tradition of the brand.
The seats can have fabric, leather and mixed upholstery such as the alcantara and leather of the Esprit Alpine versions that have blue interior details and decorative elements such as a French flag or the embroidered Alpine shield. In decorative panels, lacquered or authentic open-pore wood. Returning to the seats, they can be electric, heated and massaged.
The rear seats are among the largest in the category, with a ceiling height of more than 90 cm and a moderate inclination of the bench seat that allows you to keep your feet on the ground and not raise your knees excessively. The access doors are also among the largest in the segment. In addition, it is possible to order the Austral with a 16 cm sliding rear seat and with the backrests adjustable in 3 positions. Behind there are multiple holes for objects and USB-C chargers.
The load capacity of the trunk is 500 liters in the light hybrid petrol versions and 430 in the E-Tech hybrid version, since the battery is housed under the floor of the trunk itself. In the versions with sliding bench seat, the capacity is increased to 575 liters by moving the aforementioned bench as far forward as possible. The capacity with the seats folded down is 1,525 liters and the gate is electrically openable in the Iconic finish.
shared platform
This car is built on the Alliance’s CMF-CD platform, the same used by the Nissan Qashqai and the brand will offer two variants, one with a torsion bar rear suspension and another with a multi-link axle for the versions equipped with the four-wheel system. 4Control steering wheels. The latter must offer a much more precise behavior, especially in curves and reduce the turning diameter by almost a meter and a half by being able to turn up to 5 degrees in the opposite direction to the front wheels. When driving at high speed the rear axle turns up to 1 degree in the same direction as the front axle. The change is at 50 km/h.
The chassis is much more rigid than that of the Kadjar, which has made it possible to refine the spring and damping settings much more to offer a better compromise between dynamic behavior and comfort. We will check all this when we can drive the car later. Renault ensures that the access version will weigh less than 1,400 kilos thanks to the use of aluminum in the doors and hoods and in the suspension arms.
For the conventional hybrid versions, Renault has followed the same recipe used in the Clio, the Captur and the Arkana, that is, the combination of a gasoline engine with two electric motors, one of them for propulsion and another that is responsible for starting the engine. thermal engine, insert the gears of the intelligent automatic gearbox without clutch and recharge the battery. The gearbox gains one gear and now offers seven, the same four for the gasoline engine and three for the electric instead of two as before.
The big difference with respect to the aforementioned models is that the gasoline engine is not the 1.6 naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine but a new 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine with a power of 130 hp. The electric motor is also more powerful (50 kW instead of 36) and this allows offering two power levels with 160 or 200 CV for these versions, more in line with the approach and size of this model that has a 1 .7kwh By the way, neither version of the new Austral, unlike the Kadjar, will offer four-wheel drive.
Renault ensures that these hybrid versions will be able to circulate in electric mode 80% of the time in the city, saving up to 40% of consumption compared to a gasoline engine. In the absence of official approval, the brand estimates that consumption will be 4.6 liters / 100 km and CO2 emissions at 105 grams.
In addition to these two plug-in hybrid versions, the Austral will have 2 gasoline engines with light hybridization. The first is the 3-cylinder, 1.2-liter engine with 130 hp, the same one used by the plug-in versions, only this time assisted by a 48-volt battery that offers a little help in the starting or acceleration phases and allows you to disconnect in some moments the gasoline engine. This engine will have an average consumption of 5.3 l/100 km and emissions of 123 grams, which is why, having to pay registration tax, it will not be offered in our market.
The Spanish range will be completed with two variants of a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, already known in other models and equipped with a 12-volt lithium-ion battery that will be used as an alternator and starter. It will be available with 140 or 160 CV of power, with automatic CVT transmission or with manual gearbox in the less powerful version.
Among the numerous driving aids included in the Active Driver Assist system, we find the motorway driving assistant that incorporates an adaptive cruise control with stop and go function, lane centering and sign recognition to adapt the speed to that of traffic and slow down when the car approaches a roundabout or an intersection. The car will also have an automatic parking system with a 360-degree camera, lane departure warnings or the presence of vehicles in the blind spot, automatic braking both forward and reverse, and the safe exit warning that warns of the presence of pedestrians or cyclists when, with the car already stopped, the occupants open the doors to get out of it.
It is surprising that, at least for now, Renault does not use the plug-in hybrid technology that its Peugeot or Citroën rivals do have and that it already uses both in the Mégane range and in the Captur. In any case, this new Austral has all the virtues expected in a C-segment SUV. It is not as radical in its design as its new Korean rivals, but it offers good living space, a correct trunk and a very technological interior and with the Open R Link that is spectacular in its operation. It remains to drive it and its prices need to be known, but, from what we have seen, it points to best sellers.
