Renault Austral

FIRST DRIVE Brand's bid to answer criticism of original model hasn't been entirely successful

- Ellis Hyde

NO one likes to be told to 'stay in your lane', but sometimes it just has to be said. For instance, Renault is brilliant at making small cars, whether that be the ever-faithful Clio, or the fabulous new Renault 5 and Renault 4 EVs. Rather than sticking to what it's best at, though, over the past few years the brand has really been pushing to expand its presence in the larger segments of the market, which are more popular and profitable, too.

The results have been rather more mixed. The new Scenic is an excellent electric SUV - in fact, we think it's one of the best on sale - and the Symbioz is an appealing, well priced Nissan Qashqai alternative. But the less said about the (thankfully) now-deceased Arkana coupé-SUV the better, and while the firm's similarly swoopy Rafale range-topper looks impressive, the driving experience is less so.

Then there's the Austral, which was introduced in 2022 as the replacement for the old Kadjar, making it Renault's new champion in the ultra-competitive mid-sized SUV segment. Rivals included highly regarded family cars such as the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Tiguan.

At the time, the Austral struggled to make much of an impact, because the model's attributes were overshadowed by poor ride quality and refinement, plus an easily confused hybrid powertrain - and we weren't the only ones to point this out. We're told Renault began work on fixing these flaws almost as soon as people started making their thoughts known. Hence why there's a new, heavily updated version being launched just three years after the Austral arrived in showrooms.