Good looks, a great engine set-up, but basic chassis and handling traits are lacking
It’s unfortunate that two great sporting names have somehow found their way into the title of a Renault SUV without one sporting bone in its body. But don’t be distracted for, unlike most crossover hybrid SUVs, there’s actually some interesting stuff in this new Renault Austral.
Like close to 200bhp from a 1.2-litre engine. It’s thanks to two electric motors which work in a far from conventional way. One actually powers the car most of the time, and almost all of it around town, while the second doubles as a combined starter motor and alternator, adding dashes of torque-fill when required. Which leaves the ICE engine either as a dead weight, or working in tandem with the main electric motor, or acting as a range-extender and topping up the onboard battery, so you never have to plug it in.
Now, because plug-ins make a mockery of fuel consumption calculations, its 57.7mpg looks rubbish compared to, say, the 217mpg recorded by the heavier, more powerful Alfa Tonale PHEV reviewed last month. But, in the real world, the car is phenomenally frugal and performs well because of its novel powertrain.
It’s also spacious, well equipped and, by the absurd standards of such cars these days, not even that expensive. A shame, then, that its chassis fails to match the standards of its driveline. I didn’t expect it to handle brilliantly despite four-wheel steering, but it doesn’t even ride that well either, which is a pity. AF
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