Is the Renault Captur all the multi-tool you could want in a car?

A cross-over is the multi-tool of the car world

Rather than buying separately and carrying around the tools you could need in your daily adventures, like a pocket knife, small pair of pliers, screwdriver, bottle opener, file and punch, you could simply buy a multi-tool – it does not have a carving knife or a big screwdriver for those specific tasks, but most of the time the pocket knife and small screwdriver from the compact tools in the multi-tool set do the job.  Zip it into your pocket and you will have many everyday tool needs covered.

What do you want from your multi-tool car?

It has to be easy to drive around town, with a small engine that is economical yet energetic.  The Captur tested here is named 88kW turbo, because some people might not like to buy (or believe) that this car has a mere 1.2-litre engine.  It uses an eco-friendly turbocharger, which means its small size engine actually produces more power than you might think, while keeping the fuel drinking to a minimum.  There is also an even smaller 898cc 3-cylinder for the 2 lower 66kW turbo models.

Since a cross-over is driven mostly around town, an automatic gearbox is definitely preferable – but only if it is a good one (none of those irritating slow or up-down undecided gearboxes).  The Captur 88kW turbo Dynamique comes with an automatic which suits smaller turbo engines – an automated dual-clutch rather than conventional torque converter.  What this means to you is you can simply pop your Captur into Drive and regulate brake and accelerator, enjoying how direct and smooth the gear changes are.  No stress, no wastage.

A cross-over, being a multi-tool, has to simultaneously be spacious and compact.  The hatchback has become too low and small for us – we South Africans (and many other countries) are liking the idea of having a minimalistic carbon and physical footprint, while still enjoying the elevated seating view across the road.  For zipping to the shops or quickly fetching the kids, a big SUV sometimes feel over-equipped for the task – something that is instantly easy to jump into and zoot off.  Renault Captur ticks these boxes well.

All the user interface items, from controls to visibility to getting in and out and packing, has to be user-friendly.  In this Renault, these practical things are well thought out.

What if the tool can look cool too?

A multi-tool does not have to be just functional – what if its form can also be attractive?  There are too many cars out there to ever choose an ugly one ever again – the Renault Captur has the curves and the cheeky stance and the general stylish pieces to make it such a just-right look in all proportions and angles.

They did not have to add chrome on the grille, front fog lamp surrounds and lower door protectors, or gloss black detailing for the mirror housings and that Renault swathe on the doors, first seen on Clio 4… but they did, and created a smart looker.

Mix&match

While the entry-level Expression has standard silver-ish alloy wheels and a normal single-colour body, the Dynamique spec has the trendy duo-tone gloss black with diamond-cut spoke surfaces.  Renault has cleverly brought mix&match to the cross-over sector, as the Dynamique spec can be had in combinations of bi-tone Diamond Black roof or Ivory White roof to form contrast roof colours, such as black with ivory roof, blue with black roof, or as seen here, the bold and refreshingly unusual combination of Sunset Orange body with Ivory White roof.  It turns heads.

What is it like on urban, rural and farm drives?

In town, the Captur is mostly nippy.  Its small turbo engine has enough vooma, and the featherweight 1180kg kerb (unladen) makes it feel alive when accelerating and grippy around roundabouts.

The only negative to take warning of is a second-or-so dead spot from standstill – when standing at an intersection, flooring the throttle will not see the Captur scoot away, but rather have a hesitation (sometimes causing instant driver panic) as it seems to wait for the engine, turbo and gearbox to agree first.  If you drive with this in mind, you should be safe… but do avoid taking a gap to cross a road ahead of oncoming traffic.

On rural roads, the Captur 88kW turbo and the auto transmission work together a charm – sure, the overtaking does not exert G-forces, but commit to higher revs and it will raise speed quickly enough for most moves.  Uphills did not pose a problem, as it kept a steady pace as set by the cruise control.  One complaint is that the master switch for cruise control and speed limiter sits low down between the front seats – so you have to look down for at least a second while driving highway speeds to locate and activate!  Once on, the steering wheel switches allow the driver to control the speed.

Once on the farm, the little cross-over showed its high-rider stance made it easy to spot rocks, sticks and ruts on the dirt road, and its high ground clearance of 170mm and light weight with soft suspension made it a surprisingly pleasant weekend getaway multi-tool.

The economy proof is in the pudding – on the combined trip over a week’s testing, low-speed stop-start town, high-speed rural and mixed dirt road travel (including climate control on full), the on-board computer read 6.5 l/100km average.  Engaging the Eco mode button needs some patience (oddly located next to handbrake) though it would improve this figure further.

Spec list

The LED daytime running lights ensured we were highly visible from a distance.  All models have the Renault Key Card, meaning the comfort of keyless entry and lock, and a start-stop button.  ABS brakes with EBD and BAS (Brake Assist) and stability control come as standard on every Captur.  Strangely only front and front side airbags are fitted, with no curtain airbags, so only 4 airbags in total.

Also featuring:  hill start assist, Isofix child seat anchors (not just in the rear, but also for the front passenger seat so you can have baby next to you), digital automatic climate control (with a nice-to-rotate temp control), electric windows front and rear (though one-touch only for driver window), rear parking distance control, and the touch-screen MediaNav system (yes, with navigation) and Bluetooth, USB and aux jack. However, as a first on a test car, the open road saw the media-screen system freeze – it just showed the LG logo and did not respond to any input.  It required the car to be stopped, and switched off-on to reboot the system, after which it was fine.

The Dynamique spec adds even more, like a chrome exterior and interior pack, gloss black interior bits, leather steering wheel and gear knob, automatic low-beam lights and wiper activation, and the aforementioned duo-tone alloy wheels and bi-tone body-roof paint scheme.

Clever useful (stylish) thoughts

This is what went into the design of Captur:  clever useful (stylish) thoughts.  They really set out to create a car parents and kids will love equally – you know the usual backrest pockets or netting wherein you can store a little book or magazine or crayons or whatever you need to keep the ones in the back entertained?  Well, the problem with these seat-back pockets is that they become traps for dirt (crumbs, dirt, bits of paper etc. and sometimes they stretch and wear out.  Someone at Renault thought up a solution – why not rather make these elastic straps, which still serve the purpose of holding something, but will also make it more practical (no more dirt or sagging)… but let us arrange these straps in a fan, so it becomes a practical and pretty item.

What you also want in a family car (or any car) is a place to put empty wrappers or small rubbish.  Again, some clever Renault person added a container that fits between the backrests of the front seats, which can be used for a general-purpose holder.  Cleverly, it is made of plastic, and can be removed to be cleaned.  Aha!

The two-tone upholstery is cloth as standard, and has rugged zips along the edges, which let you remove the seat covers to be cleaned – how cleverly though out is that!?  Cannot think of any other non-4x4 vehicle (these usually have canvas seat covers) which has this facility.  If you want leather seats, this is a R10k option on the 88kW Dynamique, as tested.

Prince price

Of course the Captur does not have the market all to itself.  Other players include Peugeot 2008 (though only with an old-tech 1.6-litre and manual gearbox for SA), Ford EcoSport and Opel Mokka.

The Renault Captur is priced to sell.  The entry-level Expression is something of a bargain.  When it comes to price – at the risk of sounding like a telesales commercial – would you believe you can get all of this for an unbelievable price of only R 219 900?  Yes, the Renault Captur 66kW turbo Expression comes at that small-hatch price.  The 66kW turbo Dynamique sells for exactly R20k more, at R 239 900, while the bigger-engined automatic Captur 88kW turbo Dynamique auto is priced at R 279 900, which Renault SA has held steady since the local introduction of Captur in May 2015.

Comparing automatic cross-overs specifically, the others are Ford EcoSport 1.5 Titanium auto (no EcoBoost engine here, sorry) at R 274 900, or Opel Mokka 1.4 Turbo Enjoy auto costing R 298 500, while the Honda HR-V 1.5 Comfort with CVT auto prices at R 299 900.  The Citroën C4 Cactus as reviewed here misses the mark for not being high enough to be a cross-over, while neither it nor the Peugeot 2008 1.6 Active tested here has automatic gearing convenience.  With October 2015 price increases, most rivals are increasing to just over the R300k mark.

The Renault also drives off the showroom floor, safe in the knowledge that a 5-year / 150 000 km mechanical warranty is in place, as is a 3-year / 45 000 km service plan.

The Captur does not command a princely some, and comparing looks and spec-for-spec and warranty against rivals, Captur wears the crown.

Is the Renault Captur 88kW turbo Dynamique auto all the multi-tool you could want in a car?

This is why cross-over cars are so popular – we need a multi-tool in our driving too.  The Renault Captur lets one feel impressed with oneself for spotting such a bargain-priced handy all-in-one tool… erm, car.