The Renault Captur is the best selling B-Segment SUV in Europe since its launched back in 2013. Stock is limited, where TC Euro Cars only managed to import few Japanese units in for their soft launch, trying to capture the early market share from the yet to be launched blockbuster Mazda CX-3. The Honda HR-V has already mark its incredible success as it is a full specifications car, with a decent size in the segment, back by a reputable brand. From the slow selling record of Ford Ecosport and Peugeot 2008, the Captur could get a good start and taper off with its high indicative price of RM118k-RM123k, which sit in the range of the Peugeot 2008.
Powering the Captur is a 1.2-litre Euro-6 turbocharged engine, mated to the dual clutch 6-speed gearbox. Engine is by Renault instead of the Nissan derived unit in the Clio or Fluence, which could distance some buyers away. However, with 5-year manufacturer warranty stated on the invoice, owner could start worrying only after that period. Owning the Captur sure will keep friends envy and their head turn for its handsome look and dual-tone colour scheme where the roof is available in a contracting colour of white or black. All four colours (Arizona Orange, Ivory, Pacific Blue and Beige) looks distinctive in the sea of boring black, white and silver.
Interior of the Captur is simple, and the show car now does not have a working AV system yet. The Malaysia-spec unit should be equipped with a 7" touchscreen with navigation, as similar to the Renault Clio that we have here. Meter cluster is very similar to the Clio as well, with the digital speedometer located in the centre.
The small displacement engine is capable of 120hp/190Nm of power, which
is similar to most naturally aspirated 1.5-litre engine. As with how Peugeot market its 2008 as an urban crossover, the Captur share the same character, with no sport utility ability and only good for normal driving. With a kerb weight of 1.2 tons, the engine is barely enough to pull the vehicle on the road. A test drive shown that the Captur is not aggressive at all like how it looks, and in fact is slow. Driving in the manual mode help a little, but the ECU kick in to up-shift the gear automatically over-riding the manual interaction. The gear number start blinking when it detect low RPMs for the selected gear if you are trying to shift up too fast, and the ECU will shift the gear down to maintain the power needed. Well, good design for driver seeking for an easy-drive car. But not a good news for the sporty type.
The Captur is a symbol of of a lifestyle vehicle, thus do not expect it to have luxury interior. In fact, hard plastic is everywhere on the dash and door panel. The top storage cover is difficult to open as well, which could be the first sign on bad built quality. Second sign is the gear stalk button, which feel lose and without the solid confirmation movement.
Do note that the Captur steering wheel buttons are for cruise control usage, and the AV control stalk is mounted on the steering column instead. A smart design for this as control using finger behind the steering is always easier and safer than looking down at the steering searching for the appropriate button. The AV stalk is friendlier to use in this manner. Even the trip reset and trip computer control is done via buttons on one of those signal/wiper control stalk instead of beside the meter cluster. Clean design! By the way, lightly tapping the signal stalk to turn on the left/right turn light for few blips, useful for notifying drivers behind you of your intention to perform a lane change.
The Captur looks tiny in size when compare to other competitors, but looking at the actual measurements, it is not too bad. Don't be deceived by how it looks from the outside. The rear seats can slide backward to create an ample legroom for rear passengers, which could be the best in its class. Sliding it forward creates larger trunk for your house moving needs. Too bad that the rear seats is only 60:40 split and do not fold flat to the floor. But for a car this size, the trunk is consider huge at 1235 litres with seats folded down. The trunk also has a panel that split the trunk to 2 levels, offering further convenience for keeping your "barang-barang" organized. Moves the panel to the bottom, you get one huge space. This is very similar to how Citroen offered the same concept in their Modu-Board design which is available in the 1st generation of C3.
| Captur | HR-V | 2008 | CX-3 | Ecosport | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length (mm) | 4122 | 4294 | 4159 | 4275 | 4273 |
| Width (mm) | 1778 | 1772 | 1739 | 1765 | 1765 |
| Height (mm) | 1566 | 1605 | 1556 | 1535 | 1675 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 2606 | 2610 | 2538 | 2570 | 2519 |
French always make good seats for their car and the Captur share the trait as well. The seat cover of the Captur could be taken off easily by unzipping and pulling them out as it was hold on with velcro. If the local distributor ever offer optional varieties of car seat covers, you could even style it differently daily for the ride. The show car light grey seat covers were not good at handling abuse as it get dirty easily. Wonder frequent washing it will erode off the quality of the fabric or not?
With only 30 units available for the 1st batch delivery, which could start in September, and order book of > 50 now, expect to wait till end of the year of even into 2016 for further delivery of the Captur.
Thinking of ordering it now? Wait for the Mazda CX-3, it shall as well. But if this French beauty is what you love, romance is what you envy of having, the Captur is the one! Do note that this car only come with 4-airbag, while most now have 6. 5-star NCAP rating is based on a car with 5-airbag (including a driver's knee airbag). The Captur side large airbag provides protection to head and chest though. However, it will be perfect if it were equipped with full curtain airbag that protect rear passengers as well!
Lastly, the EDC gearbox is again from Getrag 6DCT250 family, similar to the one widely use in Ford Fiesta. Dry clutch seems to be on its way out, as according to Getrag, and Renault has not sold in quantity in Malaysia to proof its reliability. Finger cross, folks! Ford and VW has so many complaints on their dry clutch boxes...Good luck!
