Renault Austral Review & Prices

The Renault Austral is one of many mid-sized SUVs vying for your attention, making it an alternative to the likes of the Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Peugeot 3008 and Volkswagen Tiguan - to name a few.

With impressive options available everywhere you turn, the Renault Austral attempts to stand out with a few key features - a really posh interior, great software, and a trick hybrid system which gives this medium-sized family car fuel economy to rival many a small hatchback.

It’s like shopping at a designer outlet store - you can feel like you’re living the high life for less money than you expect, but it doesn’t come without compromise.

The Austral is a smart-looking SUV, with its fairly square silhouette tempered by rounded corners and some distinctive styling features. The bold headlights, large grille and huge Renault badge mean you won’t mistake it for anything else, while the rear gets similarly wide taillights (though not a full-width light bar) and a sporty-looking diffuser on the bumper.

The interior is similarly stylish, with a large portrait touchscreen canted towards the driver for a really focused, cockpit-like feel. There’s even a handrest in the middle that feels like an aircraft throttle, though this actually contains a wireless charging pad and hides a storage cubby underneath it.

That central touchscreen runs a fantastic Google-based infotainment system. This means that not only is it swift and responsive, but it has native support for Google apps - including the best maps in the business, and other useful touches like music streaming services baked right in. While the Austral does feature smartphone mirroring tech, if you’re already using Google services you might not find that you need it here.

While the Austral’s interior punches above its price tag, the space inside is only average. A Skoda Karoq does have more rear-seat space, and more flexible arrangements for the boot. While the Austral has a sliding rear seat, you need it pushed all the way back to fit people in - at which point you only have a 430-litre boot, which is among the smallest of all the alternatives. A Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq are all larger.

Renault offers the Austral with just one engine - a complex hybrid arrangement using a 1.2-litre petrol engine and a pair of electric motors. It’s fiendishly complicated and shuffles the power about in ways that don’t always seem logical. The result can feel quite clunky if you accelerate hard or are trying to hustle down a back road, but it’s perfectly smooth when you’re driving sensibly - and means this relatively large SUV can easily return over 50mpg.

The driving experience is a lot like the rest of the car - it has its good moments and bad. The steering is nice and accurate, and the Austral is comfortable on a long trip - but the firm suspension means it clatters over bumps at low speeds around town, making small potholes and bumps feel much larger than they are.

At launch, the Renault Austral was offered with a cool four-wheel steering system which made it incredibly manoeuvrable around town. However, as of 2024, this is no longer offered

If you want a great price for this family-friendly SUV, check out our best Renault Austral deals on Carwow here. You can find used Australs for sale here, or see other used Renaults for sale here. And remember that Carwow’s the place to be if you’re car-changing, as we can get you the best price when you sell your old car through our network of trusted dealers.

The Renault Austral looks a little more expensive at first than most mid-sized SUV alternatives - however, it’s got a hybrid engine as standard and comes very well-equipped even from the base model. It’s actually a few hundred pounds less than the entry-level Kia Sportage hybrid, and around the same price as a Vauxhall Grandland hybrid.

All models come with a pretty good level of equipment. The 12.0-inch touchscreen is standard, as is climate control and a full suite of driver aids. The base model even looks smart thanks to its 19-inch alloy wheels, though you’ll need to spend a little extra to get a two-tone paint finish which does compliment the styling much better than one solid colour.

Hybrid engine is great around town and the Austral is comfortable on the motorway, but it’s too bumpy at low speeds

In town

The Renault Austral feels generally well-suited to driving in town. The hybrid engine is smooth most of the time, with the electric motor taking you away from the line smoothly and the engine cutting in a bit later. It’s less hesitant than most automatic petrol or diesel SUVs, like a Skoda Karoq, and going around at low speeds on electric power alone is hushed.

Visibility is pretty good thanks to large wing mirrors, and all models get a rear-view camera - though the rear window is a little narrow.

The most irritating thing around town is the suspension. There’s no option for adaptive suspension like you get on a Volkswagen Tiguan, and as a result the Austral is too firm all the time - whether you’re on the base model with its slightly smaller wheels or the top-spec car with its big ones. The comfortable seats do take the edge off, but it’s still annoying hitting lumps and bumps at low speeds.

The Austral used to be available with a clever four-wheel steering system making it unique among SUVs of this type, but as of 2024 that system is no longer available in the UK. It was a pretty niche offering anyway, being an optional extra on the top-spec car, and though it was fun having a London taxi-esque turning circle it’s not especially missed.

On the motorway

Some hybrid cars feel a little out of their depth on the motorway but the Austral doesn’t at all. With 200hp on tap, it’s plenty powerful enough, and thanks to excellent fuel economy and a decent-sized fuel tank you’ll be able to go a good distance between fill-ups, not always a given with hybrid cars like this.

The hybrid system can feel a little weird when you put your foot down - the electric motor takes over while the complex gearbox changes ratios, but this can take a while and results in a slightly lumpy power delivery. It’s only noticeable under full throttle, though, which you’ll rarely need to use.

The Austral’s 1.2-litre petrol engine is hushed at a cruise and though tyre noise is audible, wind noise is admirably well-contained. The assisted driving features are also pretty well-behaved, with lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control that actually take the sting out of long trips rather than introducing a whole new annoyance.

On a twisty road

The Austral’s design may be sporty - especially if you opt for one of the trim levels that’s covered in Alpine badging - but it’s not sporty to drive. The steering is light and doesn’t really offer any feedback, and while the suspension is firm it does lean a fair bit in the bends.

The driving modes don’t make much difference - in Sport you’ll notice that the engine holds onto its revs for a bit longer, but the steering doesn’t really weight up much. As with motorway driving, if you put your foot down then the slightly odd power delivery of the complex hybrid system comes to light, but if you’re more gentle then it’s perfectly fine.

Good storage for small items, but only average rear seats and quite a small boot

Practicality is hugely important for family SUVs and here the Austral is a bit of a mixed bag. Very tall drivers might find the seat doesn’t go quite far back enough for them, but most everybody else will be able to get perfectly comfortable in the front. Top-spec models get electric adjustment for the seats, too, while the panoramic sunroof adds a nice feeling of spaciousness.

Big door bins and a reasonably roomy glovebox provide good storage, and there’s a deep cubby under the central armrest too. The centre console has two cupholders, though they’re set quite deep and a little awkward to access. There’s also a hidden storage area underneath the sliding armrest, but you can’t access this if you’ve anything in the cupholders.

Space in the back seats

With the moveable rear bench on top-spec cars, you can choose to prioritise room for passengers or storage. If you go for the latter, you get just enough legroom for an adult behind a driver of average height, while headroom is okay even when the panoramic roof is in place. Moving the bench back enhances the legroom and you’ll be comfortable on a long drive.

The middle seat is slightly raised but the seat base is squidgy for you to get comfortable. Three adults across the back will be squeezed a bit, but children will have enough space.

Storage in the back is a touch smaller than in the front, but you get decent door bins and nets on the seat backs, while USB-C ports offer charging for portable devices. There are two Isofix points in the outer rear seats, plus an additional one in the front passenger seat.

Boot space

If you get the Austral with the sliding rear bench, you get up 555 litres in the boot. Without it, the seats are fixed in their rearmost position and you have just 430 litres on offer – which is relatively pokey compared to the alternatives. You don’t get much underfloor space, while the lip to load things over is a bit deep.

The Kia Sportage offers 587 litres like-for-like with the hybrid Austral, while the ever-popular Nissan Qashqai’s offering is smaller at 504 litres with the e-Power model. The Hyundai Tucson in self-charging hybrid form has 616 litres, while the eHybrid version of the Volkswagen Tiguan has 476 litres.

While folding the rear seats down offers you up to 1,455 litres, the space itself isn’t the most practical. There’s a ridge between the boot floor and the folded seat backs, so sliding things through is very awkward indeed.

A stylish, well-built and easy to use cabin, but a bit dark without the panoramic sunroof

Renault’s really scoring highly with its interiors of late, and the Austral is no exception. It feels like an ideal blend of high-tech and user-friendly, and build quality is high too.

All models get a trio of screens. The driver’s display is 12.3-inches across and while it’s not quite as customisable as the one you get on premium offerings like a BMW X3 or VW Tiguan, it’s clear and bright with all the information you could reasonably want. Above this sits a 9.3-inch head-up display, which gives you essential info projected onto your windscreen so you don’t need to refocus your eyes.

The infotainment screen is portrait-oriented and 12.0-inches across, which is a really good size - it dominates the cabin but doesn’t extend obnoxiously into your eyeline like the massive display on the Volkswagen Tiguan does. Better yet, Renault’s maintained a good number of physical buttons - there’s a row of climate controls under the screen, and some shortcut buttons the other side of the steering wheel - including one that lets you customise the car’s safety equipment quickly.

There’s also Renault’s trademark stereo controller protruding from a stalk behind the wheel, but added to the indicator and wiper stalks as well as the drive selector, this does make the steering column rather busy.

The best thing about the interior tech is that Renault’s infotainment runs the Android operating system. Not only is this easy to use - just like a phone, really - but it gives you access to native apps like Google Maps and Spotify, as well as the best voice recognition software in the business.

There’s also wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, and a wireless charging pad in the central armrest.

Material quality throughout is very nice, and Esprit Alpine models get attractive blue stitching and faux-suede panels. The one criticism is that all models are unrelentingly monochrome - a lighter colour option would be nice, as the Austral can be very dark if you don’t have a model with the panoramic sunroof.

The Austral’s official fuel consumption is over 60mpg, and we found 50mpg easy to achieve in mixed driving. Unlike some hybrid systems, the Austral’s economy doesn’t suffer if you do lots of motorway driving, either - it’s efficient regardless of the type of road you’re on.

That’s a big improvement on the Nissan Qashqai e-Power, which while it returns excellent fuel economy in town driving dips below 40mpg on the motorway.

CO2 emissions are a low 105g/km, which puts first year road tax at an affordable rate and makes the Austral a pretty good choice for a company car - though it’s of course bested by plug-in hybrid alternatives. No Austral costs more than £40,000, so you won’t have to pay the expensive car supplement for the first five years of ownership either.

Tested by Euro NCAP, the Renault Austral has a five-star safety rating, scoring especially well in occupant and safety assist categories – all above 80%. For the assists on this car, you have up to 30 systems to make your driving experience as safe as possible.

As standard, you get lane keep assist and departure warning, traffic sign recognition, blind spot warning, active emergency braking, driver attention alert and distance warning alert. We found the warnings to be fairly inoffensive, but Renault does allow you to configure your own settings for which safety features are on or off, and activate them with just two button presses - much easier than diving through touchscreen menus.

You can get the Austral with adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assist to make longer drives easier.

You also get three ISOFIX points throughout the cabin, while there’s also airbags all around and an immobiliser.

The Austral didn’t appear in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. Renault as a brand didn’t do brilliantly, though, ranking just 28th out of 32 brands. The Austral hasn’t been recalled and anecdotally there don’t seem to be any recurring issues, but keep an eye on owner reviews to see if any begin to crop up now that the car’s been out for a couple of years.

Renault’s warranty is typical of alternatives at just three years and 60,000 miles of cover. However, opt for a Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage and you get five or seven years of warranty respectively, while the Toyota RAV4 has up to 10 years. The Austral gets a separate battery warranty of eight years and 100,000 miles, guaranteeing it to at least 67% - that’s typical of most alternatives.