Renault Symbioz Review & Prices

The Renault Symbioz is a bit like a Renault Captur that’s been out and got bum implants. From the front, you’d never know the two cars were different - the only changes come when you go round the rear, where the Symbioz has a longer body and a bigger boot.

In many ways it’s sort of like an estate version of the Captur - like a Volkswagen Golf Estate is to a regular Golf hatchback. It’s aimed at people who like the Captur but want more space inside, and who can’t quite stretch up to the pricier, posher Renault Austral.

Though it’s a little smaller, it provides an interesting alternative to super-popular family SUVs such as the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage or Skoda Karoq.

We’re not kidding when we tell you the Symbioz looks like a Captur. In fact, take the two cars in the same colour and from the front doors forwards, you’ll be hard-pressed to notice any changes at all. They’re limited to a couple of chrome flashes in the lower bumper line for the Symbioz, a slightly different pattern to the grille, and some alternative alloy wheel designs.

The changes come from the rear doors backwards, where the Symbioz has a longer body with a bigger rear overhang to make more room for a big boot. The roofline and rear windows have been altered to accommodate this, and there’s a slightly more chiselled pattern on the rear doors.

The interior's very similar too. The dashboards are identical, and feature a Google-powered infotainment system that's a pleasure to use. One feature the Symbioz has over the Captur is its stunning 'Solarbay' glass roof - this eschews a traditional blind for electrochromic glass which can become opaque at the touch of a button. Very fancy.

The Symbioz has a 492-litre boot, which is quite a bit larger than the 348-litre boot you get on a hybrid Captur (the plain petrol Captur has 422 litres of space). That’s a little less room than the 504-litre Nissan Qashqai, 521-litre Skoda Karoq or 587-litre Kia Sportage, but impressive for what’s still quite a small car overall.

The Symbioz is being pitched as a slightly more premium offering to the Captur, too. That means you don’t get a base-spec ‘Evolution’ trim level, nor can you specify the Captur’s 90hp petrol engine and manual gearbox. All Symbioz models come with Renault’s E-Tech hybrid system, which is super-efficient, promising over 60mpg if driven carefully. It’s a little clunky, though, thanks to its complicated gearbox, and that’s mirrored in the suspension which can feel quite firm when you’re driving round town at low speeds.

In most scenarios, though, the Symbioz is perfectly fine to drive - though the extra weight does mean a Captur is more enjoyable.

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The Renault Symbioz starts out from just under £30,000 - it’s a little less than £3,000 more than the equivalent Captur. That’s very similar to the starting prices of a Nissan Qashqai or Kia Sportage, but if you want hybrid versions of those you’ll pay closer to £35,000, making the Symbioz look quite appealing.

The base-spec trim is called Techno, and like the name suggests you get plenty of tech - there’s a 10.4-inch touchscreen running Android software, plus a high-res 10.25-inch driver display. You also get adaptive cruise control, climate control, LED lights and keyless entry. Stepping up to Techno esprit Alpine gets you heated front seats, a powered tailgate and a slightly different look with a silver portion in the front bumper and black alloy wheels.

Iconic esprit Alpine gets a posh Harman Kardon sound system, 360-degree camera system, hands-free parking and Renault’s trick panoramic sunroof which can become opaque or clear at the press of a button. It still comes in at less than a base-spec Qashqai or Sportage hybrid, at just over £33,000.

Comfortable on the motorway and nippy around town, but the hybrid engine doesn’t like being rushed

In town

The Symbioz feels a lot like the Captur to drive around town, which is no bad thing. Despite the extra bulk behind the rear axle, it’s still compact enough to make manoeuvring easy, and as it’s no wider than the Captur you don’t feel concerned about things like width restrictions or parking on a tight road.

The controls are light and visibility is decent out the front, though the rear window is a bit narrow and there’s a blindspot over your shoulder. The camera feed from the rear-view monitor is also very low-res. The hybrid engine is at its best around town, where it spends quite a bit of time running on electric power alone. It can be a bit noisy when the engine kicks in, though, and sometimes it feels as though it’s just waiting to change up a gear but never does.

The main issue at low speeds is that the suspension is quite firm over bumps, potholes and speed cushions. It can lead to your head being tossed around a bit on uneven roads. A Nissan Qashqai or Skoda Karoq are much more comfortable if you spend a lot of time in town.

On the motorway

On faster roads, the suspension settles down so you only really feel the larger bumps and potholes. On the larger alloy wheels, there can be a little bit of road noise, but it’s not overly intrusive and there are certainly louder cars you can buy.

The engine is just fine when you’re cruising along - it’s quiet, and powerful enough for overtaking or short sliproads. It can get noisy under acceleration, though, and when you’ve got your foot down the hybrid system can be clunky - the hand-off between petrol power and electric power isn’t the smoothest, and happens a few times as you run up the petrol engine’s four gears.

Adaptive cruise control is standard and works pretty well, as does the lane-keeping assistance. Combined with the excellent Google Maps-based sat-nav, it helps to make long journeys easier.

On a twisty road

The Symbioz is on a par with the Nissan Qashqai and the Skoda Karoq in terms of fun handling. It corners keenly and the body doesn’t roll around too much, but the steering is so light that you don’t really have much feedback as to what the front wheels are doing.

There are customisable driving modes, including a ‘Sport’ mode - but this doesn’t really make the Symbioz any more fun. It does make the steering heavier and the engine more keen, but not really more enjoyable.

The hybrid system and indeed the suspension are both at their best when you take it a bit more easily - if you want an SUV that’s good fun to punt down a twisty road, try the Ford Kuga.

A big boot and practical cabin - but it’s not very wide for three adults

The Symbioz is identical to a Renault Captur from the front doors forward, and that’s a pretty good thing in terms of practicality. The driving position is good, and widely customisable - top-spec models get electric seats, and there’s plenty of adjustment in both them and the steering wheel. The seats are very comfortable, too, especially on esprit Alpine models which get sports seats.

There are lots of storage spaces, though they’re mainly meant for small items. A pair of quite compact cupholders sit in front of a narrow armrest with a cubby underneath it. In front of this there’s a slot where you can leave the car’s keycard, and a wireless charging pad sits underneath the gear selector platform. In front of that, there’s a larger area for keys and wallets, and another slot immediately underneath the touchscreen which will also fit phones - though only small ones.

Reasonably-sized door bins will fit a big bottle of water, and though the glovebox isn’t full-width as it also has to accommodate the fusebox it’s very deep so you still get a reasonable amount of space.

Space in the back seats

The Symbioz has a little more legroom in the rear than the Captur, which was already quite spacious. Even though it’s actually smaller than a Nissan Qashqai or Skoda Karoq, it’s on a par with them for passenger legroom and headroom. If your rear passengers are fairly short, you can even slide the rear seat forward to increase your boot space. Do note though that the stunning Solarbay roof robs some headroom too.

It’s no wider than a Captur, though, so fitting three adults across the rear seat will be a struggle. The middle seat is quite narrow, and it’s raised to reduce headroom - plus, there’s a small transmission tunnel, though the footwells on either side of it are plenty big enough for everyone’s feet.

You don’t get a rear armrest, which is a shame, but there are small door bins for a little bit of additional storage. ISOFIX points are present on both outer rear seats as well as the front passenger seat, so you can carry up to three child seats.

Boot space

The Symbioz has 492 litres of boot space with the rear seats in their rearmost position. That’s pretty close to the 504 litres you get with a Nissan Qashqai, though the Skoda Karoq and hybrid-powered Kia Sportage both have more with 521 and 587 litres respectively.

Slide the Renault’s seats forward, though, and you liberate an impressive 624 litres of space - however, that comes at the expense of nearly all the rear legroom, so you should only do it if you have very short rear passenger or perhaps children in booster seats.

When the seats are slid forward there is an awkward gap between the rest of the boot floor and the seatbacks, though, which items can fall into very easily. For most scenarios, it’ll be easier to fold the seats flat. They split 60:40, lie at the same level as the boot floor to allow for easy sliding of items to the very back, and create an impressive 1,582-litre load bay.

There are a few bag hooks in the boot as well as an adjustable boot floor with some space underneath it. You can also sit the floor vertically to divide the boot into two sections, great if you have smaller items that you don’t want to roll about and potentially get damaged.

A cracking infotainment system, but material quality leaves something to be desired

The Symbioz has exactly the same dashboard as a Renault Captur, which has some good and some bad features. It’s well-designed, for starters - there’s a large portrait infotainment screen that’s positioned within easy reach but doesn’t block your view out the front at all. It even has some physical switches underneath it for commonly-used climate controls, which is brilliant as it means you don’t have to root around in sub-menus just to change the fan speed like you do in a Volkswagen Tiguan.

The infotainment system is another highlight. It’s powered by Google, so you get access to apps like Google Maps as well as one of the best voice assistants currently available. It’s also quick to respond to touch, and Renault’s own menu system also makes good sense.

Material quality does feel a couple of steps underneath a Nissan Qashqai or a Skoda Karoq, though. The door cards in particular are made from hard, scratchy plastic, so it’s not very comfortable to rest your arm on, and some of the switches - such as those on the steering wheel - feel quite cheap.

The Symbioz is very efficient. Renault claims it can do 60.1mpg, and during a week with it we averaged 56mpg - an impressive figure. A hybrid Nissan Qashqai will top out around 45mpg in the real world.

CO2 emissions are an equally impressive 107g/km, which means lower first year tax rates and lower company car tax. It slots into the 26% Benefit-in-Kind bracket, though this is still much higher than an electric or plug-in hybrid SUV of comparable size like a VW Tiguan eHybrid.

The Renault Symbioz inherits the Captur’s four-star Euro NCAP safety rating. That’s not as impressive as the five stars achieved by the Karoq, Qashqai or Sportage - but those cars were tested in 2017, 2021 and 2022 respectively, and so weren’t evaluated quite as strictly.

In terms of safety equipment, you don’t get the most up-to-date features like a drivers knee airbag or a central airbag between the front passengers. You do get the full suite of active safety assistance features, though.

Renault also makes it really easy to turn off the more annoying mandatory warnings. You just have to set up a ‘My Safety Perso’ profile, deciding which ones you’d like turned off or on - such as the speed limit warning. Once you’ve set this up, it’s just two clicks of an easy-to-locate button to activate this profile.

The Renault Symbioz is mechanically almost identical to the Captur, and so that car’s generally positive reliability rating should carry over. The Captur has only been recalled once, for an issue with a seatbelt buckle.

Renault scored poorly in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, though, coming 28th out of 32 brands and quite a way behind Skoda, Nissan and Kia.

A usefully long five-year warranty is good, though, and longer than the three years you get from Skoda or Nissan. Kia offers seven years of cover on its Sportage, though.