First Drive: Renault’s updated Austral aims to stand out from the crowd

Which is why Renault has updated the Austral with a more distinctive look than before, alongside the same fuel-efficient hybrid setup as before, albeit with a tweaked transmission. We’ve been driving it to see what it’s like.

In typical ‘facelift’ fashion, you’ll also find a number of slight tweaks made to the exterior, with redesigned headlights and a new high-gloss black finish for areas like the wheel arches among some of the more notable changes.

The Austral isn’t equipped with a large electric battery – it measures just 2kWh – so can’t provide any meaningful amount of electric range, but efficiency is still good with Renault claliming up to 58.98mpg combined and CO2 emissions of between 108 and 109g/km depending on which wheel size you go for.

But the powertrain isn’t bad, mind you, with the Austral managing to pootle around town at low speeds in electric-only mode for a good deal of the time. We’re not fond of the brakes, however, which feel woolly and hard to predict – the top of the pedal press isn’t confidence-inspiring.

The newly designed adaptive LED headlights look the part as well, and, overall, it’s a good-looking thing – to our eyes at least.

In terms of luggage space, you’re getting 527 litres with those sliding seats in their rearmost position, which increases to 1,746 litres with the back seats folded down. It’s only slightly down on the boot space that you’ll get in the Kia Sportage hybrid, which brings 587 litres.

As before, the Austral benefits from Google services built in, which means that the whole system runs features such as Google Maps automatically. The entire infotainment system is good, too, and is easy to navigate and quick to respond. It’s one of the car’s highlights, in fact.

Renault’s Austral does a good job of standing out. It’s a stylish option, for sure, and the new design upgrades make it more noticeable than before. The in-car tech and levels of space overall are great, too.

But is it the best overall car in a segment which is populated by so many rivals? Had UK drivers been getting this upgraded suspension system, it might have been in with a chance, but until we get it back here with its more rudimentary setup, question marks still hang over the Renault Austral.