Faults:

The car is brand new, so, as expected, everything is working clockwise.

General Comments:

The new Captur caught my attention since its launch. The car is well equipped with a lot of standard equipment, I only added the hands free feature, and 17 inch alloys.

I opted for the 1.3 TCE 130 engine, because of its good performance. I made a test drive with the smaller 1.0 engine with 100 hp; I felt that the car was struggling uphill with that engine and the car was feeling heavy. So I went for the 1.3 engine with 130 hp. This engine combined with the 7 speed automatic (EDC) is a blast to drive. For performance it's quite similar if not better than my previous 1.9 DCI Renault Megane III.

The car is very comfortable to drive, great visibility in the front, not so much in the back, but thanks to its parking sensors, that's not a problem. The materials used in the car are of very good quality, a lot of soft touch materials, and this is in the ZEN version; the INTENSE version has an even higher quality interior.

Overall this is a great car made by Renault, looks good inside and out, hopefully it will prove its reliability as the previous model did, and this is my first petrol car in years, so fingers crossed.

Faults:

None - it was a showroom car.

General Comments:

I am not the owner of this car. I just took a drive test because I was curious to see this model in real life.

Exterior:

The car looks very nice. I would not recommend choosing a very flashy two color theme, because it will make the car hard to resell. Simple, bright colors make the car look very nice and robust.

The ground clearance is 170 mm, and that comes in very handy for Romanian roads.

Interior:

Quality - is not very high, there are lots of hard plastic surfaces, but the design of the dashboard is very modern and pleasing to use.

Space - is unexpectedly good for 4 adults. Legroom in the back is very good for a car of this size. However the back seat is not suitable for 3 persons, it can accommodate only 2 adults. Be careful if you want to use 2 child seats in the back, there will be no space left for Mom.

Driving:

Steering - is very light and comfortable at low speeds. It could use more feedback at high speeds.

Suspension - makes the car very stable for its height. It felt very stable at speeds up to 140 km/h. I did not drive the car on bad roads, but I felt that the suspension is more on the hard side.

Engine - is a pleasant surprise for a 90 HP unit. It coped easily with 4 adults of 80 kilos each. Acceleration is quite good if you rev the engine hard. It looks like the gear ratios are 'long' and do not take full advantage of the diesel engine's torque. I have seen that a diesel 110 HP unit is also available nowadays. Anyway the performance is good, if you take the engine over 3000 RPM (pretty high for a diesel). Being a Renault, I expect that the fuel consumption will be very low.

Noise - seems well suppressed. The car seemed to cruise comfortably at 120 km/h.

The boot of the car is also a nice surprise given the exterior dimensions of the car. If you take the floor and top panels out, then you have a good amount of usable space.

I was pleasantly surprised by this car. It does not excel at anything, but it is very comfortable and versatile. The pricing is also very good in Romania.

The gasoline version starts at a very low price. The diesel is a little bit more expensive, but it achieves remarkable fuel consumption, from what I have heard from some owners.

I think that the entry level gasoline version is the best choice for somebody who wants a good city car, that can also do occasional out of the city trips, with good space and comfort levels for all passengers (no more than 4).

If you do more kilometers per year, then the diesel is the choice for you.

I have seen lately that Renault offers a dual clutch transmission option and more powerful engines. Good job, Renault! Nice car at a nice price!