Posted by Alex Bale
Friday, January 11, 2013
They may be part of the same group, and even share a chassis, but the new Renault Captur is most definitely muscling in on the Nissan Juke's compact SUV territory.Teased earlier this week and now revealed here in full, the Captur takes both chassis and styling cues from the just-launched new Clio but bulks everything up into a much more muscular shape. Is it just us or are there hints of the old Avantime in the overall shape and stance? Maybe just us. Whatever, it's a handsome beast and that is just as true on the inside, where again Clio elements have been taken, put on a bit of muscle and are looking pretty darned good.
Renault is claiming best in class fuel economy and the two key engines will be the TCe three-cylinder petrol turbo and the long serving 1.5 dCi diesel, an engine which should see the Captur's emissions fall as low as 96g/km.
The Clio has already been much praised for its dynamic performance, so we can hope that the Captur will prove as invigorating to drive. Will the fact that it's shorter (slightly) the the Juke compromise interior space too much though? We'll find out when the Captur makes its public debut at the Geneva motor show.
Between this the and Peugeot 2008, it's looking like a good year for compact French SUVs...
Posted by Alex Bale
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Teasing is usually a very good way to get people's attention. Well, it works in the school playground anyway, and Renault is obviously keen on getting our attention with this teaser image of the new Captur compact crossover.Renault hasn't dipped its toes in the SUV world since the pretty disastrous debut in 2008 of the Koleos, a car about which the less said, the better. This new Captur should be a beast of a very different feather though, and while the image above may be cropped and monkeyed with, you can easily see the influence of the handsome new Clio shining through.
Oddly, the Captur will share a chassis with one of its most important rivals, the Nissan Juke, and will come to the market with the familiar 1.5 and 1.6 dCi diesel engines and the new three-cylinder turbo 900cc petrol TCe units too.
We'll get more details, and images, of the Captur at the end of this week, and it will get its full public debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
