In the scheme of mid-sized family SUVs, the Austral is one of the more engaging. The steering is nicely weighted and tips the big Renault into corners with a bit of vigour while staying neatly in line. Accelerate hard on the way out and it’ll inevitably produce some reassuringly manageable understeer.
There’s definitely some vim to the Austral, yet it’s also comfortable and – most of the time – refined. The full-hybrid powertrain has you pulling away from a standstill in super-serene pure electric mode, and it’s also very happy to flick into battery power at higher speeds as well as around town. Even if your routine pottering takes you onto faster stretches, you’ll spend a lot of time on battery power in the Austral hybrid.
Ride comfort is good, too, despite the 20in wheels of the Alpine version. Adaptive dampers don’t feature on the Austral, but the passive set-up keeps uncouth wheel bounce to a minimum while softening all but bigger intrusions. There’s some patter over really patched-up town roads but everything settles quickly and the vast majority of the time you enjoy a neat and tidy demeanour that’s a bit less wobbly and more encouraging than plenty of rivals.
Speaking of the interior, the Austral’s Tesla-style touchscreen with in-built Google software is a real gem. The graphics are sharp, the menu layout is logical, and it has all the features you want, including Google maps, on a vast screen, not to mention Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The cabin temperature controls are simple, physical toggle switches beneath the screen and the perceived material finish is good enough to trouble the likes of Volkswagen and Kia.
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