New Renault Captur: Crazy prices

Listen to “New Renault Captur – And I pay!” on Spreaker.

The Captur for Renault it is a very important car, one of those that pays salaries, a bestseller that sells and is liked by the public. People like it because it is pleasant to look at and because it costs the right amount, around 20,000 euros list pricebut you take it now, a 17,900 euros on offer, so hurry up if you intend to. In short, it is a car that the less you change the better, or it would be… Well yes, because reading all the innovations that the new version brings with it and the wealth of the list of useful or less useful accessories, it came to my mind the recent one Scenic at 50 thousand euros and I got chills.

That worm that starts in the back of my skull has been reactivated when I have the feeling of being “perculated” on the concept of electrification that in the end they make us end users pay and I thought about how much they will make us pay for all the changes. Because with the advent of electrification the concept of changing face and raising prices has become a bit of a routine for all European and non-European companies, except for the Chinese ones who make a slew of sales, see MG and DR for example, because they lower their prices. In the end, the paying public is a little tired of being taken for a ride by having to pay for electrification out of their own pocket and responds to the crazy prices by fleeing to other more competitive competitors.

A bit like when Renault wanted to pass the Twizy like the anti-smart, the smartina the historic and unrepeatable one that was parked in a handkerchief. Even the Twizy could be parked in a small space, but the problem was that they had forgotten to leave room for the passenger who had to enter with the shoe behind the pilot and even worse they had forgotten the doors, so that when it rained, the little Twizy became an aquarium , yet it rains a lot in Paris… Luckily, Tucano immediately arrived to help the poor unfortunates with a special kit of rain and windproof doors.

However, returning to our Captur, it changes face especially in the front, now closer to that of the Scenic and loses some engines along the way such as the diesel and the plug-in hybrid. Go for the plug-in hybrid, which is not really necessary for a B-segment SUV and the cables take up quite a bit and limit the load capacity, but the diesel with an electrified hybrid variant could still be useful, see Mercedes and BMW which if They don’t mind sending him into retirement. However, there remains a very varied choice on the list, starting from pure petrol, to LPG, and thank goodness, and mild-hybrid and full hybrid engines.

Interiors and technology and engines

Even on board you can breathe new air, especially for the infotainment part which brings Google and related utilities. Good news also for the headlights which are now full LED for all versions. The Captur also features the sporty Esprit Alpine trim, with black and silver elements to emphasize the shapes and paintwork of the two-tone bodywork with contrasting roof. Obviously the rims go from the basic 17-inch ones to the sporty 19-inch ones. The seats change, in sport configuration, the Alpine blue fabrics and stitching as well as the logos on the door sills, steering wheel and aluminum pedals.

What doesn’t change are the dimensions, we have the same dimensions as today’s version, after all it’s a restyling and there was no need for it. The habitability is good, with passengers enjoying sufficient legroom and the useful possibility of sliding the seats forward to have greater load capacity in the boot. In addition, we have several storage compartments scattered throughout the passenger compartment.

On the digital front, Captur uses two displays for instrumentation and infotainment. The latter touch screen with 10-inch screen and OpenR Link system with Android and Google integrated as standard only in the Esprit Alpine trim level.

There is no shortage of Android Auto and Apple Carplay to always be connected and the useful USB-C sockets, two in the front console and two at the rear, as well as the wireless plate for charging your smartphone.

3 trim levels available: Evolution, Techno and Esprit Alpine

As mentioned, the engine offer starts from three-cylinder petrol 1.0 TCe with 90 HP with manual gearbox or the bifuel variant 100 HP petrol/LPG. On the hybrid front however, we have a four-cylinder 1.3 Mild-hybrid with 48 Volt system and 160 HPcombined with the automatic transmission or the alternative Full hybrid E-Tech with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder 145 HP with automatic transmission.

Safety

The work is completed by a vast range of driving safety systems, available according to the trim levels, the higher the price the more we have available, from the Traffic Jam Assistant to the adaptive Cruise Control with lane keeping and the Active Driver Assist, which recognizes the road signs, consequently regulating the speed automatically according to the limits set for the route.

Summing up, the restyling of the Captur brings with it a car embellished in form and substance on board, but electrification and the many connected systems have inevitably inflated prices. To paraphrase the legendary Totò, one might say: “And I pay!” All in all, choosing the current one on offer seems like a smart choice… Totò docet, “Do me a favor!”