Once upon a time, Renault were in in a bit of a impasse, especially with their cars. However, over the past few years things have altered dramatically as the French brand launches yet another new car, this time the Symbioz family SUV, which joins a long line of new Renault cars that are winning over hearts & minds.
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In effect the Symbioz is Renault’s Qashaqi, a five-door family SUV that’s cheaper & better specced than the Nissan.
Prices & trim
The range cost’s from £29,295 with a choice of three trim levels: Techno, Techno Esprit Alpine & Iconic Esprit Alpine. Entry level Techno comes with 18″ alloys, a 10.4″ central touchscreen running Renault’s OpenR Link infotainment system, wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, a 10.25″ digital driver’s display, a wireless charging pad, adaptive cruise control, keyless entry, a reversing camera, parking sensors & LED headlights.
Techno Esprit Alpine versions cost an additional £2,000 & add 19″ alloys, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, French Tricolore stitching, recycled fabric/leather substitute upholstery, a hands-free powered tailgate, blind spot warning & Active Driver Safety.
Range-topping Iconic Esprit Alpine models cost another £2000 with this model fitted with a nine-speaker Harman Kardon premium sound system, 360-degree parking cameras, a ‘SolarBay’ opacifying panoramic sunroof & a self parking function.
Engine
A 1.6 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine & a single electric motor drive the front wheels & is found elsewhere in Renault’s car range. A separate starter-generator motor kicks in when needed & recovers the energy it produces to top-up the car’s 1.26kWh battery. Power is 143bhp with a 0-62mph time of 10.6 seconds & a top speed of 106mph.
MPG & emissions
As with other hybrids you can get as high as 60.1mpg & after a two week 500 mile spell in the Symbioz, travelling over the Christmas holidays with four adults & luggage we did indeed average 60mpg.
Fuel economy is aided by the cars clever in-built tech, which includes ‘predictive hybrid driving’ that uses data on your route via Google Maps to optimise the use of its two power sources. It works extremely well. Emissions range from 105-107g/km.
Exterior
Renault have managed to make the boring old SUV a little more interesting with some sharp details. The front adopts Renaults latest design style first seen on the Scenic E-Tech. So it comes with a narrow front grille, lightning shaped LED lights & bonnet wraparound lights. The rear hatch has high corner 3d cube light clusters, a rear wiper (hurrah) & spoiler with the Symbioz name across the boot. In profile it’s sleek, with the alloy wheels a standout.
Inside
A familiar Renault dashboard & entertainment screen greet you & there’s plenty of soft-touch materials on the dash front, top & doors. We were testing the Esprit Alpine which includes 26% of recycled upholstery & a blue gradient dashboard panel with textured fabric. The Solarbay glass roof also featured which we love. It allows you to alter it from fully opaque to fully clear in measured strips, at the push of a roof mounted button.
Infotainment & controls
All versions feature the now familiar customisable Renault 10.25″ digital driver’s display & 10.4″ touchscreen which runs the latest version of Renault’s OpenR Link infotainment system. Apple CarPlay is available & you can charge your phone on the clever hidden charging pad in the centre of the dash.
The touchscreen leans slightly towards the driver which is good, especially if you need to get into a menu quickly. Talking of which the set-up is super-easy to understand & the graphics are both sharp & clear.
Thankfully the climate controls are still physical switches located underneath the screen. Elsewhere you can link into the adaptive cruise control & infotainment via the steering wheel toggles, whilst the volume/media controls are located on a right side steering wheel stalk.
Cabin practicality & boot
There are twin USB C’s in the front & the rear, a medium sized glove box & front door pockets, plus nets on the back of the seats. Rear door pockets were too small for large take-out coffee holders or water bottles & the under armrest cubby is small as well, with just 25 litres of storage space in total, pretty much our only black mark for the car.
Cabin space is adequate but you’ll struggle to sit five in comfortably as the rear floor has a large bump in the centre. Better news is the sliding rear bench which can be pushed forward 16cm to create a larger boot. Talking of which boot space at 492 litres was just about large enough for our Xmas luggage with the adjustable boot floor set to it’s lowest setting. The rear bench folds down 60:40, increasing the space to 1,582 litres as required.
Safety
All Symbioz’s are well kitted out with adaptive cruise control, active emergency braking, pedestrian acoustic warning, all around parking sensors, a reversing camera, & emergency lane keep assist. We love the customisable ‘My Safety’ mode on the Symbioz & other Renault’s & Dacia’s which allow you to set up your preferred choices; for example, turn off speed warning & lane departure, each time you climb aboard with one simple touch.
Rear automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning & a 360 degree parking camera & driver attention alert are among the other safety systems on offer.
Driving
The Symbioz is all about quiet, controlled driving. The ‘B’ mode for stronger regenerative braking allows you to slow the car down whenever you lift off the accelerator which cleverly keeps the battery topped up.This allows almost all local urban journeys to be made petrol-free with the aded bonus that the transition between the petrol & electric motor are unnoticeable. There’s an E-Save button as well whereby you can hold the electric charge for urban use. The car is light too at 1500kg’s, so that also helps economy.
Out & about the Symbioz rides better than the larger Renault Austral with the 19″ wheels handling road imperfections nicely. Wind & road noise are also low & on a 170 mile motorway journey it was comfortable too.
With four adults on board the separate USB’s got a thumbs up. Front passengers get good head & legroom but in the rear leg rooms tighter especially if you’re tall. The rear window is narrow & quite high so the reversing camera came in useful.
Accelerate hard & the engine emits a loud drone for perhaps 5 seconds as the revs settle down. Cruising at 70mph with adaptive cruise control made light work of long journey’s a bonus over Xmas.
The touchscreen’s an easy reach from the drivers seat & the split-screen drivers info display’s another winner, allowing you to view your speed & a map at the same time for example.
Driving alone on some local twisty B roads we found the Symbioz adept at corners, although it’s default setting is comfort not thrills. The regeneration & brake combo works extremely well too.
Pros
Attractively priced, very well equipped, great infotainment system, 60mpg + almost guaranteed
Cons
Not enough cabin storage & tight rear legroom.
Verdict
Renaults ‘Qashqai’ is very impressive & if you’re looking for a five-door family SUV it’s definitely worth your time. Perhaps it’s not large enough for grown-up’s with grown up kids as the cabin feels a bit pokey & my adult children complained about the small rear door pockets. Up front I had no such complaints & I really enjoyed my time in the Symbioz, with the high levels of standard equipment & safety, Google based operating system, touchscreen & drivers info screen far better than those you’ll find in much of the competition.
A Bon Anee 4/5
