Overview

AUSTRALIAN sales of Renault’s funky Captur small SUV fell off a cliff in 2017 largely due to stocks drying up in the transition to models bearing the mid-life facelift, which started arriving in September this year.

The situation echoes that of the pre-facelift Captur, which suffered launch delays due to overseas demand and issues complying with Australian Design Rule requirements for child seat anchorages, and dulled the little Renault’s Down Under debut somewhat because it ended up arriving after segment-defining competitors such as the Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V.

While the Captur was languishing low in the sales tables, the impressive and similarly modish Toyota C-HR and Hyundai Kona have entered the fray, while Subaru has bowled critics over with the excellent second-generation XV.

But the Captur is now back on showroom floors and we spent a week with the top-spec Intens variant.

Do the updates go far enough to rescue the Captur from sales obscurity in an increasingly competitive small SUV segment?