Overview

IT’S a turbulent time for French cars in Australia, yet that hasn’t stopped Renault – the effective last-manufacturer-standing following the departure of Citroën and with Peugeot’s Australian future looking uncertain – from throwing yet another hat into the highly competitive small SUV ring. 

Having launched the Duster in Australia last year, the new Renault Symbioz – the brand’s latest small SUV segment entrant – is available in both Mild- and Full Hybrid guises, both of which are front-wheel drive, the latter being the French marque’s first HEV sold on local shores.

The line-up comprises three variants. The range kicks off with the Techno Mild Hybrid wearing a price tag of $36,990 plus on-road costs, rising to $42,990 + ORC for the Techno Full Hybrid and $45,990 + ORC for the range-topping Esprit Alpine.

In terms of specifically hybrid-powered small SUVs, it shares the market with new, budget-focused rivals from China such as the Jaecoo J5 Hybrid (from $34,990 driveaway) and the GWM Haval Jolion HEV (from $29,990), as well as offerings from established legacy marques such as the Hyundai Kona Hybrid (from $36,950 + ORCs) and the Toyota Corolla Cross (from $37,440 ORCs).

Furthermore, to be competitive, the Symbioz will also need to clearly establish its value proposition against ICE-only and EV offerings also present in the segment.

Power in the Mild Hybrid model comes from a 1.3 litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a 12-volt mild-hybrid system, mated to a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. Its outputs are rated at 104kW and 245Nm, while its 0-100km/h acceleration is clocked at 9.4 seconds, and its combined fuel economy is a claimed 6.4 litres per 100km.

Meanwhile, the Full Hybrid variants’ powertrain comprises a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, an electric motor, a 1.4kWh lithium-ion battery, and a hybrid automatic transmission. Its combined system outputs are 116kW and 265Nm, while the 0-100km/h run is dealt with in 9.1 seconds. Combined fuel efficiency is a claimed 4.7 litres per 100km.

Standard exterior features on the Techno model grade include 18-inch alloy wheels, tinted rear privacy glass, satin chrome window frames and lower door protection, gloss black exterior highlights, LED headlights and taillights, rain-sensing wipers, and heated, power-folding mirrors.

Its cabin features include a 10.4-inch infotainment touchscreen (compatible with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Google built-in services including the ‘navigation pack’ and Google Automotive Services), a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a wireless phone charger, a six-speaker Arkamys sound system, LED cabin lighting, a heated steering wheel, fabric seats, a six-way manually adjustable front seats, and a sliding rear bench.

Standard safety features on the Renault Symbioz include lane departure warning, lane keeping assist and lane change warning, active driver assist with lane centering, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, advanced driver monitoring, driver attention alert, rear active emergency braking, blind sport warning, rear cross traffic alert, emergency stop assist, forward collision warning, front, rear and side parking sensors, a reversing camera, six airbags, and seatbelt reminders with occupant detection for all seats.

While the Renault Symbioz does not currently hold an ANCAP star rating, it scored a four-star Euro NCAP rating in 2024.

Over the Techno, the Esprit Alpine gets 19-inch wheels, a 360-degree camera, six-way electrically adjustable and heated front seats, a nine-speaker harman/kardon sound system, a power tailgate with hands free opening, darkened Renault badging, blue seatbelt highlights, red, white and blue stitching on the steering wheel, and alloy pedal covers, while the satin chrome window frames and the lower door highlights are deleted.

Additionally, it gets Esprit Alpine-specific exterior badging, performance seats with logos on the front seats, and aluminium door sill covers on the front doors. 

Options available for the Symbioz include a panoramic Solarbay sunroof ($2000), a power tailgate for the Techno model ($600), and Pearl White, Diamond Black, Oyster Grey, Rafale Grey, Iron Blue, or Mercury Blue paint ($900).

When it comes to boot space, the Mild Hybrid Symbioz has 563 litres of storage with the rear bench upright and pushed to its most rearward position. This rises to 695 litres with the rear bench slid forward and 1668 litres with the seats folded.

In the Full Hybrid, with the rear seats up and the bench slid back, there’s 460 litres. With the bench slid forward there’s 592 litres, and with the seats folded there’s a total of 1546 litres.

The Renault Symbioz is offered with a five-year/unlimited kilomtre warranty, an eight-year/160,000km warranty for the Full Hybrid model’s battery, and five years of 24/7 roadside assist.

It is also offered with a five-year assured price servicing program, with intervals coming every one year or 30,000km.

Service prices for the Mild Hybrid range between $319 and $989 with a total cost over five years of $2695. As for the Full Hybrid, services prices range between $359 and $779, with the cost for five years coming to $2715.

All variants of the Renault Symbioz come with a space saver spare wheel.

Renault says it’s leaning on its models’ European design and handling, ADAS calibration, technology offerings, and attainable pricing. But will that be enough to survive in one of Australia’s most competitive segments. GoAuto got behind the wheel to find out.

Driving Impressions

As far as exterior aesthetics are concerned, at its Sydney media launch event Renault placed an emphasis on the Symbioz being unmistakably just that – a Renault – even pointing out its striking resemblance to its electric Scenic E-Tech stablemate.

Renault is right in that sense.

Visually, the Symbioz clearly portrays its brand identity and appears far from homogenous relative to the rest of the industry. It uses angular design motifs – such as for the lights, grille shape, wheel design, and glasshouse shape – while not being overly aggressive and appears modern and chic as a result.

The Esprit Alpine wheels and badging enhances the look even further.

Inside, you’ll find a similar cockpit to the Mitsubishi ASX (a corporate cousin of the Symbioz), adopting the same shelved dashboard design, vertical infotainment touchscreen and a selection of physical controls, most notably a selection of HVAC switches and a ‘audio control wand’ behind the steering wheel.

The Symbioz’s dashboard design is very handy for small item storage, with a wireless phone charger on the bottom shelf, a storage area in front of the gear selector, and a cubby below the infotainment touchscreen (perfect for sunglasses storage). You’ll also find two cupholders and a centre console armrest storage bin (although it’s a good thing the dash design is so practical as it’s not particularly spacious).

As mentioned, its physical controls are also intuitive, making quick adjustments – such as air-conditioning fan speed and temperature, air recycling, media volume and song choice – on the move fairly easily. However, the ‘media wand’ would probably have been better suited to handling the cruise controls, which are handled by buttons on the steering wheel.

The infotainment touchscreen also proved itself intuitive, with navigation made easy via the top menu bar. Apple Carplay also connected easily although we primarily made use of the Symbioz Google Built-In services for navigation, which seems to work well.

A nifty feature of the system we liked was the touchscreen-contained owner’s manual, saving you time instead of flicking through a physical book. 

As for the cabin’s materials, they’re acceptable but exceptional. You’ll find some softer touchpoints inside there’s also some quite scratchy, unpleasant plastics.

The range-topping Esprit Alpine changes some materials, but even then, it doesn’t feel like an enormous leap over the entry-level Techno.

Furthermore, while the dual-layer dashboard is great for storage, it does feel a bit flimsy. A slight nudge makes the entire shelf visibly shift. You almost get the sense that if you wiggled it around enough you might actually break it.

In the back seat, you’ll find rear air vents and two USB-C ports but there’s no centre folding armrest or cupholders, so hold onto your drinks. 

The Symbioz’s rear bench can slide backwards and forwards to prioritise either storage or passenger space.

With the rear seats all the way back we found it has good knee room and under-thigh support but quite limited headroom, especially off to the side of the outboard passenger where it’s really easy to smack one’s head on the hard plastic C-pillar. A small transmission hump reduces space slightly for middle seat passengers but it’s ultimately acceptable.

Open the boot and you’ll find decent space for a vehicle of this type, even in its least practical form with the rear seats up and slid backwards to their most rearward position. Of course, you can give yourself even more space by sliding the rear bench forward or folding the second row.

In the Full Hybrid variants, the underfloor storage accommodates a spare wheel, however, there’s still enough space around the wheel to use the underfloor storage for other items. In the Mild Hybrid, you get even more space, as cargo capacity isn’t eaten up by the battery, giving you a full underfloor storage layer and room for a spare wheel. 

All three variants of the Renault Symbioz were present for its Australian media launch. We experienced that Techno HEV on urban streets and on the motorway during our drive from Parramatta to the Camden region, while we drove the Esprit Alpine HEV and the Techno Mild Hybrid on a short road loop on the fast country roads in the surrounding area.

The Symbioz’s ride is what many would describe as ‘European.’ It’s slightly on the firmer side without being uncomfortable, which is to its benefit when it comes to handling. Arrive at a corner and the Symbioz navigates it with confidence and with composed body control.

Its steering is light but direct, suitable for around-town-manoeuvring. It’s not always the most communicative but it does translate some road texture feedback.

On the move, the Symbioz exhibits solid NVH for the most part with little in the way of wind and tyre noise. Only on particularly rough surfaces will tyre noise – as well as a little plastic vibration – become truly noticeable.  

Something the Symbioz really excels at is its ADAS calibration. Aside from most alerts and interventions being largely non-intrusive and inoffensive, the active driver assist system – which integrates adaptive cruise control (with stop and go) and lane centering – is very polished.

The system responds to traffic well, speeding up and slowing down well while the steering doesn’t pull you around too much to keep the car centered in its lane. While we remained attentive during our time behind the wheel, the system takes a lot of mental energy out of driving. 

There’s also a button on the steering wheel that matches the set speed for the cruise control to the traffic sign recognition system, which we think is very intuitive. 

Driver monitoring will also beep into life occasionally, although we felt its warnings were ultimately justified during our time with the Symbioz.

However, the Techno models lack a 360-degree camera, which is arguably stomachable in the entry-level Mild Hybrid model, but in the mid-spec Techno HEV – which wears a price tag of $42,990 + ORC – its absence is certainly felt.

The Esprit Alpine model gets one but it’s a little low res.

Another strength in the Symbioz’s repertoire is fuel efficiency. On our drive from Parramatta to the Camden and driving in ‘Smart’ mode – which automatically switches between ‘Eco’, ‘Smart’, and ‘Sport’ based on how the car is being driven – the Symbioz Techno HEV posted 3.9 litres per 100km over the 91.3km journey.

On the short road loop, the Esprit Alpine HEV recorded 4.9L/100km over 38.4km.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the economy performance of the mild hybrid. No attempt to save fuel was made while we were behind the wheel of any of the cars on test. In fact, the Esprit Alpine and the Mild Hybrid were driven quite inefficiently. But even under these circumstances, the mild hybrid returned an impressive 6.2L/100km over a 39.3km journey.

It is worth noting though that while both the Mild Hybrid and Full Hybrid Symbioz proved to be very efficient, both also require 95 RON premium unleaded fuel, meaning that while trips to the bowser will be fairly infrequent, those fills might be a little pricier. 

Ultimately, while Renault has high sales expectations for the Symbioz within its own product line-up, it’s unlikely to be a high-volume mover relative to the rest of the highly-competitive compact SUV space.

Its list of standard equipment isn’t quite as comprehensive as some Chinese rivals, nor can it match their price tags. It’s also unlikely to match the mass-market appeal of the multi-powertrain Hyundai Kona. 

However, if you were to picture the small SUV segment as a decision tree diagram, we can see a situation where customers – who value style, tech, efficiency, driving dynamics, and intuitive ADAS calibration and want all of those things in a single package – land on the Renault Symbioz.

It isn’t without its faults – including its lacklustre cabin materials, cramped second row, its lack of a 360-degree camera outside of the range-topping variant, the fact that it only take 95 RON fuel, and the fact that its starting price is higher than some of its rivals – but we believe the (albeit likely small number of) customers that choose the Symbioz will appreciate what it has to offer.