The Renault Austral has a fresh new face and some comfy cabin upgrades

Renault has updated the Austral SUV, and the refresh gives it a face just like its coupe-ish brother, the Rafale.

The Austral now sports a more contemporary front end, where the badge has been dropped into the diamond-patterned grille. The bonnet also has cleaner lines, and the air intake on the front bumper has a simpler design too, giving an altogether sleeker appearance. Plus, there are bigger wheels (of course), and new front and rear lights – featuring adaptive matrix cleverness as standard – to complete the look. Standard facelift fare, then.

Powertrain-wise, the Austral retains its hybrid system with a 1.2-litre three-pot turbo petrol engine mated to two electric motors for a total output of 197bhp. The engine has now been set on new mounts to give a quieter ride, plus Renault says it’s refined the software to make the gearing smoother. As such, expect more hush with your wallet-friendly 60.1mpg.

There have been tweaks to the damping too to make the ride more comfortable, and redesigned front seats should also help in that department. They’re clothed in new 98 per cent recycled fabric and, according to Renault, the cabin has better noise isolation thanks to new door seals, among other things.

The carmaker is keen to highlight the (up to) 30 (yep, three-zero) driver assistance features for the new generation Austral. The basic safety pack includes autonomous emergency braking, blind spot warning and rear collision warning. Helpfully, many of those bongs and bings can be deactivated with a one-button touch. We’re still trying to work out what ‘contextual cruise control’ is, but rest assured, if you want to take your feet off the pedals on longer journeys, the Austral’s many sensors will kindly assist.

New apps have been added to the OpenR Link infotainment system, which keeps the in-built Google app suite. All the digital stuff is housed in a 12.3in central touchscreen and an equally-sized driver display. Don't forget there's also a welcome tune composed by French legend Jean-Michel Jarre.

The refreshed Austral is available in three trims: techno, techno esprit Alpine and iconic esprit Alpine, and it’ll go on sale later this year, but we still await pricing. More when we get it.