Renault Symbioz review

You guessed it, yet another compact family SUV. Renault’s latest addition to the ever-popular sector (and indeed its own) sits between the Captur and Austral in its SUV range, and if you’re wondering about the name, it comes from the French word ‘symbiose’, derived from the ancient Greek ‘symbiosis’, meaning ‘living together’.

Renault has plenty of history when it comes to family wagons, of course, referencing the 16, the Espace and the Scenic in its marketing spiel. These days there’s a lot more competition, however, with the Symbioz up against the like of the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage and Volkswagen Tiguan. You know the type.

Why should I care?

Good question, and one we're still asking ourselves. It looks smart enough but it's not overly memorable, bringing a certain familiarity from the facelifted Captur, Scenic and Rafale.

Of more importance here is the interior: it gets all the kit you could realistically want from a family runabout - including a 10.3-inch digital dial display and 10.4-inch Google-based touchscreen - and a big boot measuring up to 624 litres. The rear bench can be slid backwards/forwards by up to 16cm to eke out more legroom/boot space as you need it. Happy days.

The biggest talking point is arguably its ‘Solarbay’ panoramic glass sunroof, which offers four different levels of transparency and is activated via a button on the sunroof or using the Google voice assistant. Gotta love a party trick. Head over to the Interior tab for more.

What's under the bonnet?

There’s just one powertrain from launch, and it’s a full hybrid. It pairs a 94bhp 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with two electric motors and a 1.2kWh battery.

The gearbox has four gears for the petrol engine and two for the main electric motor, with a reported 14 different gear combinations. Yeah, a bit like the mountain bike you had growing up. It’s a setup we’ve seen before and a highly efficient one at that too, with Renault claiming a WLTP figure of 60mpg. We came close to matching that on our test drive. Full details on the Driving tab.

If you really want to showcase your green credentials then you’ll need to look at the Megane and Scenic, both of which get fully electric powertrains.

How much does it cost?

In the UK, prices start from £29,295 with three different trim levels available. Head over to the Buying tab for the full lowdown.

The Renault Symbioz is a likeable enough car: it drives nicely (and has some of the Clio’s handling nous), has a premium feeling interior, and its hybrid setup is highly efficient. But its biggest issue is that it lacks that little bit of sparkle.

And it doesn’t help that between the Captur, Scenic, Arkana, Austral, Rafale and now this, there’s Renault SUVs aplenty these days. Was the Symbioz really needed? We reckon it's more likely to steal some sales from within, rather than make a dent in the ultra-popular Qashqai's numbers.

This is a perfectly fine family runabout. But you can do better.