Facelifted Renault Captur Brings Fresh Look & New Esprit Alpine Trim

The facelifted Renault Captur arrives with an updated look and a new Esprit Alpine flagship variant.

Five years after its global debut, the second-gen Renault Captur has finally been given a much-needed midlife update. This time around, Renault’s subcompact SUV crossover fighter now features a revamped look plus a new flagship Esprit Alpine trim level.

Similar to its hatchback twin, the facelifted Captur gains a new front face for its midlife update, featuring similar design cues to said hatchback twin as well as newer Renault models like the Rafale and Scenic E-Tech SUVs. The new design elements present here include the new LED headlights with arrow-shaped DRLs, a tweaked front bumper, and a new wheel design with sizes ranging from 17 to 19 inches.

The facelifted Captur now comes with a new flagship Esprit Alpine variant.

Aside from the front face makeover, the facelifted Captur also comes with the new Esprit Alpine variant. This flagship trim level is visually distinguished by its Slate Grey bumper inserts, a slew of gloss black accents, as well as riding on 19-inch alloy wheels with a multi-spoke design and two-tone finish.

The Esprit Alpine trim brings more changes as we get inside the facelifted Captur, as the flagship variant gets special multi-textured fabric upholstery made from sustainable materials with Alpine and French flag emblems. This special upholstery is complemented by a blue-grey insert on the dashboard, plus  aluminium foot pedals for added sportiness.

On the tech front, the new Captur gets the latest version of Renault’s digital cockpit layout, featuring a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and a larger 10.4-inch central infotainment display, with the latter now running on Google Built-In software. Other tech bits present here include a wireless charging pad, multiple USB-C charging ports, including ones for the rear seats, a multi-colour ambient lighting system that adapts to the hour of the day, plus an optional 9-speaker Harman Kardon sound system.

The facelifted Captur retains its predecessor's powertrain lineup, which includes the E-Tech hybrid option.

On the powertrain front, the facelifted Captur carries over the same options from its predecessor, with the whole lineup starting with the 1.0-litre 3-cyl mill that makes 89 HP, mated exclusively to a six-speed manual gearbox. Next in line is the 1.3-litre 4-cyl TCe mill that comes in both full ICE and a 48-volt mild hybrid (MHEV) version, with the former outputting 138 HP and the latter at 158 HP.

Topping off the range is the E-Tech hybrid option, which combines a 1.6-litre 4-cyl nat-asp engine with two electric motors juiced by a 1.2-kWh battery to deliver a total system output of 143 HP. However, there was no mention of any plug-in hybrid (PHEV) option for the new Captur, although we’d reckon that might be added sometime in the future.

Regardless of the powertrain flavours, the facelifted Captur is exclusively offered with a front-wheel drive (FWD) drivetrain setup, featuring a dedicated driving mode for loose surfaces like mud and snow. Still underpinning the tried-and-tested CMF-B platform, now featuring a tweaked suspension setup and improved steering calibration.

The all-new Renault Captur facelift is now available for purchase in selected European markets and is set to be produced at Renault’s Valladolid plant in Spain. While pricing for this updated SUV crossover will be announced in the coming weeks, we can expect them to be slightly heftier than the pre-facelift model, given the rather substantial improvements Renault has brought to this facelifted model.