Renault Austral - Boot space, comfort & practicality

Dimensions and size

The Austral measures 1,621mm tall (1,644mm with roof rails), 4,510mm long, and 1,843mm wide (2,083mm including door mirrors). A Hyundai Tucson is marginally shorter, but is taller and wider than the Austral – two facts that contribute to that rival feeling bigger inside.

How practical is the Renault Austral?

Seats & space in the front

Step inside the Renault Austral, and you’ll find a spacious driving position with plenty of head, leg and shoulder room. Lumbar adjustment is standard across the range, and from mid-range Techno Esprit Alpine upwards, you get electric front seat adjustment.

Chunky pillars may make it awkward for some to see out of the Austral at junctions. Fortunately for those who have to reverse onto a busy road, the Austral comes with rear cross-traffic alert, which will warn you of approaching vehicles about to cross your path. Every Austral also comes with front and rear parking sensors to aid you in slotting it into a tight bay. The additional concave mirror is a neat touch so those in the front can watch inlaws or children (or both) squabbling in the back.

The Austral has plenty of cubbies inside, with generous front door bins that have space for a large water bottle. The glovebox is a decent size, too, as is the cubby below the front armrest. Ahead of that is a sliding panel on the centre console, which houses a wireless phone charging pad on top-spec Iconic Esprit Alpine. Put in its forwardmost position it reveals a deep storage box, or pull it back to uncover a pair of cupholders just below the large portrait touchscreen.

Seats & space in the back

All versions of the Austral come with a sliding rear bench, just like the smaller Renault Captur. They split in a 60:40 layout, and either section can move back and forth by up to 160mm independently of the other, so either boot space or knee room can be prioritised. 

With the bench as far back as it goes, knee room is generous – even more so than the Kia Sportage. The outer seats are quite sculpted and supportive, plus they get ISOFIX mounting points.

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Boot space

The boot in the Austral is a usefully square shape to make the game of packing Tetris much easier. There are some release handles for the seat back located just inside the boot entrance to make it a cinch to drop them when loading longer items. They fold in a 60:40 split. 

However, while its 555-litre capacity sounds impressive, that’s the figure Renault sneakily quotes with the sliding rear seats slid all the way forward (it’s actually 487 litres with the seats in the rearmost position). And even then, both the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage offer greater overall capacity.

The other downside is that the boot loading height of 805mm is one of the highest of any new car we’ve measured, and will be a real hindrance for any dog owners wishing to put their beloved pet in the Austral.

You get a couple of hooks to hold a small shopping bag, plus some underfloor storage – although the subwoofer fitted to top-spec Iconic Esprit Alpine takes up a significant portion of this compared with lesser models.

Towing

A towing capacity of 1,500kg for a braked trailer means you can pull a decent-sized caravan with the Austral. However, both the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage, plus four-wheel drive versions of Toyota RAV4, can tow more.

All versions of Austral come with hill hold assistance to lend a helping hand on tricky hill starts, plus there’s trailer stability assist to keep you on the straight and narrow should you encounter crosswinds.