Renault Captur Dynamique S Nav dCI 110 first drive

When the Renault Captur launched in 2013, it only really had one direct threat – the Nissan Juke. Four years later and the compact crossover segment of the car market is flooded with alternatives, meaning the Captur needs to up its game to keep pace with existing rivals and the many more on their way, including the Hyundai Kona and Kia Stonic, to name just two.

When you consider the Captur is the biggest-selling model for Renault in the UK, and was the best-selling car in this segment across Europe in 2016, the French car maker can’t afford to rest on its laurels.

So, what has Renault changed? Not much. This mid-life overhaul for the Captur is as mild as they come. Exterior changes include optional full LED headlights to bring it in line with other Renault models. The Captur front end design has been refreshed - it now includes a chrome strip on the grille and new skid plates on both front and rear bumpers - to more closely resemble its big brother, the Renault Kadjar.

The interior has also had some tweaks in a bid to make it more luxurious and there’s more optional equipment available, including blind sport warning, hands-free parking and a fixed panoramic sunroof.

The engine line-up remains unchanged with 89bhp and 108bhp 1.5-litre dCI four-pot diesels and two TCe petrol units: the 89bhp three-cylinder and 118bhp four-cylinder.

We tested the higher-powered dCI. It manages impressive efficiency figures while having enough oomph to handle most situations. Press the accelerator pedal hard and power more than suffices and feels faster than this variant's official 0-62mph time of 11.0sec suggests.

Diesel refinement isn’t bad either, and at the modest around-town speeds at which the Captur will most often be driven, overall noise and vibration is decent. When you get up to 60mph on some Cotswolds B-roads, however, things become a little less pleasant with plenty of road noise and some serious wind effect on the A-pillars.

The Captur, like most compact crossovers, is damped for comfort, favouring absorption of bumps and crevices over any real dynamism. That said, such suspension is often paired with a vaguer-than-vague steering feel but, to the model’s credit, the steering is more precise and direct than expected.