MOTORING NEWS - Renault has extended its popular Captur range with the addition of a funky Sunset Limited Edition turbo diesel model of which only 100 will be sold in South Africa.
The new Sunset is powered by Renault’s dynamic 1.5 dCi 66kW Turbo Diesel, the brand’s most-sold engine which is renowned worldwide for its cheeky performance, frugal fuel consumption, and low emissions.
Although only 100 Sunset versions will be sold locally the diesel engine will become a permanent feature of the range and a diesel-powered Dynamique model joins its three petrol-powered siblings, the 1.2 88kW Dynamique EDC, the Dynamique 66kW Turbo and the Expression 66kW Turbo.
The funky, easy-to-drive and practical crossover range already has a strong grip on the local market as the second biggest seller in the tightly-contested B-segment SUV crossover category.
Locally this market segment has been dominated by petrol models with diesel engines only making up about 28% of sales, but with the Captur joining the ranks of those who already have diesel power, including the Kia Soul, VW Cross Polo, Ford EcoSport and Nissan Juke, the popularity of diesel is set to grow.
The 1.5dCi turbo diesel that now also powers the Captur is already doing duty in Renault’s Duster SUV so it certainly is no stranger to these shores.
I drove the oil-burning Captur at the local media introduction and enjoyed its pairing of a slick 5-speed manual transmission and chirpy engine, which is happily free of turbo lag. With 220Nm of torque on call from as low as 1,750r/min, the Captur feels keen to trot from the start and jogs on quickly through the gears.
Another impressive feature of the newcomer is its sip fuel consumption of just 3.6litres/100km in the combined cycle. For once, this consumption is not for an artificial laboratory-like achievement because the cars on our media drive were being monitored (unbeknown to us) where the best consumption figure was just 3.3 litres.
