Renault Symbioz review

You guessed it, yet another compact family SUV. Renault’s latest addition to the ever-popular sector sits between the Captur and Austral in its own 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 likes of the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage, Skoda Karoq, Dacia Bigster 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 10.3in digital dial display and 10.4in 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?

The Symbioz now gets two engine options, although we’ve only driven the full hybrid so far. The hybrid system has been updated since this car was first unveiled back in 2024, so you now get a larger 1.8-litre four-pot petrol engine (up from 1.6) and a 1.4kWh battery (up from 1.2). Every little helps, and all that.

Total system output is now 158bhp, and it’s all marshalled by Renault’s fancy multi-mode automatic gearbox that 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 well over 60mpg on the WLTP cycle. We actually came close to matching that on our test drive too. 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.

What if I want less electricity?

We’ve got good news for you, because when it updated the full hybrid powertrain for the 2026 model year, Renault also added a new entry level mild hybrid engine option that pairs a 1.3-litre 138bhp four-cylinder turbo engine with a six-speed manual gearbox. Yep, it’s got three pedals!

How much does it cost?

The addition of that mild hybrid manual powertrain brought the Symbioz’s starting price down a fair bit, so you can now pick one up for £27,595.

The full hybrid starts from £29,795, which is still a fair bit less than most of its hybridised rivals. Three different trim levels are available. Head over to the Buying tab for the full lowdown.

The Renault Symbioz is a likeable enough car: it has some of the Clio’s handling nous, a premium feeling interior, and its hybrid setup is highly efficient. Unfortunately, that hybrid system is also noisy and sluggish, while the ride on the larger wheels is far too firm.

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.