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By MURRAY
HUBBARD
1 June 2009
It
may well be the last European Laguna we see in Australia … and
it's a beauty.
Renault launched its new mid-size Laguna estate and hatch last
week, but the company spent a lot of time outlining about its
plans for the future. These plans include `international' cars
such as its Koleos, sourced out of South Korea and released here
late last year.
Koleos is the first of the non-European built cars that will take
the French company in a new direction as a manufacturer supplying
the world with affordable vehicles. Koleos is selling around 80 a
month and single handedly is propping up Renault sales down under.
European-built cars will remain: as the `hero' cars at the top of
each model line. However, Renault Australia managing director,
Rudi Koenig confirmed future mid-size sedans would be part of the
`international' group and built outside Europe. These cars would
have pricing closer to similar Japanese vehicles than European
marques.
Renault has factories now around the world including Russia,
Turkey, South America, Korea, and Morocco. Renault Australia's
sales figures for Laguna are conservative. About 200 units this
year. But, to add impetus to sales prices have been reduced by up
to $4000 on (estate) wagon and hatch variants.
The estate comes with two equipment levels, Expression and
Dynamique, while the hatch comes in Expression and Privilege.
Some 120 Laguna prototypes underwent four million kilometres of
road testing around the world, including 30,000 kilometres in
Australia, with development costs reaching $1.6 billion.
“The increase in warranty to include unlimited kilometres, over
a three year period, shows just how robust the car is,” said Mr
Koenig. Renault is also applying the same warranty to Koleos.
The estate variant could easily be considered as one of the most
beautiful wagons on the Australian market. It's an elegant
vehicle, featuring a steeply-raked rear window, more like a funky
hatch than a family wagon. Towards the rear of the wagon the
shoulder and roof lines converge giving the appearance of an
ultra-modern sportwagon.
Laguna Estate is a clever car with a large boot space of 500
litres, growing to 1593 litres with the rear seats folded flat.
The rear seats are 60/40 split and just one touch of a button near
the tailgate automatically creates the flat floor space. The cab
is light and open with a simple, yet interesting dash, functional
dials and switches and the high levels of passenger comfort we
have come to expect from French makers.
The hatch and wagon share the same 2.76-metre wheelbase, but the
estate is 4.8 metres long, facilitating the raking rear end and
excellent luggage space.
Laguna comes with the choice of two engines, a 2.0-litre dCi
diesel and a 2.0-litre petrol, and two transmissions, a six-speed
manual and six-speed “Pro-active' automatic.
The diesel produces 110 kW of power at 4000 rpm and maximum torque
of 340 Nm at just 2000 rpm. The turbo-charged petrol engine
produces 125 kW of power and 270 Nm of torque at 3250 rpm.
With the manual transmission the diesel is capable of returning
economy of 6.0 litres per 100 kilometres while the manual is
around the 7.0 L/100 km mark, an excellent return for a medium
size hatch and wagon. Combined cycle for the petrol variant is 8.9
L/100 km.
Both estate and hatch entry level Expression cars have high
standards of safety equipment, the same as the top-line variants.
This includes ESP, ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution,
traction control, dual front and rear side airbags and curtain
airbags, dusk sensing headlights, and rain sensing wipers, front
and rear fog lamps, `see me home' headlamps, cruise control with
speed limiter and automatic parking brake.
There's also a leather steering wheel and gear knob, integrated
rear side door sunblind, dual-zone air conditioning, with carbon
and odour filter, `carbon' cloth upholstery and single
MP3-compatible CD player.
Additions to the Dynamique Estate include part-leather/part
Alcantara interior, 4X50W dash mounted 6-CD changer and
electrochrome rear view mirror. The wheels also get upgraded from
16 inch alloys to 17 inch alloys, rear parking sensors, chrome
window surrounds and auto folding door mirrors.
Privilege hatch gets beige leather interior, with power front
heated seats, electrochrome rear view mirrors, and the 6-CD
stacker and more powerful speakers.
Its rubber goes on to 18-inch alloys and there's chrome window
surrounds, xenon directional headlights, and auto folding mirrors.
Both top line cars are fitted with type pressure monitors.
Laguna's Japanese competitors are Mazda6, Ford Mondeo and Honda
Accord Euro while it is up against European competition in the
form of Peugeot 407, Citroen C5 and Volkswagen Passat.
Soon after you get into some cars you know they are just right.
This is one of them. Low NVH levels, supportive, yet soft seats,
quiet, responsive engines, seamless manual and auto transmissions,
high quality fit and finish, effortless handling at speed, brakes
that you can `feel'. That's just part of the story.
The Laguna Estate and Hatch are beautiful cars in the best
European traditions. Yet, they lack the quirkiness we have come to
expect from some Europeans, particularly the French. As a mid-size
five door hatch and wagon the Laguna ticks all the boxes.
The complete Renault Laguna range, with recommended retail prices
(see note below) is
Expression diesel hatch manual: $37,990
Expression petrol hatch auto: $38,990
Expression diesel hatch auto: $40,990
Privilege petrol hatch auto: $46,990
Privilege diesel hatch auto: $48,990
Expression Estate wagon petrol auto: $41,990
Expression Estate wagon diesel auto: $43,990
Dynamique Estate wagon diesel auto: $46,990
(Prices shown are RRP only and are provided as a guide. Full
pricing is available from locals dealers to comply with new ACCC
regulations and must include a driveaway price including all add
on charges such as CTP insurance, registration, stamp duty and
dealer delivery. These vary from state to state and from dealer to
dealer.)
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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