In the crossover segment, apart from the elevated 4×4 Scenic RX4 van, Renault entered for the first time with the Koleos. A few years ago I had the opportunity to test the first Renault Koleos in the vicinity of Fez in Morocco, and recently in Paris I got acquainted with the second «edition» of the model that brought the Renault brand (http://www.renaultbook.ru/) to the SUV market . .
I can’t stress enough that the second edition has not only improved, but also changed a lot with the classes above the first. The model also became the brand’s largest crossover, making up almost a whole line of French crossovers with the Captur and Kadjar.
The only downside is the subcompact crossover that the French offer in the form of the Kwid in India and Brazil, but unfortunately it won’t be available in Europe, at least according to Bruno Anselin, Renault’s vice president of planning and programs in the product range. .
A car manufacturer without a serious and rather large number of offers on the SUV market today is Mr. Nobody. Just look at the luxurious German trio — BMW, Mercedes and Audi — and we see even more of these models than the sedans they offer. All self-respecting manufacturers today follow the market fashion, but it seems that the French are a little late in this direction. Maybe because of the incredible success of Dacia / Renault Duster (www.renaultbook.ru/en/Duster). But with off-the-shelf 4×4 experience and crossover know-how, their Japanese partner is quickly catching up in that direction.
A natural step in the exterior design of the new car was its similarity to the other two top models of the French range — Talisman and Espace, and even in some elements of the smaller crossover Kadjar. It is no coincidence that all these models use the same Renault-Nissan Alliance global platform with the designation CMF-C/D. In addition to French cars, it is also used in the Japanese Nissan X-Trail/Rogue and Qashqai models.
Compared to the first Koleos, the new one is 150mm longer and 30mm ahead of the platform X-Trail. Required ground clearance — 210 mm. Model dimensions 4673 x 1843 x 1678 mm, wheelbase — 2705 mm. In addition to a common platform, many components and assemblies of French and Japanese cars are the same, which is a completely normal and economically justified practice not only in the Renault-Nissan alliance.
The differences are in appearance and interior — Renault Koleos has a large 8.7-inch monitor a la Tesla of the R-LINK-2 system, a seven-inch TFT instrument cluster, the original dashboard architecture, which is largely similar in appearance. appearance to them in Espace and Talisman. New Koleos compared to its Japanese «relatives» looks like a car of a higher class — both outside and inside.
Power units are also common. While testing the new Koleos, we had the opportunity to drive the petrol version of the 2.5 liter, multipoint injection, 170 hp, but there is still a wide choice of petrol and diesel units — 2 liter petrol, direct injection, 145 hp. s., 1.6 l diesel 130 l. and 2 liters of diesel, 175 hp, common rail.
Aside from the 2.5-litre engine, everything else is paired with a six-speed manual transmission, the only alternative being the X-Tronic CVT. There is no traditional automatic machine even in the top diesel version. There are two types of variator transmission — V-belt JF016E, designed for torque up to 250 Nm for gasoline engines and V-belt JF017E — up to 380 Nm for diesel engines.
The prospects for the second generation of Koleos look more than good compared to the first, which remained somewhat of a local model. A special impression and a strong trump card is the large interior space, allowing even a seven-seat layout. But the car remains a five-seater, a two-row, five-seat configuration providing more than enough interior space.
Rear knee room is 289 mm, but in practice it seems much more. The trunk has a volume of 550 liters / 1690 liters with the rear seats folded /, the height from the bottom of the driver’s seat and front passenger to the ceiling is 953 mm. And the convenience of entry and exit can be seen from the maximum opening angles of the front and rear doors — 70 and 77 degrees, respectively.
The exterior of the car is one of the latest works by Renault chief designer Lawrence van der Acker. Impressive are the C-shaped LED daytime running lights, wide rear light clusters located almost in the middle, and interesting embossed page surfaces. There are no friends in taste and color, but I think that the appearance of the car is really very good.
The same can be said for the car’s handling, where Koleos confirms the impression of significantly improved traction on the new overhead models. Control of a fairly tall car in tight corners is good, bumps are well perceived / rides like a French car, according to the popular definition /, steering is precise.
When the throttle is pressed harder, the engine starts to hum a little, the Xtronic vario transmission tries to mimic the shifting with a standard automatic with its seven “gears”, but in reality everything goes smoothly, as it should be with a variomatic. . With Koleos’ smoother gas and excellent noise isolation, it gives an idea of what a real car should offer its passengers on everyday and long journeys.
I also tested the car on light off-road, which, however, did not give an idea of the true «off-road» qualities of the car. Like the X-TRAIL, the Koleos has a diff-lock feature in All-Mode 4×4-i, but it automatically disengages when speeds exceed 50 km/h.
All in all, the new Koleos makes the impression of a product in every way, and this will likely help it present itself in the market much better than its predecessor, mainly due to its good looks, nice interior space and, hopefully, reasonable prices.
For me, Renault Koleos is a good off-road vehicle capable of beating such market models as, for example, the Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5. And globally, the new crossover will be available in 79 markets worldwide. The largest of them — in China — will be produced at a plant in China, and the Renault Samsung Motors plant in the Korean city of Busan will take care of the rest.
