Test drive by Renault Laguna 2005 - 2007 hatchback
French delicacy
After restyling, Renault Laguna turned into a very peculiar carOn Saturday, I had to make a 250-kilometer throw from the office, in Schmitovsky, to the city of Obninsk and vice versa. 105 km from the center of Moscow or 89 from the Moscow Ring Road on one way along the Kyiv highway - not a very sad prospect on a weekend, especially by car with a new 2 -liter turbocharged engine under the hood. I remember that a couple of years ago I did a good thousand miles on the roads of Europe on the previous version of Laguna, and after I felt like a shift. And on this working weekend he felt fatigue. Why? Because I was forced to go very quickly. If I moved simply quickly, I could have drove without a hint of fatigue five times more. Such a trick
New but acquaintance
The same lines of the body, although the face was pulled up to a new corporate identity. There are also few changes inside, but the interior and, most importantly, the equipment, became richer. Good seats are rather soft, with developed lateral support. The only complaint for them is that they are highly located, maybe I personally missed a little range of longitudinal adjustment of the steering wheel. By the way, it is sheathed with leather, as well as the automatic transmission lever, which also has a metal insert. Dials under the visual visual, silver color, with red numbers. A hint of a powerful motor, I suppose. The central console looks more prosaic. Black color, continuous buttons and two displays: one on top, the other near the control panel of the climate control system. Information from both monitors is read well, let the screens are small. In addition, the most important parameters are possible to bring on a small scoreboard of the instrument shield.
Separately, it is worth saying about the ergonomics of sensations, in the language of Renault - Touch Design. Just speaking, it is not necessary to see the levers and buttons to use them, everything can be done to the touch. So it, in general, is.
But if you do not give a tactile sensations, then you can. It is convenient to manage it only with a joystick on a steering column, since it is not easy to understand the numerous and equally small buttons of an audio center with Cabasse label. I’ll tell you those who buy: volume adjustment is two almost invisible, strange stretched button shape in the very center, next to the silver point of turning on the audio center. At the same time, the settings algorithm are very strange in order to find and fix, for example, the right radio wave, it is necessary to make many consecutive manipulations. At a small volume, any music sounds very good. But it is worth adding how, not a very well -built sound begins to come from the columns. For those who know what I am about. Led Zeppelin Remasters, a double of the best things, sounded for me unexpectedly.
Robert Plant was surprisingly crammed, and at the powerful moments of Jimmy Page, a crunch of clearly not copyright origin was heard. There can be no complaints about Remasters on quality, besides, the disc is native. And I do not think that the columns are to blame - most likely the amplifier is weak, if any at all. The supplier of components is the same Cabasse company. The Internet claims that this is a brand that is quite famous in France, even claiming its ambitions in Hi-End equipment. It is possible that Renault Laguna simply did not work out. Although, I’ll make a reservation: the sound is better than average, but not for a music lover. Not in the best way from the point of view of ergonomics are the buttons of heating the seats. Yes, I understand that most of France there are no cold weather. But why have a key (along the way, we note that there is no heating degree) - where the human hand can get, only unimaginally curved - on the left, on the plastic frame of the seat, at an angle. Yes, and the key of 1x3 centimeters size itself. But the car is warming up, by the way, quite quickly, which is important for the motor with a turbine. However, it’s enough to find fault, each car costs its money and is designed for a specific consumer. After all, in the end, Laguna is quiet, very comfortable and somehow calm.
Metropolis and its surroundings
As I already mentioned at the beginning, I immediately had to evaluate the running qualities of Laguna in timekeeping. Acceleration confident, disputed - thanks to 170 hp. Power and a good moment, which is transmitted to the front wheels from a 2-liter gasoline engine with a turbine. The automatic transmission quickly switches from one stage to another (you only need to press the pedal more hard - it has a decent move), and with each braking he encourages the lowered, helping to besiege the car. That is why, however, small, but tangible tremors when slowing down. But I would probably not have attributed this to the shortcomings. After all, the suspensions that became noticeably softer after restyling are partly guilty of that. At the same time, shock absorbers and springs are pleasantly pleasing with their energy intensity and silent work. In general, in the salon, I repeat, comfortable, as at home, and noise insulation - beyond praise.
But it is worth laying a couple of turns, how the inevitable reverse side of the coin is manifested. In the turns, the body is pretty rolled, and if at low speeds it only annoys a little, then on the freeway it already scares. Moreover, after 130 km/h, a certain instability is clearly felt. It seems that the front wheels lose their due clutch with the roadbed, and vertical buildup appears on the waves. In part, this should be attributed to a small mileage of the car - as a rule, after 5-10 thousand km, the suspension becomes tougher, gives shrinkage, so to speak, and this immediately affects the stability of the machine. But it seemed to me that in the sense of aerodynamics, the updated Laguna at least does not get spoilers. In addition, on wet asphalt, studded tires are also not the best choice. Of course, at relatively low speeds of problems, in principle, does not arise. In addition, the stability is sensitive to the ESP electronic system, the work of which can be evaluated at the hard four. The characteristics of the motor itself are very even, providing rapid, but smooth acceleration, so you should not count on the explosive nature of the car. Which, maybe for the better. The supercharger turns on early, with almost idle revolutions, and demonstrates the maximum of its capabilities after 3000 rpm. In addition, the automatic transmission slightly brakes, not particularly trying to switch to a step below with a sharp press on the accelerator pedal. Therefore, both in the city and on the freeway, I often activated the manual operating mode of the automatic transmission.
Short resume
From my subjective point of view, Renault Laguna has clearly become a more comfortable, but less sports car. Despite the presence of a turbocharged power unit. I would venture to assume that it is more likely to be focused on a person who appreciates convenience and a sense of security, albeit capable of grabbing on the weekend. This car is a not quite ordinary alternative to such a middle class sedans as Ford Mondeo, Opel Vectra and Toyota Avensis. It is unlikely to be very popular, which is due, first of all, the price: the tested car costs $ 32,259, and the most affordable with the same engine is $ 30,099. Well, lovers of delicacies do not get used to forking out
Text: Andrey Osipov
Brief technical characteristics of Renault Laguna 2.0t
Engine volume, cubic meter. See 1998
The number of valves per cylinder 4
Power, l. With. at about./min. 170/5000
Max. Torque, NM at about./Min. 270/3250
Acceleration to 100 km/h, p. 9.2
Maximum speed, km/h 216
The average fuel consumption l./100 km. 8.9
The volume of the fuel tank, l. 68
Car mass, kg. 1340
Dimensions, mm. 4580x1770x1430
