Renault Laguna test drive since 2007 hatchback

Return to Laguna or Foie Gra in the world of Bifstes

Ancient wisdom claims: no matter how much halva speak, the mouth will not become sweeter. Checked. And now we will replace Halva with a lagoon. Feel a breath of light breeze, heat of sunlight, the coolness of the raging waves? No, about the seductive beauties Brooke Shields and Mille Yovovich, even forget to think! It's not about that blue lagoon, but about a completely different silver with a chocolate shade of color almost to the tone of the water surface surrounding the water surface
 
To love the French car, one must be to a certain extent aesthet, not a snob (or, on the contrary, by a supermnob) and even more so, not a victim of herd instinct, by virtue of which modern Russia actually feeds the German and Japanese auto industries that produce high -tech, solid, practical, but sometimes sometimes Depressingly predictable, without loving products. On the contrary, the French, on the contrary, is sometimes introduced by their indefatigable creative fantasy and the desire to surprise the whole world into such avant-garde gave, in such extravagance that you are surprised to be surprised, but you refrain from acquiring such a car.
In fact, the difference between German and French machines is the same as between German and French cuisine. In Germany, you are piled on a huge plate of potatoes with sauerkraut in a company with an equally huge delicious beefstext or pork chopping, and with this dish you eat up, if you want to sip beer, quite grunting and delving yourself on a swollen stomach (crap and pick up your nose in the nose when This is not necessary). In France, one after another you are worn by the same huge plates, but with extremely small portions of the creations of high kitchen, having tasted which under a glass of exquisite Burgundian wine, you can feel heavenly pleasure, but you can shy shoulders in bewilderment, or even exclaim in the hearts , right, muck! And the next time you do not want to send this very muck in the stomach.
 
A striking example of this has not found the understanding of people in the world and certainly ahead of his time (as you call the ship, so it will float!) Renault Avantime and not much more successful in commercial terms, related to him Vel Satis. But it was worth the same manufacturer to file an ordinary, simple hamburger in the form of Logan on the auto market table, how he went to the sink not only in Russia, but in the same Germany the waiters did not have time to accept orders and spread ready -made portions! So the long -awaited third -generation Laguna has become a kind of truth for Renault: a family sedan, and even with a clear application for a higher class, requires, if not a healthy design conservatism, then at least its rational combination with an unhealthy, indefatigable fantasy French car couturiers. Plus practicality and reliability at the notorious German level. Did the followers of the great Louis Renault succeeded and the wards of the Almighty Carlos Gon?
 
When the driver, who met at the Charles de Gaulle airport, led me to the car left in the parking lot, he noted with obvious pleasure and even pride: Monsieur, the latest Laguna for you! So, having arrived in Paris at the invitation of the Renault F1 team to her next presentation, I suddenly turned out to be a passenger in the same machine that I was just about to write about in this material. I sit down, as befits an important person, in the back seat and immediately plunges into a relaxed, very pleasant, cozy atmosphere. The driver, without taking out the electronic key-card from the pocket, is inaudibly touched by the button to the right of the steering wheel, the engine is inaudible, and the car touches very gently, and after a few minutes it is just as gently, but very assertively rushing along the highway to Paris, then along the French around the environment the capital and almost empty at such a late hour of the boulevard of the perferyer in the speakers of the audio system is quiet (excellent sound insulation allows!) The duet of Serge Ginzburg and Jane Birkin soundly sounded, conveniently, spacious and calm, and until we get to the hotel, I can without fuss and, as it were, from the outside, consider everything that I had previously seen from the driver's seat. And I can close my eyes and, surrendering to the subconscious, imagine myself to be blessed under the quiet splash of the raging waves on the shore of the blue lagoon sung by filmmakers.
 
Well, a good additive to those impressions that I have already received a couple of months earlier, testing the new, one of the very first serial Renault Laguna in the dizzying picturesque surroundings of Lake Wolfgangsaa, just under the quiet splash of waves, however, in the outer design Contrary to expectations, he did not become a sedan, and remained a hatchback, a certain lagoon motive is captured only The stern, the curved line of the roof, and otherwise its contours are rather emphasized straightforward. The nasal part is especially in this sense: the monumental, with a slightly raised trapezoidal middle part and aggressively bent down the hood with a large rhombus emblem, triple profiled blocks of the sophisticated configuration, and between them separating the hood and the bumper are a narrow straight slot of the air intake, bringing In a rather calm, as a whole, the design of the machine is an unexpectedly spectacular hard note. And the nasal profile mowed forward in combination with a side edge passing along the lower edge of the body when viewing in front of the fence gives the car a rapid and even partially sports appearance.
 
At the back, it seems to me, the new Laguna looks somewhat worse as as if flattened on the sides and elongated upward, although the architecture of the stern itself with the two -section lamps on the LEDs soared in itself looks fresh and original. The most powerful versions can be recognized from behind by two exhaust pipes with chrome tips. The fundamental external difference in comparison with the previous generation Laguna: the rear window does not emphasize, as before, that it is a hatchback, but, on the contrary, it conceals this fact, thus turning a car into a pseudo-show, like hand-competing Ford Mondeo and Opel Vectra. The motivation for such a decision is dictated by the preferences of the European market: the demand for a modern Class D car increases if it, being hatchback and possessing its practicality, has a prestigious appearance of the sedan.
 
In general, Laguna III is drawn so that under its completely new, original silhouette, the contour of the former model appears, which makes the car easily recognizable. The water-worn topic embedded in the name appears in the interior design, which, unlike the appearance of the car, has undergone much deeper rethinking and is very different from the previous one for the better. The central console does not console habitually on the casing of the central tunnel, but it soars beautifully above it, and the ribs, flying away from its lower edge to the doors, resemble the wings of the seagull. The upper bend of the front panel, which enveloping the information display, schedule the designers, scooped inspiration, presumably, it was precisely in the coastline of a certain lagoon.
Initiale premium comprehension provides for surface decoration under this line, as well as door panels, with noble matte inserts made of natural wood. At the same time, quality the finishes increased markedly in principle, in all trim levels remaining definitely French, the salon became more German. A spectacular distinctive feature of the steering wheel double the lower knitting needle, echoing in its geometry with the nasal part of the machine, and in the sports version of Dynamique this element is larger and entirely lined with aluminum, and the rim of a variable thickness is hidden in the lower part, like the charged versions of Audi.
 
Another geometric paraphrase on the topic of the nose is a metallized frame framing the small, ergonomic control unit of the climate system located under the display. The dashboard is stylish and concise, the devices are easily read. Behind the gear lever is a practical management joystick communication and navigation system. But was it worth placing a cruise control control key here? It seems that when this key is located on the steering wheel, it would be more familiar and more convenient to use it. But in the usual place mentioned above the Start/Start button, which is also familiar from the model of the past generation (and after all, on other mass cars in those days, such luxury did not smell!). One touch, and on the road. Fortunately, the choice is rich.
To begin with, for warming up, you can rush through the nearby border to Germany along the unlimited section of the autobahn Salzburg-Munich, and then picked from the heart along the shores of the lake and along the surrounding mountain slopes of endless traffic serpentines. At my disposal, a rather powerful version with a modern two-liter 170-horsepower turbo engine, thanks to which the car shows an enviable dynamic potential on a high-speed highway: accelerates evenly, but assertively and then dissects the space as a good main liner. The motor works exclusively smoothly, but is always ready for sprinkling, providing in overall acceleration from 80 to 120 km/h for 7.7 s.
 
To demonstrate the best that he is capable of, the surprisingly correct, truly smart and fast -acting automatic transmission helps, perhaps the best today in its class, and this impression is not only persisted, but also intensifies when, after a power warm -up on the autobahn, we cross To a more complex part of the exercises and water procedures, we rush to the mountain roads surrounding Wolfgangsaa, for the sake of a beautiful frame, moving from them sometimes to the lake itself! We are me and Laguna. Or Laguna and I am whatever. In any case, this is the fact that this machine is pleasantly interactive in management and easily, good -naturedly allows you to merge with it together. It will not be a big exaggeration to say that she is given to a person at the wheel, as if a loving and devoted woman, ready to fulfill any of your whim.
 
The accelerator pedal is transparent so much that it allows you to accurately dose power transmission to the wheels according to the conditions, but does not bring to a nervous breakdown. Contrary to French traditions, the brake pedal also has the same transparency, contrary to French traditions, the highest effectiveness. The steering wheel is very pleasant to the touch and is perfectly in hand to control it conveniently. The steering has become significantly more accurate due to the reduced to 1/16 transfer of the transfer, greater stiffness of the steering column, the elimination of the gaps and the use of the adaptive hydraulic mission of the new generation. Unless it is not too generously shared with the driver with a feedback, but his rational sharpness and clarity causes proper trust in the car and, again, allows you to be with it, squeezing out of it everything that it is capable of. Seats are very convenient in the standard version, and especially in the near -sports version of Dynamique with more pronounced lateral support.
 
In the course of the dough, I change my girlfriend to a less temperamental with a two -liter engine, but atmospheric, with a power of only 140 liters. With. Surprisingly, when losing a more powerful version in maximum speed and overtaking, this Laguna is gaining 0.1 with faster probably, still due to the verified and clearly working mechanical gearbox and more confident traction of the motor from the lower classes, although this difference is so. It is insignificant, which is practically not noticeable. The mountain road curls with a serpentine from one fabulous Tyrool village to another, then rushing down, then soaring up, from where in every turn, dizzying beautiful views open. I admired the road workers then I will have to install new columns, and even about what will happen to you and with the car, it’s even scary to think.
 
On such a road, the confidence that the car is inspired by, unity with it, its honed controllability is more important. No, of course, Laguna in this sensations is by no means a sports car, but still a family car, but the chassis allows its chassis much more than before. The engineers redesigned the suspension in the most radical way (in particular, significantly increasing the diameter of the reptile stability stabilizers and the stiffness of the springs), and as a result, there was no trace of its former validity, the rolls are minimal even with fast and aggressive driving along a winding road, and at the same time the car is going on, and at the same time. As already noted, very softly, smoothly. The designers endowed it with congenital course stability, and setting up the stabilization system provides its very correct operation.
It would be strange if they had not played their trump card in Renault, without ensuring the highest level of security of the new model. It is worth recalling that six years ago it was the Laguna of the past generation that became the first car to receive the highest rating based on the results of the Euro NCAP crash tests. Now, the level of both active and passive (especially in terms of protection from the most dangerous lateral blow) is raised even higher, on the highest score on a new, six -star scale. Well, how are things with the quality in general and reliability with the criteria by which Renault products in past years could not always successfully compete with the same Germans? As it turned out, before being at the disposal of journalists on the coast of the Austrian mountain lake, Laguna III (in the form of one and a half hundred pre -production prototypes) rolled as much as 6 million kilometers (!) On the roads of Argentina, Malaysia, Australia and even the Far North of Russia, which should become the key to the high reliability of the new car. And representatives of Renault pay special attention to the fact that it is already made in full accordance with a plan for improving the quality of production and maintenance specially adopted several years ago. And this, combined with all the above advantages, is capable of, according to Renault experts, to provide a new car in the top three in its segment. That, taking into account the emergence of such strong competitors as new versions of Ford Mondeo and Mazda6 (which are already successfully sold in Russia!), Not to mention other upcoming premieres in the D segment, is a very difficult task. Let's not forget that in Europe the segment of family cars is experiencing a crisis, there is a class C. Class C, and in Russia, where everything is just the opposite, the French historically lose to the Germans and Japanese. Will the new Laguna have its undoubted virtues to overcome this stereotype? Personally, I liked the car, but (see the beginning). One way or another, sales of Renault Laguna III in Russia begin shortly after the release of this material. It is already known that cars with diesel engines will still not be supplied, but both of the above two-liter gasoline versions will be presented. In the basic configuration, Laguna will also be equipped with an economical engine with a volume of 1.6 liters and a capacity of 110 liters. p., which, by the usual standards, seems not the most attractive option for such a machine. A little later, as it was before, the versions in the cub of the station wagon will appear, and the most powerful version of the hatchback, equipped with the Nissan and the upgraded V6 engine, which (along with the sealing rear suspension), is also planned to be installed under the hood for lovers. delightful compartment Laguna, so far in the form of a concept
Boris Muradov

 

A source: Motor magazine [March 2008]