Test drive by Renault Modus 2005 - 2008 Minivan

Do you think all this will be worn?

The great hopes that Renault connects with this car is unlikely to come true. In our market, in any case.
 



Widely open eyes
She was represented with such a pomp that Napoleon, who returned after his Toulon, would envy. A new masterpiece from the creators of the stage and Espas! The safest in the class! The most family of the compact and the most compact of all family!
 

And so she is in front of me, a car, which, according to the French, should become a new hit of the Mikrovenov market. You can’t say anything: outwardly, the modus is beauty. In my opinion, it is noticeably more interesting than her main competitors Opel-Meriva and Peugeot 1007.
 

Especially the front headlights stand out who was there from the movie stars there from the bottomless ocean of the eye? Sophia Loren? Audrey Hapburn? Angelina Jolie? Vertical and endless, that space, headlights Renault and in the photo make an impression, and in real life they are completely hypnotized. And the modus also surprisingly proportional figure, taking into account a fairly high 159 cm roof. Large eyes and highly inclined windshield create a very whole and bright image.
 

By the way, the interior of the car for the chef designer Renault Patrick Le Ceman and his team are almost more important than appearance. No wonder it was in the center of the style of this French company that a sensual design was born, a priori implies that in the cabin, each of the detail, without exception, a small masterpiece.
 

 
Thanks to such luxurious headlights, you will recognize the modus as a mile




The catch crept up unnoticed
The higher the expectations, the, alas, disappointment is stronger. Of course, the inner world of the modus is not so bad as to shrug, but on the other hand ... To begin with, I did not find any special feast of design. The salon is only a potpourri on the topic of other models of Renault plus the only original element located in the center of the torpedo, in the style of the 20s of the last century, a digital dashboard.

And here are also signs of strict savings of plastic torpedo, hard, like a French roll of weekly freshness, and a strange gray-black upholstery of seats, as if borrowed in a warehouse of a rural Hozemag.

 
   
Music Joystick is one of the most comfortable salon chips

Manual mirror adjustment is by no means decorated with glamorous microvan

A very close modus sofa does not abound in the possibilities of transformation


However, it is cheap in appearance or expensive all these are subjective assessments. The real convenience of the salon was much more disappointed. After all, what is Mikroven? A single collector with a more spacious and functional salon than that of Supermini, on the basis of which it is built. Just in this regard, the modus practically does not differ from Clio. For the better in any case.
 

Say, the trunk of a 55 liter modus is inferior to Clio. If the French Supermini sofa is quite suitable for two adult passengers of 1 m 85 cm tall, then Mikroven is no longer happy with such tall guys. At least I hardly squeezed into the narrow space between the backs of the sofa and the front chair.

 
   
The secret boxes in the floor are not a non -measuring floor should not leave napkins and road maps there

It is unlikely that in this niche on board it will be possible to put something more serious than the first-aid kit

The main trump card of the trunk is a huge opening. There will be no more problems with the transportation of TVs


Yes, and the possibility of transforming the modus that has visited our test is by no means a revelation. All the business is the folding back of the sofa. Plumpled French convenience only for an additional fee. Having forced herself to a more expensive version of the expression, you will receive a very cunning rear row of Triptych seats.
 

Its main talent is that the sofa easily turns into a diphth from a triple becomes double. Practical thing. The same, by the way, has the same measure, and Opel is included in the basic equipment. And it is right. How would you relate to the fact that, in addition to the ticket for the movie show, did you have to pay extra for the right to use the chair?
 



Big Lovkach
Well, at least for another virtue of Mikroven, the commanding landing and the attached to it are not excellent overview of the superfluous. And from the captain’s bridge of the modus, everything is really visible to me. Moreover, unlike many single collectors, the edge of the hood is visible from the driver's seat, therefore it is a pleasure to maneuver. And the hydraulic wrap engineers Renault seemed to deliberately made a very light wheel steering wheel, I literally turned one finger. The diameter of the turn less than 10 meters allows you to use every inch road saw the propelly in a tight stream and then sniffed there. Yes, and you can park, as they say, on a handkerchief.
 

The 75-horsepower motor was also pleasant in general. Its working volume is not even 1.2 liters indicated in the advertising avenue, but precisely 1149 cm. However, this crumb is lucky for its volume. I twist it a little on the bottoms, and the modus obediently and quickly fits into the buzzing automobile swarm on the wide prospectus. And even with two, so to speak, full -sized uncles on board Mikroveng allowed me to leave quite briskly from traffic lights and overtake.
 

Another conversation that far beyond the city is more expensive to meddle on a mode. For 120 km/h, the accelerated dynamics ends and the tedious-tissue speed set begins. Moreover, the older the arshin numbers of the digital speedometer, the stronger the desire to remove the leg from the gas. Very noisy.
 

But I want to forgive the voteness of the motor much faster than a surprise is such a surprise! unimportant smoothness. But until recently, it was the delightful comfort of the suspension that distinguished everything from small to great. Did the Modus decide to arrange an unnecessary revolution in this case? At least behind the wheel of this baby you will have to get used to the nervous shudder of the body almost on every bump and clapping limiters of shock absorbers. It's a pity...

 
   
The convenience of landing and an excellent review deserve only praise

The dashboard located in the center, by definition, is read worse than the traditional

Colorful instructions for replacing the wheel will help to pass the time in the roads




Not about our honor
So, little by little, by the end of my rendezvous with this French fashionista from the pleasant impression that she had left her perky appearance and a cheerful motor. A very spectacular outwardly and conceived by a functional city car, the French Mikrovenn does not shine with any special convenience. In addition, disappointing the cramped sofa and the rigidity of the suspension. Over the same, the same Meriva has a much more spacious interior, and Peugeot 1007 has unique sliding doors. The modus has only such ephemeral joys in undeniable advantages as the aroma of French grace and wide eyes.
 

Can they fall in love with fashionable fashionistas and housewives? Quite. That's just this is unlikely to happen. You look at the price! Modus with a 1.1-liter engine in a basic configuration without air conditioning and electric windows costs as much as $ 16,699. It is only $ 300 cheaper than a 1.6-liter compactvena chevrolet-ripe ...

If you still decide to put the modus in your garage, then you are not experiencing a lack of lack of money. And if so, we strongly recommend paying $ 1,500 for the version of the express. For $ 18,169, you get not only a more powerful engine, but also air conditioning, electric windows, as well as the rear sofa triptich. Incidentally, adding air conditioning to the price of a base 1.1-liter Mikrovenn does not make any sense. Firstly, the triptych is not put on it in principle. And secondly, such a combination will cost $ 17,899.
 

What follows from this? You should wait. Maybe the French will change their minds and reduce prices. In the meantime, alas, this fashionista is not about our honor.
    
We reduce the appetites

Incidentally, European buyers also do not divide the enthusiasm of Renault’s leadership to the modes account. This is expressed, first of all, in very modest sales. After all, only in 2005, the French company reduced the volume of release of its new Mikrovan three times. If the initial figures were 315 thousand cars a year, then after the last amendment last fall the plan of the plant in the Spanish Valadolida is only 123 thousand modes. What, interestingly, will be in a year or two?
 
PER

Attractive appearance, excellent visibility and maneuverability
AGAINST

High price, flaws in the assembly, harsh suspension, noisy motor, cramped sofa, limited possibilities for transforming the salon of the basic version
 
Renault Modus
common data
 
Body (number of places/doors)
hatchback (5/5)
 
Equipped mass, kg
1120
 
Length x width x height, mm
3792x1710x1589
 
Base, mm
2482
 
Trunk volume, l
198/1283
 
Acceleration time 0100 km/h, with
13.5
 
Speed, km/h
163
 
Fuel consumption, l/100 km highway/city
5.1/7.7
 

Engine


 
Design
in-line, 4-cylinder, 16-valve
 
Working volume, SMZ
1149
 
Power, L.S. at rpm
75/5500
 
Torque, kgsm at rpm
10.7/4250
 

Chassis


 
Drive unit
On the front wheels
 
Transmission
Mechanical 5-speed
 
Suspension:
spring, with stabilizers of anti -resistance stability
 
front
Independent type of McExeson
 
behind
semi -dependent
 
Steering
rheck -type with an electric power
 
Front/back brakes
Disco ventilated/drum
 
Tires
165/65 R15
 

Car
0.20 $/km
 
 

Mikhail Medvedev, photo of Maxim Goncharov
 
 

Source: Magazine buy a car [02/2006]