Renault Symbol test drive since 2008 sedan

Purely Symbolic

The new Renault Symbol has retained a successful motor, a proven transmission and a huge trunk of its predecessor. At the same time, the manufacturer insists has changed beyond recognition. So, now they are asked for the right to possess at least 33,000 rubles. more.
 
Oh, and he reminds me of some! From the older segment, with a larger engine, higher cost. This is Opel Astra Sedan! Look, even the molding with false chromium is the same! And the lanterns of Opelian angular, elongated on the sides, not at the bottom, as on the Germans, but at the top. Well, what are you puffing, Symbol? Do you really think that you can argue with more eminent competitors? At the back you look expensive, but small wheels in narrow arches and a simple stamp of the sidewalls, like a sentence: a state employee!
Yes, not a handsome man - angular, excessively raised, Renault Symbol looks like a clubfoot bear from a toy store. Someone will buy this - and only touched by the naivety of obliquely sewn plastic eyes, and the clubfoot gait will seem funny.
  
But the effect of the brand is still present on the side of the previous generation models are guessed, and in front you are drowning in vague headlights-blouses. Not too elegant, but definitely adds freshness.
I take it for a wide, inaccurate -looking handle of a door made of thin plastic and are going to load into the salon, ready for disappointments. Come on, save on me everything! I am waiting for an absurd shiny plastic, clumsy inserts for silver, a thin lamb and flimsy levers and regulators.
But a miracle happens: Symbol surrounds me with the care of a completely adult, a pleasant interior, let me almost the same as it was in the previous generation. Landing is pleasing: the super -low line of glazing allows you not to look for a compromise between convenience and visibility, and the steering wheel adjustable in height (already in the database) lies well. There is a reserve above the head that was a little lacking in the first symbol. But the roof, and therefore the height of the salon, remained the same. Optimized the shape of the chair itself?
 
It is too soft, with a wide, rather deep pillow and not optimal shape with the back. A tall person will put pressure on the upper vertebrae. But the driver will quickly find a comfortable pose quickly and get the opportunity to enjoy the salon chips.
First of all to instruments. They themselves remained unchanged, but received chrome rims around the dials in the version of Expression and began to read better.
The design of the front panel hat has changed. Now it looks more elegant; More space is provided for the central screen of the radio. In place were not too voluminous, but comfortable and neat boxes for trifles. On this, visible changes are exhausted.
The ninety -stamminal motor did not at all lose his former agility. It is not so great that pulls from the bottoms, but when the tachometer arrow exchange the first quarter of the circle and goes to 4,000 rpm, the thrust of the 1.4-liter engine becomes noticeable not only to the driver, but also to the neighbors in the stream.
The gear rates are short -term, but perhaps for the city they are optimal and do not require too frequent access to the lever with intensive acceleration. Yes, and work with him for pleasure. The programs are turned on with a verified, slight effort, clearly falling into the grooves.
 
The suspension is soft, and if the car is in the hands of an active driver, then an invariating. The rear passengers who are already not too lucky because of the modest space will feel completely on themselves. Partially, this problem is solved by the narrow backs of the front seats and modest armrests, but it is still difficult to sit freely.
But what does passengers have to do with it, when they have 506 liters of useful volume behind them! The loading height of the trunk, although increased compared to the predecessor by 16 mm, is still pleasing with an impressive opening and distinctive indicators in the class according to the size of the rear compartment.
 
And let the designers could not fully correct the congenital cosmetic shortcomings of the appearance of the machine, the practical component of the Renault Symbol designers defended. Perhaps the next generation will be completely eliminated into handsome men; True, the price, apparently, will be completely different
And the current price is rather big. Therefore, I would like to understand the position of Renault marketers, in the lineup of which there are two models originally oriented towards third world countries. More precisely, even three: after all, along with the logs and symbols of the second generation, Russian dealers still offer the first performance of the latter.
How to withdraw a model from the Shadow of Moscow Logan in Turkey? And in general: is the task of making Symbol II equally massive? If not, he will just take a place in show rooms.
The car is provided by the Autoproxy interior, the official dealer Renault
 
 
 

Text: Alexander Mikhailov
Photo: Roman Ostanin

 

 

Source: Wheel magazine [December 2008]