Test drive by Renault Vel Satis 2002 - 2005 hatchback

His Majesty Renault Vel Satis

We will go the other way - apparently, under such a slogan, Renault, led by the new designer Patrick Le Keman, created his own flagship - an unusual representative hatchback, Vel Satis avant -garde model. It is logically reasoning that it was extremely difficult to deal with recognized leaders on their field, and sometimes just useless, the French decided not only to create another analogue, but to offer customers, so far to give preference to traditional sedans, something new and original. But at the same time, just as comfortable, prestigious and stylish ...
 
Not like everyone else
 
To be the best among equals, especially in such a specific market sector, it is not enough to be just the most perfect in technical terms, the most luxurious and the highest quality among competitors - you also need to be the most fashionable. And this is quite serious: the English Jaguar, which has not long been distinguished by the special quality of the assembly and reliability, have been among the leaders for decades only because Jaguar is initially a very expensive and prestigious brand. Do you think why Toyota, whose cars are famous for incredible reliability, suddenly decided to come up with a new Lexus brand when she developed luxury models for the American market? Yes, all for the same reason: under the Toyota brand, inexpensive models such as Corolla are better known, and not at all hefty representative sedans. That is why the Japanese decided that it would be much easier to promote a completely new and unfamiliar brand than to break stereotypes in the heads of millions of buyers.
 
The French, and specifically, Renault, in recent years, which created several image models, and after the appearance of the second generation of the Megane model, which was generally posed behind the image of the avant -garde, it acted easier: it created not a new brand, but a completely new model. The experience of creating just such, hitherto unknown, completely new classes of cars, Renault already has, and very rich. And most importantly, for the most part very successful. First, the first Espace minivan, recently, is the SCENIC golf class, and now - the Hatchback of the Vel Satis representative class. Both of the current bestseller, I mean Espace and Scenic, at the time of the debut had small marks with sales, but subsequently everything gradually got better, and by the time the second generation of the above models, each of them had already had a lion's share in its market sector. Will this turn out with Vel Satis? Thinking, yes ...
 
You just look at him, there is simply no other such car in the world. There are crossovers, there are elongated limousines, there are parquet luxury SUVs, but no one has yet been released such a car. Formally, Vel Satis can be called a five -door hatchback - it has five doors, and the fifth has a characteristic hatchback angle of inclination. That's just height ... For the hatchback, the new flagship Renault is very high, it almost catches up with crossovers in terms of roof. But at the same time, Vel Satis is much lower than minivans and single -combatants - a certain symbiosis of a traditional French hatchback and a single -raised man is obtained. What does it give?
 
Thanks to the unusual layout, the car is very spacious: both in front and behind the place is more than enough. And this is perhaps one of the few cases when the car is really suitable for representative purposes - Vel Satis is just incredibly a lot of legs space. Landing, however, turns out a little more vertical than in a passenger car, but you can stretch your legs almost completely, and at the same time you won’t take it to the front chair!
 
The front chairs Vel Satis deserve a separate conversation: if there is a set of adjustments (with electric drive), they can still change the shape - the back of the front chair consists of two parts, and the upper can bend relative to the lower. In addition, the front seats themselves simply amaze with their monumentality - I still had not yet to see a more bulky throne. I never saw such a panel as in Renault Vel Satis - a unique design. And if the appearance of the car still seems controversial to many, then the interior is not in doubt, it is very luxurious, spacious and unusual. Small buttons of the separate climate control system are adjacent to the classic oval clock (mechanical?), And the flat panels of the central console and the dashboard are covered with one large germaulus of semi-oval shape. It turns out that the middle part of the panel is slightly deployed towards the driver, like BMW, but at the same time Renault does not have that intrusive tightness.
 
As everybody...
 
There are a lot of different chips in Renault Vel Satis, which can only cheer up the fact of their presence, but, unfortunately, are some features. The first thing that is annoying is the transverse buildup of the body. On good coating, when moving at cruising speed, Vel Satis is really felt by a representative car - pendants smoothly work out irregularities, no noise and knocks from below. But it is worth going faster, especially on peripheral roads of local significance, and the car begins to sway noticeably: from side to side, from stern on the nose, diagonally. And this buildup, of course, does not add comfort at all. Pure physics: you sit above - chatting more. It seems that having traveled at a speed of about 120-130 km/h a couple of kilometers on asphalt roads of local significance, some of the passengers of the flagship Renault may suddenly be pink from seasrings.
 
The relatively high center of gravity and the rather large growth of the car itself created some problems with controllability: in turns, Vel Satis feels far from the best way. No, the rolls cannot be called high, rather they are more than acceptable, but the overall impression of a trip along a winding path can be described in one word - it shakes. Which, by the way, is especially noticeable with high-speed maneuvering: it is possible to swing Vel Satis with elementary overcoming the snake, two or three times sharply spinning by the steering wheel. But even in this mode, Renault behaves very reliably and predictably: the tires break into sliding gently and equally smoothly restore, without forcing the car to twitch or shy away towards the twisted wheels. Even the notorious elk test, which Western car journalists now arrange literally every car, the center of gravity of which is slightly higher than that of an ordinary car, Vel Satis is calm and without sudden movements: turning the steering wheel, a small roll, short -term loss of wheels with the road, stabilization and returning to your lane. According to the subjective sensations of Vel Satis, it is like a well -pronounced parquet SUV type BMW X5, and even a little better. I would not compare it with an ordinary sedan: a higher car of a priori is more wax in corners. Although this Renault does not turn to call this Renault. When you see Vel Satis outside, it seems that it passes in one breath - neither any noticeable rolls in corners, nor troops of the body on the turn. And in terms of overload, it is felt that the developers chose to make the car less speed in turn for the sake of general safety: there was a slight insufficient rotation. It’s easier: when the speed in the turn is exceeded, the machine simply slightly slips with the face out of the turn, and the gas reacts to the discharge of gas only by the fact that it gradually returns to its lane. At the same time, the driver has a whole arsenal of techniques with which you can make the car go to a smaller radius faster - you can simply reduce the engine speed, you can also trample the brake pedal. In any case, Renault Vel Satis will not break into the skid, but simply smoothly return to its trajectory.
 
But inside, the sensations are completely different: highly sitting passengers and the driver feel more acutely, all the cranes of the body feel, so for them even a relatively gentle turn seems almost a mother -in -law. Although, if you go calmly, then Vel Satis instantly restores the status quo: the car stops rolling in corners, and passengers do not have to grab the ceiling handles so as not to move off a wide leather chair. And to control the optimal speed on the turn is easier: the tires installed on the Vel satis really do not like side overloads and desperately screeches at the slightest excess of speed in the bend. Thus, the machine unobtrusively makes it clear that its element is not a winding mountain path, but a good autobahn, where Vel Satis at an average speed of about 180 km/h can easily go for hours.
 
The brakes, more precisely, the system for helping with emergency braking, which is included in the list of standard equipment for the only version that will be delivered to our market, behave interestingly. I had previously had to deal with cars that have this system installed (for example, Mercedes-Benz with its Brake Assist), but only in Renault Vel Satis to feel how it works for the first time. With a sharp blow to the brakes, the system comes into effect, increasing the effort in the brake line to the maximum, thus maximizing the braking distance. This feldder went into production after various safety specialists who examined for many years came to the conclusion that most drivers in an emergency simply ... do not use the entire potential of the brake system. They simply do not squeeze the brake pedal to the end-someone due to limited physical capabilities (old people or women), and someone just because of panic. Manufacturers solved this problem very simple: installed the Brake Assist system (in Renault it is called AFU). And the peculiarity of this system is that it works even after the driver ... stopped braking! This is felt very clearly: if you sharply and powerfully hit the pedal, and then quickly let it go, you can feel how some fraction of a second the car will still slow down. This is not bad and not good - just such a feature. In general, the brake system deserves only praise, the only restriction that does not allow it to work at full strength - not the best clutch property of the tires.
 
The engine, and only a top version with a 3.5-liter 241-horsepower gasoline engine will be delivered to our market, copes with its responsibilities very well: Vel Satis, it seems that even BMW is ready to overtake. And this is even despite the fact that the entire power of the motor is transmitted to the front, drive wheels through a 5 -speed automatic gearbox - it also works very well. Soft, almost inconspicuous switching, no jerks or jerks. Even at the moment when the gas pedal is pressed into the polish, the automatic transmission does not cease to surprise with the softness of its work: switching to two gears down occur softly, although not as smoothly as in normal operation. However, for the drive there is a manual mode - the driver can independently choose the programs, shaking the gearbox lever forward and forth. This is convenient not only with active driving, but also in the usual rhythm of movement. For example, before overtaking some slow-moving, you can add a reduced gear in advance in order to use the entire potential of the engine at the right time. And he has the potential-oh-th! With maximum power at 214 hp. This motor, borrowed from Nissan, develops a torque of 330 nm at 3600 rpm. Which allows this to fly almost a two -ton representative of the highest class, like some GTI - from a place to a hundred Vel Satis 3.5 accelerates in 8.3 seconds!
 
For whom? Indeed, for whom is such a car intended? It is difficult to answer this question like this: too unusual and specific model. Although one thing is clear for sure - this is a machine for a wealthy person who is accustomed to buy the things that he likes. On the other hand, it may well be a corporate car. In terms of representative functions, Renault Vel Satis is not inferior to German and American models of the highest class. And even with its incredibly spacious salon, only the interiors of specially elongated limousines - stretchs can be compared at all. The only thing that embarrasses is a certain class uncertainty of this car is not a limousine, not a hatchback. Although, if Vel satis really liked someone, then he will buy it anyway: it’s nice to drive a car that almost everyone knows and argues about. In addition, knowing about the ability of Renault to create vehicles, which then become the ancestors of their classes, you can predict in advance - sooner or later Vel Satis will still become a bestseller. Even if not in this generation ...
 
Text: Pavel Kozlovsky
 

Source: Autogazet / N 25 (417) dated 08.07.03