New Car Test - Renault Laguna Authentique

20 June, 2002

Classy French performance.

By Julian Edgar

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The Renault Laguna is a very good car. In fact, it misses out on being a brilliant car by just the narrowest of margins - with the auto trans control software majorly tweaked, it'd be right up there with the standard setters. But even so its combination of grunty 3-litre V6, capacious cabin, excellent equipment level, range of safety features and wonderful on-road dynamics result in a package which - especially for the money - is really outstanding.

But let's get the bad news out of the way first. On paper the auto trans looks like a good 'un - 5-speed with a tiptronic-style manual override. But this is a trans which just tries to be w-a-a-y too clever. It's reading the driving style so hard that it gets wound up into knots that are hugely irritating to untangle.

Like, you're climbing a long hill and - as with some many 'thinking' auto transmissions- it figures that on the incline you won't want to have too many up- or down-changes. Fine. But then after you've passed the hill you find the trans still thinking in hill-mode; for 10 or 15 seconds the engine's revving at three grand in second gear and just won't change up. Or you're going down the same hill, feet off the brake and accelerator. The trans selects third gear - which is good for some engine braking - and you're rolling along, quite happy. Then, for no apparent reason, the trans figures you don't want engine braking anymore and slots up to fourth.

Whooops - off you go!

Then there's the lock-up converter that does its stuff with an audible thump on at least a couple of gears, the logic that sees the trans change down from fifth to fourth when even a minor rise is met - and it's not like the engine doesn't have plenty of mid-range torque - and bizarre jerks and bumps that occur at apparently random times.

And the manually-selectable part of the gearbox? In general it's fine - the only negative is that the lever is a bit imprecise when tipping it forward or pulling back. There's no click to show that you've got the next gear - so you either slam it or watch the dash display to confirm the gear change.

How Renault engineers got the trans so wrong while getting the rest of the car so right is a puzzle. Let's take the engine. The over-square L7X is of standard architecture - a 24-valve 3-litre V6. But add variable inlet valve timing and electronic throttle to the mix and it's a sweet thing, perceptibly coming onto cam around three grand and then thriving on revs to the 6500 rpm redline. Factory figures say 153kW at 6000 rpm and 285Nm at 3750 rpm but these don't tell you of its willingness. Accompanied by a gruff note, the engine is unexpectedly strong. Nought to 100 comes up in about 8.5 seconds, but on the road the car often feels even quicker than that - a corollary of the five transmission ratios and that electronic throttle. But while Renault claim that 90 per cent of peak torque is available from 2500 rpm, at very low revs the engine isn't so strong. To compensate for this, the trans is specified with what feels to be a high-stall torque converter: the revs flare unconvincingly when manoeuvring up steep slopes.

A downer of the very high 10.9:1 engine compression ratio is that Premium Unleaded is the required brew. But offsetting this is the very good fuel consumption - despite having not particularly brilliant AS2877 government fuel test figures of 11.5 and 8 litres/100, we recorded an average of 9.9 litres/100 km - excellent in the type of real-world driving conditions experienced.

On the road the Laguna is eminently comfortable. Though the steering is much too light and a little imprecise around centre, the Renault can be hustled along indecently quickly. The suspension control is masterly: despite having a brilliant long-travel ride, grip from the 205/55 Continentals is tenacious. Along flowing roads the handling is completely neutral, although as the corners start to tighten the Laguna will push into understeer. But with stability control fitted as standard (yes, that's right - not just traction control but the far more sophisticated all-wheel system) the Renault never threatens to plough off the road. Note, though, that the front tyre pressures are critical - early in our test we had a slowly deflating front corner and for a day couldn't work out why the handling was getting worse and worse... The poise over really rough roads is exceptional, lines being held through conditions that see the majority of other cars bounced off line.

Braking is also well up to standard, with big 308mm ventilated front discs and 274mm rear solid discs, gripped by ABS and emergency brake assist. As with stability control, finding brake assist (which helps clamp the discs with as much force as possible in an emergency stop) in this pricing range is excellent.

As you'd expect from a new Euro design, the aerodynamics of the Laguna are also right up to speed - despite a little wind noise from around the base of the A-pillars, the body shape is generally very quiet in the road, and its stability is excellent. Drag coefficient is 0.32, and the aero-efficiency can be clearly seen in the rear body shape - notably in the incredibly shallow-angled hatch glass. However, this does have a driving downside - rear vision is extremely limited, especially with the back seat head restraints in place.

Inside the cabin the Laguna is a little - er - different. There's no ignition key, just a credit-card sized remote that is inserted into a slot in the centre of the dash. That brings the ignition lights on, while starting the engine (and stopping it, for that matter) requires the pressing of a separate button. We can't see any advantages in this unique approach - nor any major disadvantages either.

But unlike the ignition 'key', there are some very distinct positives in the other unusual controls.

The sound system tucks behind a fold-down panel, with finger-tip paddles mounted on the steering column used to control all of the major functions. With the centre-dash LCD display showing radio volume, frequencies, band, and CD selected, the only requirement to open the door over the radio is to change CD or alter bass and treble. It takes only a short time to enjoy the safely and convenience of not having to take your hand from the wheel to adjust volume or CD track selected - it's a system that works very well.

Another unusual but effective control strategy can be found in the cruise control. Operated from steering wheel buttons (except for the dash-mounted master 'on' control), the selected cruise speed is shown by an LCD. So when you increment up to 100 km/h, that's what speed you get. It's far nicer than punching 'up' and 'down' buttons and squinting at the speedo until you settle on the required speed. As with nearly all electronic-throttle cars, the cruise control itself is supremely smooth - no surges or jerks when it is first engaged or is confronted with a hill.

And if you've been keeping an eye on the equipment, so far that's Stability Control, ABS, cruise, CD-radio - but it doesn't stop there. There's also dual-zone digital climate control (which incorporates the excellent auto-recirc feature that stops the cabin filling with fumes when you're behind a clunker), alloys, a trip computer, front and rear reading lights - and no less than six airbags! For a car of this size and power and costing just $46,990, that's an exceptional list. And note that dropping an extra five grand to upgrade to the Privilege model adds xenon headlights, rain-sensing wipers, power seats, CD-stacker... Not enough? Ah, then you'll like the $57,990 Privilege LX!

But let's go back to the base model - which sure doesn't feel like a base model...

Inside the cabin there's generally space aplenty. Only two dimensions are at all tight - rear seat headroom and the toe-room behind the driver if that seat is cranked downwards in height. But front and rear knee- and elbow room are good, and under the hatch the boot is huge. The rear seatbacks tilt forward on a 60/40 split, and while they don't sit quite flat, the resulting room is enormous. The seats are comfortable and supportive, and entering and exiting the cabin is easy, as all the doors open wide. Storage areas are capacious, with wide and deep door pockets (front and back) and a deep centre console compartment. However, the glovebox is small.

The trim and switch-gear all feels of high quality and the doors shut superbly. The paint and panel also looks excellent.

At the $46,990 the Renault Laguna is a startling package. Not only is it extraordinarily well equipped, but - especially on rough roads - it rides and handles impressively, has an economical but strong engine, and is spacious, comfortable and well-built. And the trans? For us it was a real downer, a let-down in what is otherwise such a good all-round car. But - hey - plenty of people wouldn't even notice its odd behaviour, and even for those that do, the pluses of the Laguna far outweigh this only negative...