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Press Centre > CAPtivate > CAP Blog
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Jan
27
Written by:
Martin Ward
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
When this car arrived, in semi-darkness, the neighbour’s curtains did start twitching and you could feel the excitement on my cul-de-sac. They all thought an expensive supercar had arrived and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I had them at my door asking for the keys, and to let them sit in it. As the sun rose the next morning, not one person asked to have a look. The disappointment could be seen clearly on their faces as they realised that it was not an Aston Martin, but a Renault Laguna.
 The new three door coupe does attract attention though, wherever you go, and it does take some time for people to realise that it is a Renault. It is ultra-stylish and does have the look of a car that is much more expensive and from a more exotic brand. The designers at Renault’s HQ in Paris took a brave decision to produce this coupe and to ‘borrow’ some styling cues from other leading sports car manufacturers. However, the obvious differences between the Laguna and a Ferrari, an Aston or a Maserati are the price and the engine. There is no powerful V8 fitted to this coupe, instead you have a 2.0 litre diesel engine that produces 180ps. It doesn’t go from 0-62mph in 4 seconds, this one takes twice as long with a time of 8.5 seconds, and its top speed is not limited to 155mph, but peaks at 138mph. This is still fast enough, even for the German Autobahn, and well in excess of the M1’s speed limit. This coupe does have more than enough power for everyday driving and always has a bit spare, just in case.
This four seater coupe will carry four adults, but if you are unlucky enough to be in the rear, you don’t want to be in there for too long. The leg room is just about adequate but the sloping roof, which is typical on a sports coupe, does limit head room. The front seats are very comfortable and supportive, and are perfect on a long run.
 The interior is pretty good, but is not up to the standard of many other manufacturers. You just can’t put your finger on what doesn’t work, but there is just something that is lacking. Maybe it is the quality of the plastic used throughout the car that could be better.
The GT model has four wheel steering as standard and you can tell when driving it that there is something different about the car. On motorways when you change lane, it feels as if the car is on rails and it gives you the feeling that it is moving sideways. You can make the tiniest movement on the steering wheel and you have changed lanes. This car does not drive like any other car; it is a strange feeling. The steering is very precise, but it does take a while to get used to. On normal roads and when cornering, it just sticks to the road with the minimum of steering wheel movement.
During the time we had the Laguna coupe, it achieved an average of 40.1mpg according to the on-board computer. The official combined fuel figure is 45.6mpg. To get over 40mpg from this type of car is a good result.
 The interior designers have done a fairly good job on most aspects, making it feel good in the cabin despite the quality of some of the plastics. However, they decided to fit a metal gear knob, maybe to give it a sporty look, maybe to give it a quality feel, or maybe to be a little different and move away from the traditional leather or plastic covered knob. I would like to bet that the designers did not try out this metal gear knob in real life and especially in the cold. On a cold morning, and until the car warms up, you can hardly use it as it is almost too cold to touch. At times you think your hand is about to be welded to the gear stick by ice.
The price of the test car is a fairly hefty £26,535. Expensive for a Laguna, but cheap for a desirable sports coupe.
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