Renault Master 2015 News

The major brands are keen for a good start to 2015 and that means a lot of sharp deals for the first two months of the year.Low profile brand Citroen currently has a hot deal on its Berlingo compact hauler, offering the 66kW diesel manual long body version for $25,990 drive away. It has also thrown in an extended warranty, covering it for five years/200,000km.Volkswagen has two limited edition vans available now, with special drive-away pricing.They are called Runner models and are effectively entry-level models.The Caddy Runner is based on the TSI 160 petrol version of Volkswagen’s small van. It is not loaded with gear, but does have airconditioning as well as stability control, and costs $23,990 drive away.The Transporter Runner, based on the TDI 250 diesel, is not completely void of features either and has just picked up Bluetooth phone connectivity and cruise control in addition to AC and stability control.Volkswagen is currently offering it for $32,990 drive away.Renault is receiving initial stock of the new Master large van, but there are a fair few of the old one left and that means bargains are to be had.The company hasn’t locked in incentives with the dealers, instead asking them to check in when someone is interested, so it might well be worth asking.The company does have an extended warranty offer in place at the moment to help its Kangoo compact van, which covers it for five years or 200,000km.Ford is offering two special deals with price cuts and extended warranty deals for its front-drive Transit Custom vans.The first is a short wheelbase model at $38,990 drive away and the second is the long wheelbase version for $40,990 drive away.These are keen prices, especially as Ford has now introduced an extended warranty that lasts for five years/200,000km.Both models are standard, but the Transit is very well specified and each van has a five-star crash safety rating, stability control, cruise control, Bluetooth connectivity, a bulkhead and even heated seats.There is only one transmission, a six-speed manual, as an automatic is still being developed, and only one engine, a 2.2-litre turbodiesel.Fiat is not doing any special deals on its just-introduced Doblo and Ducato vans, maintaining the strong pricing structure from the launch, including the well specified Doblo compact van from $22,000 for the petrol 1.4 and the larger Ducato with a 3.0-litre diesel from $38,000, but neither price includes drive-away costs.

Renault’s continued drive to become a mainstream player in Australia is proceeding at pace. The French marque’s car range has everything from low cost small hatchback, to family station wagons, with a delicious sprinkling of high-performance models from the RenaultSport division.Then there are the Renault light commercials. Small vans to large ones and most recently the introduction of a Renault Master cab-chassis with rear-wheel drive that we previewed late last year.Cab-chassis are imported only for one reason - to let Australian designers and engineers come up with a huge variety of bodies suited to very specific tasks. Indeed, as the local car industry moves away from large scale manufacturing it’s likely that many of the best people will move into designing and engineering vehicles based on cab-chassis, and others will manufacture them.Renault Australia and Sunliner, the latter a long established Australian family company, have entered into a partnership to build the Sunliner 40th Anniversary Model motorhome.We are delighted to report that French flair is very much part of the motorhome package; the bold frontal appearance of the Renault Master simply demands a futuristic looking motorhome. Even better to our eyes, the interior of the Sunliner breaks completely away from interior design and materials tradition. More luxury apartment than any olde-style caravan, it works brilliantly to our eyes. To quote the managing director of Sunliner, Nick Harding, “The interior is inspired by the design of super yachts and boasts the same sophisticated quality and style that people expect in a luxury product, including curved cabinets, leather and feature lighting.”We were impressed not only with the quality of the materials, but also the way they have also been crafted by men and women used by Sunliner who obviously know their trades very well.A slide-out wall not only increases Sunliners’ interior space, but also gives a feeling of extra room beyond that which actually exists. That’s clever.An interesting feature is the use of a drop-down bed. This allows you to sleep on a conventional mattress rather than the usual converted seat-and-table that inevitably compromises comfort.Swivelling front seats also improve interior space. Note that if you specify these the optional side airbags aren’t available. Front airbags are standard. An interesting feature is the outside TV inside a slide-up panel on the left of the Sunliner 40th Anniversary. Power down the large external awning by remote control, power up the TV by its remote, pour your favourite drink (not yet offered by remote control, but maybe one day!) and sit back to enjoy the great Aussie outdoors anywhere your Sunliner/Renault takes you.Renault Master is powered by a 2.3-litre turbo-diesel direct-injection four-cylinder engine, producing 110 kW of power and 350 Nm of torque, the latter between 1500 rpm and 2750 rpm. Whereas the front-drive models have the engine mounted east-west, the powerplant has been turned through 90 degrees to give it a conventional layout for the truck class.The engine drives through a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automated ZF manual. It features electrically controlled clutch engagement/disengagement that makes it more precise at very low speeds than is usual is automated manuals.Sunliner 40th Anniversary Model motorhome is priced at about $170,000 driveaway. Prices will very state to state due to differences in government and dealer charges. Contact your local Sunliner dealer for details.At this stage we haven’t had a chance to road test, or bed or kitchen test, a Sunliner, all we have done is check it out in a stationary position. We hope to carry out a full review soon and will get back to you with a full report then.