2011 Renault Latitude Reviews

Renault, established in 1898, has always been as French as crepes suzettes, pommes frites and the guillotine. But its latest model, the Latitude, has a Nissan engine  and it's built in Korea by Samsung. That said, the luxury sedan, Renault's biggest yet in Australia, is quite a car.With a longitude of just on 4.9m, about the same as a Commodore or a BMW 5 Series, it has the panache to steal sales from any rivals in the $35,000 to $45,000 bracket. The elegant car comes in 2.5litre V6 petrol and 2.0litre turbo-diesel form and in standard and Luxe (say it 'looxe') trim.Prices are from $36,990, for the standard model and $42,490 for the Luxe version, in either petrol or diesel. It's considerably less than the Laguna, which is being phased out.A big attraction is a new five-year, unlimited distance warranty plus five years of 24/7 roadside assistance, which applies not only to the Latitude, but also most of the new Renault passenger range. Also new is the brand's own financial services arm.The Latitude is different in that it does not have the customary Renault quirky styling. It has conventional good looks and is very well-equipped.Standard high-end fare includes integrated SatNav, an Arkamys 3D sound system, Bluetooth connectivity, smart card key, power adjustable and heated driver's seat, rake and reach adjustable steering wheel and dual climate control.The car rides on 17-inch alloys, has an automatic parking brake, rear window sunblinds, tinted windows, leather trim and a 60/40 splitfold back seat. The Luxe has a Bose audio system, three-zone climate control, an air ioniser, power driver's seat with massage function, 18-inch alloys and a vast panoramic electric glass sunroof. There's also a reversing camera and an electrochromatic mirror.Owners don't really need to open the bonnet. All the info on essentials, like oil and coolant levels and even the tyre pressures, are available on the neat and conventional dashboard.That's all tres bien, but what about the ride?It's another plus.Sprung on MacPherson struts with a multi-link system in the tail, the spacious sedan was a pleasure on the fast sweeping roads and undulations of the terrain north-west of Byron Bay.Comfort levels are high, there's ample space for five and the boot, which holds a full-sized spare, is long and wide, with 477litres of cargo accommodation. More a comfy tourer than a sporty model, the Latitude has fine steering and handling qualities and we felt fresh as a young grenouille after a day's driving.The V6 produces 133kW and 235Nm and average fuel economy is 9.7litres/100km. The diesel whacks out 127kW and a mighty 380Nm, which handled the steep inclines with Gallic disdain and claims to deliver 6.5l/100km. We recorded 7.7litres/100km on our quicker than average run. Both engines drive the front wheels via a smooth six-speed automatic with manual sequential override.Safety gear includes six airbags, ABS, ESP, speed limiter, cruise control, parking radar and auto-on lights and wipers.As le package complete, the Latitude is a good proposition, especially for people who like a bit of individuality. It's a well-finished product of the combined expertise of Renault Samsung Motors and the latest Renault-Nissan Alliance  and it comes with the best warranty of any Euromobile.For our money, the pick would be the Luxe diesel, but Renault expects a 60/40 split in favour of the petrol version. Either way, it's a handsome smoothie that the makers see as an alternative to the ubiquitous machines cluttering up the landscape. Bon chance. 

There was something familiar about the new Renault Latitude that I couldn't put my finger on.After some digging, I realised it's a Renault version of the Nissan Maxima - with a proper six speed automatic in the 2.5-litre petrol V6. There's also a 2.0-litre turbo diesel four also with a six speed auto which isn't available as a Nissan.It comes in two grades, Latitude at $36,990 and Latitude Luxe at $42,490 and you can have the petrol V6 or turbo diesel for the same money - pretty good eh?But there was something else familiar and it's the look and feel of the Latitude which is uncannily similar to Hyundai's new i45 and Kia's Optima. That's because Latitude comes out of Renault's plant in Busan, Korea.We are fans of the i45 and Optima and the same applies to the Latitude which has a European flavour but at a Korean price.TECHNOLOGYWe drove the top of the range V6 Luxe and it was good but we'd put our money down on the diesel because it has a lot more torque and uses substantially less fuel.The V6 is good for 133kW/235Nm while the diesel cranks out 127kW/380Nm. The V6 offers smooth running and acceptable economy but at 1600kg, the relatively low torque output struggles at times.It's capably dealt with by the slick shifting six speed auto but the turbodiesel would be a lot better. The petrol gets a Euro 4 emissions rating while the turbodiesel is Euro5 and good for a creditable 6.5-litres/100km.DRIVINGIt's big for a medium size car offering generous rear seat legroom and a large boot complete with full size spare. It also has generous equipment with premium audio, satnav, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, heated front seats, multi-media connection box, smart card entry and ignition and dual zone climate control on the base car.The Luxe gets more including a clever air ioniser and deodoriser. We like the auto on/off parking brake and the five star crash rating. We like the comfortable and controlled ride from the strut/multi-link suspension and we like the styling inside and out.It's different but distinctly European in looks and feel.VERDICTRenault is having a real crack at the local market with Latitude, Fluence and Megane all offering competitive pricing and generous spec' when compared to their competition - apples with apples. Definitely worth a look.RENAULT LATITUDEPrice: from $36,990, $42,490 as testedWarranty: 5 years/unlimitedResale: New modelService interval: 15,000km/12monthsCrash rating: 5 starsEngine: 2.0-litre turbodiesel four, 127kW/380Nm; 2.5-litre petrol V6, 133kW/235NmBody: Four-door sedanWeight: 1600kg (petrol), 1620kg (diesel)Transmission: 6-speed auto, front-wheel driveThirst: 9.7L/100km (91RON petrol) 230g/km, 6.5L/100km (diesel) CO2 170g/km

WHEN you think of French cars, you probably think of odd-looking hatchbacks with exorbitant prices and questionable reliability. They do well in Europe but less well here because the Japanese can bring them in cheaper, make them better looking and screw them together so they don't fall apart.But of course the French also make large cars. These have much higher prices and are even more expensive to fix. Furthermore, sometimes they are so odd even the French won't buy them.Citroen is generally cited as the mad one, although that would overlook the crazy heights scaled by Renault. A decade ago it came up with something called the Avantime, a bizarre combination of the worst bits of a hatchback and people-mover. It was big but had only two doors.Undeterred by an almost total absence of buyers it followed up with the Vel Satis, a large executive hatchback that swapped weirdness for ugliness. The French president was driven around in one. But he had little choice.After both cars flunked in Britain, it didn't bother trying to sell them here. For some time Renault's largest offering here has been the Laguna. This was a modest mid-size hatchback until Renault's design department caught up with it three years ago and made it very ugly indeed. Buyers responded by shunning it in droves.Now Renault has brought in another large car, the Latitude, which arrives to sit atop a rejuvenated range. It replaces the Laguna, although in reality the Latitude is substantially larger and even bigger than the defunct Vel Satis.Nevertheless, in Australian terms, it's still classified as a mid-size car and goes up against the Toyota Camry, Mazda 6 and Ford Mondeo, although it's a shade longer than all of them.Renault in Australia recently went through one of its periodic relaunches. Although it returned here a decade ago, it's still struggling to get traction and sales have been in decline. Its latest reinvention is the most thorough so far. As well as a swag of new cars, it has a new executive team and a different attitude to buyers. In the past it expected buyers to stampede Renault showrooms with cash, blinded into paying premium prices by the prospect of driving something so exotically Gallic. Hence its repeated disappointment.VALUEBelatedly, it has lowered the prices to compete against the mainstream, which is where the cars belong.The Latitude starts at $36,990 with the four-cylinder diesel, driven here, and a petrol V6 at the same price. The fully loaded version, with either engine, is $42,490. That's at least $2000 cheaper than the Laguna and right in the middle of mid-size prices. It could cause some buyers to detour on the way to the Mazda showroom.Equally confusing will be the fact the Latitude comes with an awful lot of kit. In the top-spec luxe version I drove it was hard to find anything missing. There's leather, sat nav, parking sensors, reversing camera, heated seats with massage function, triple-zone climate control, keyless start, electronic park brake, cornering headlights, foglights, a speed limiter and panoramic sunroof.A lot of these are options on similarly priced cars. In fact, a lot of them are options on more expensive cars.DESIGNThere's that especially French contribution to motoring pleasure, the fragrance diffuser, controlled by no fewer than three buttons on the dash. Talk about unique selling proposition ... All this is backed up by a decent amount of room inside. The rear seats are slightly higher than the fronts so the kids can see out, and they split-fold to access the 477-litre capacity boot.Buyer doubts will remain, of course, so Renault has added reassurance about reliability. Last month, it introduced a five-year warranty, the first European brand to do so.Unusually for a new French car, the Latitude hasn't taken very long to get here. It was revealed at the Paris motor show last September. In showrooms, barely seven months later is setting quite a pace.The main reason is that the Latitude engineers did not have to start with a clean slate. The car owes its origins to the Japanese half of the Renault-Nissan alliance. Underneath, it's the Nissan Maxima launched here two years ago. The Maxima is one of those middle-of-the-road cars that wins awards when all the points are added up but is so monumentally dull it's hard to imagine someone actually wanting one.The Latitude avoids blandness and tries hard not to offend. This is an advantage in a segment where good looks are in short supply. Next to a Subaru Liberty, Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, the Latitude is relaxing on the eye. Inside, the 10 shades of black are broken here and there by a daring bit of chrome. It's all quite tidy and padded to the touch.DRIVINGIt's a relaxing drive, because there's little in its dynamics to tear you away from counting fenceposts. The steering lacks on-centre feel while its handling isn't precise enough to satisfy those for whom driving is a pleasure rather than a chore. The car's composure can get flummoxed by some surfaces and the way it tips into corners doesn't inspire a great deal of enthusiasm.The Latitude has the merits of a cruiser, especially with the diesel engine in the test car. It's a chuggy sounding unit, something the best diesels avoid these days, but gets better after it's warmed up and, while it won't convert petro-holics, it does have the right temperament for a long trip.It's also much more frugal than the petrol alternative, a 133kW 2.5-litre V6 shared with the Maxima, using a respectable 6.5 litres of fuel per 100km against 9.7.There's a manual mode in the six-speed automatic but it doesn't relinquish much control, rejecting downshifts and changing up at 4500rpm.So sit back and play with the toys. You'll need a little familiarity to grasp the fussy French logic to the controls, despite a demonstration, the radio had me fuming for a while, and there's a separate cluster of buttons for the sat nav. The ride isn't perfect (does anyone expect the French to lead on this quality any more?), but it's comfortable enough for long highway stretches."Good enough" pretty much sums up the car, too. It excels at nothing, and sells on value and equipment.In the two years since its sister, the Maxima, arrived it has failed to meet its showroom targets. Renault's goals for the Latitude are more modest, hoping to lure 200 buyers away from the default choices. That looks achievable. What it won't do is bring about wholesale change to the way.Read more about prestige motoring at The Australian.

Korea, Japan and France have each had a hand in the new Renault Latitude. The French brand's latest pitch into the mid-sized field is more controlled and on-target than anything that's driven under the badge in the past, and also comes with a $36,990 opening price that buries unfortunate memories of failures with the over-priced and under-done Laguna in the past.The Latitude still has to overcome buyer resistance, and it needs to answer plenty of questions, but it proves that new Australian management is not stopping after re-positioning and re-pricing the Megane at the start of the year. The Latitude is definitely a Renault, but not as we've known them. It's less 'French', more worldly, and that approach could work for a car that must go up against everything from the Ford Mondeo to Honda Accord and Toyota Aurion.VALUEA starting price of $36,990 looks good and there is a lot of good stuff in the Latitude. For a start, the bottom line is the same for both the turbodiesel and V6 petrol engines, and there is a Luxe package with plenty of added luxury for $5500. Building with Samsung in Korea means the list of basic equipment runs from leather seats and alloy wheels to sun blinds, keyless starting, a 3D sound system, satnav - a TomTom system including speed limits - and dual-zone aircon.The Luxe pack has a claimed $7000 of value, from Bose sound to a glass sunroof, massaging on the driver's seat, a reversing camera and even an ioniser for the cabin air. But the big value boost in the Latitude is the five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. "This gives us a flagship model. It has all the luxury features, but also gives us somewhere to move in the brand and moves us into the family market," says Justin Hocevar, managing director of Renault Australia.TECHNOLOGYMost of the technology is loaded into the equipment, not the mechanical package, including the ioniser. The Latitude is standard four-door sedan with two engine choices – the torquey turbodiesel and smooth V6 - and front-wheel drive with a six-speed automatic across the models. But there is some neat stuff hidden away, including the basics of the Nissan Maxima in the mechanical package and the V6 engine.DESIGNThe Latitude will sell in more than 50 countries and that means it is pretty bland. Not offensive, but not a head-turner. The shape ensures there is good space in the cabin - particularly rear- seat legroom - and a big boot.No-one can explain the silly little attempt at a spoiler on the boot, the cabin is effective without much personality, and it's impossible to look at the Latitude and not benchmark it against the classy job done by Kia on its latest Optima. The two cars even have something in common - a shiny black roof that's becoming a must-have item on wannabe prestige cars.SAFETYA five-star safety rating is one of Renault's brand pillars and that's what it is expecting from the Latitude. But it's yet to be tested and so we have to rely on the strength of the French company's body engineering, as well as six airbags, ESP stability control and some smart stuff including anti-pinch electric windows (to protect little hands) and a speed limiter. The brake assist also trips the hazard warning lights in a panic stop, something we've only seen in upscale cars in the past.DRIVINGThe Latitude is a relaxed drive. It's relaxed and comfortable, with some nice surprises from the clever satnav to rear sunblinds. The basics are good, the ride and handling is safe and predictable, and it is fit-for-purpose on the driving front. The turbodiesel engine has solid shove and if you want more then it's available in the V6. It's a sweet motor we've liked in the Maxima, although there is no temptation - not even shift paddles behind the wheel - to encourage anything sporty.Some of the quality looks a bit ordinary, at least compared to the classiness in the new Kia Optima, and it's not nearly as enjoyable to drive as a Mondeo. It's probably closest to the Camry and Aurion, although with the turbodiesel engine and more equipment at a value price.At the end, the Latitude is a much more sensible choice than a Laguna in the past, but it just doesn't have that 'French' look and feel you expect from a French car. That could be a bonus if Renault can lure people into showrooms on a value deal, but we wonder if the Latitude is different and classy enough in a class that's already packed with choices.VERDICTNice car, nice price, nice warranty, but not enough impact."A nice package at a good price, but it's lost the Renault feeling"