New Renault Laguna Reviewed

17-12-2007This Month 17th Dec 15:55

Renaults Laguna On test with FemaleFirst

Then come the final touches that cement the Sport Tourer in the practicality stakes. Built in sun blinds in the rear windows, along with loads of storage boxes including a rear centre armrest with storage space and cup holders, the rear seats collapse flush with the floor by simple flicking a button in the rear. Then that awful problem of what to do with the parcel shelf when you have bulky loads. Well in the Laguna you simply take off the parcel shelf and down by the spare wheel is an integrated space especially made for it, which is great as when you have disposed of the said object, you want the parcel shelf back in place in case you decide to stop of at the shops. With 1,593 litres of space when the rear seats are folded, you could literally shop till you drop but if you run out of room, there are cubbyholes in the side panels of the luggage area and bag hooks.

Driviewise, again no real wow factors. The new Laguna Sport Tourer is easy to drive, holds the road well but more importantly is very comfortable. I personally preferred the six speed manual gearbox to the automatic purely on handling abilities. But in case I did get it all wrong, I knew I could rely on ABS with EBD, ESP with ASR Traction Control then of course the driver, passenger, front thorax, side and curtain airbags should keep me reasonably injury free as would the anti whiplash headrest, seatbelt pretensioners and the children in tact with ISOFIX mountings. Securing the Renault Laguna Sport Tourer is RAID – Renaults Anti Intruder Device, immobiliser, remote central locking, keyless car entry with Renaults Card, alarm and deadlock’s. Well what do you expect? It’s a Renault.

With prices starting from around £15,000 rising to just under £25k may seem a bit pricey but you have to look at the toys on board, the incredible safety and security features plus low cost of ownership. I think Renault have pitched this just at the right time. Whether it will beat its main rivals remains to be seen.

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