From MPV to crossover to SUV. Kivolak’s journey of the Renault Espace originally started with the Matra company under the Peugeot brand, but the oil crisis in 1979 changed the plans of the PSA concern, which unfortunately had to stop the project in 1981. In the end, they took on this at competitor Renault and did not regret it. Espace became synonymous with family travel in the 1980s.
The new generation of ovens is just a little bit elsewhere. The design is attractive, completely in the spirit of the latest creations from Renault. The overall proportions and individual aspects of the design are inspired.
It is essentially a modified Austral model with a lower wall and a new set of seats. With a length of 4722 mm, the French novelty is behind the Kodiaq (4758 mm) and in all respects it is the Nissan Qashqai on the same CMF-CD platform.
Espace, or space
There is plenty of space in the cabin in all directions, the space is as graceful as a family car. Its variability corresponds to a 26 cm longitudinal sliding seat in the type of ad (length in the ratio 60:40) with the possibility of reclining backrests.
Behind the modularity of its 40-year-old predecessor, however, the new pesto zetel line-up. You won’t find folding or removable seats in the new generation. Times have changed and the SUV concept doesn’t do these things. Its advantage is the generous 18 cm light cover, which removes the worry about whether the front spoiler will wear off on dirt roads.
A set of seats that have been knocked into the floor can be moved free of charge. It’s the version for the Phodu dude. Even for those who don’t need seven seats, this pair of folding seats in the wall can sometimes come in handy.
In this case, you have to leave an extra liter in the luggage compartment. You can find the hole under the floor. Instead of 946 liters, there are only 777 available. That is enough. When the second person is properly adjusted, a 175-centimeter person can ride quite comfortably on the back seat. The suitcase is really miniature.
The roller blind can easily be hidden under the floor of the luggage compartment. There is also one patlie to him. The rear lid opens quite low for a 185 cm tall hunter.
Oh, the bulls!
The space cabin has direct ventilation, the use of materials, the quality of workmanship. The dashboard with a display with peak graphics, fast response and wide possibilities of use, borrowed from the Australian and the electric motor. The same reason for my effective square steering wheel. It doesn’t fit well in the hand, but eventually you get used to it.
It’s a bag of choices. That way is quite cheap and cheap, and you will still confuse it with the one on the right, it is placed under it. After first sitting in the car drunk as an ox, the practical sliding armrest on the right hand side on the wide and high center tunnel with space for wireless charging of the mobile phone looks good.
idi has a great combination of 12.3 displays in the front chapel and 12 high-resolution infotainment screens. Infotainment software developed by Google and includes both its search engine and navigation with Google maps. The system has eye-catching graphics and is fast, but navigating it is a task for an on-board technician, not for ideas. In addition, the songs are worth titrating.
On the other hand, what we admire are the physical buttons for the air conditioning under the large central display. You will also appreciate the premium 9.3 head-up display and the camera system that shows the immediate surroundings of the car. The view from the car is not the first strong point of the new generation Espacu, or it is significantly limited by the front and rear pillars. The thick A-pillar can’t be seen in the rear.
On the contrary, you can see a lot of it upwards. The one when you pay 25,000 K for a glass roof that cannot be opened. It does not cover the blind, and it can only be made opaque electromechanically. So it’s better to spend your pension on something else. Thanks for the great function of the ideo seat (standard only on the top Iconic version). It has three types of meat, it comes in handy on long trips.
All the seats are French comfortable, perhaps only the support in the lumbar area at the front could be a little better. Second, a very nice headrest.
Svin and the actor
When it comes to drive, you only have one choice with the new Espace. A full-hybrid with a 1.2-liter engine and front-wheel drive, even if the stick is technically possible, or the sister Nissan Qashqai and X-Trail on the same platform have it. The main reason is mainly emissions.
The driving machine consists of two electric motors. The one with a power of 25 kW (34 hp) serves as a starter, but also as a generator, which the creator of the twelve thousandth engine produces power for a large electric motor with 50 kW (64 hp). If you request full power at high revs, not until you add a large electric motor, the power of the internal combustion engine is sent directly to the wheels.
The 10-speed automatic transmission for the small engine and the two-speed variant for the large electric motor together provide a software-controlled combination of transmission and engine power, so that it gets to the wheels with maximum efficiency. A total system power of 147 kW is therefore available, i.e. a number of double-headers of 100 hp.
With them, you have really solid power at your disposal, and the engines will always provide you with a burst of torque. Both the bag and the internal combustion engine are not completely smooth. It’s just a rather complicated set, but you can come across small signs of unculturedness. The transmission has a rougher pead and the driver holds the throttle longer for a long time and has a rough sound. Marketing and the transfer of technology from Formula 1 will be able to defend a lot, and in addition, it is an ideal darkness for an evening sitting with a beer.
The new generation of the Espace model responds spontaneously to commands from the gas pedal, it reaches 100 km/h in 8.8 seconds and has a maximum speed of 175 km/h. In practice, consumption is between 7 and 8 liters per 100 km, even when driving really fast. Using data from navigation, Espace toti follows the road profile for the nearest seven kilometers in order to maximize the use of electrical energy. If you drive a lot in the city, then sweat a liter more. It’s just a fairly large car.
It is very passable to drive without brakes, only with a gentle multi-step modulation of the recovered brake pad on the steering wheel. But when you leave one of the steps in action, when you apply the brake, it’s as if the drive train tightens and vibrates, just like when you braked with ancient currency machines.
Revenge pirouettes and a hidden undercarriage
I don’t feel an excess of feedback, but on the other hand, control over the car is good enough, and this Renault appears to be one of the most dynamic models on the market.
By turning the rear wheels against the front and fifth gears of the 4Control system, which is standard on both Esprit Alpine and Iconic trims, when maneuvering into a gear shift, the turning radius is reduced by more than a meter to an internal 10.4 meters, i.e. similar to that of the small Renault Clio.
So driving around the city is a piece of cake. The benefit of the 4Control system with rear wheel tension is the existence of all the elements to correct the place of the common torsion bar. The chassis is well-tuned and the Espace sits nicely on the road, the behavior is quite agile in arrests.
At high speeds, the rear wheel turns in the opposite direction to help with stability. The result is a car that, on the steering wheel, has a name and a false impression, but it is not in reality.
Espace, however, has a fairly well-suspended chassis so that it does not sway and feels safe on the road. On large 20 wheels, the feeling is quite hard, it bounces and sways a bit when breaking the road. The shock absorbers and springs alone are able to elastically dampen large rattles. The chassis is quiet for a long time, on the highway there is an aerodynamic noise at about 100 km/h.
The Espace appeared at the same time as the TGV, which led to it being often associated in the press with the train that brought Pa to Lyon. Now she is on another track. He exchanged the high modularity of the cabin for an overall universal character. For 1,119,000 K, you get a richly equipped car, which turns out to be more suitable, not comparable to the Kodiaq with a plug-in hybrid 1.5 TSI/150 kW, but also not to its internal combustion version 1.5 TSI/110 kW. For the Mladá Boleslav model, you can also buy diesel and all-wheel drive.
