Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Renault Laguna Coupe: Test Drive (continued)
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Renault Laguna Coupe: Test Drive (continued)

Date: 23 October 2008   |   Author: Alisdair Suttie

Renault Laguna Coupe rear seats
Category: Sports
P11D price: £27,995
Key rival: Peugeot 407 Coupe

The Renault will come to the UK in standard and GT trims, and all cars will have eight airbags, CD stereo, climate control, rear parking sensors and 18in alloy wheels. The GT adds leather, keyless entry, and Renault's 4Control chassis with rear-wheel steering. The interior itself is spacious, if almost identical to the 5dr Laguna.

We've seen the 4Control chassis on the Laguna GT hatch where the rear wheels can pivot by up to 3.5-degrees to help the car turn more sharply. It works well and the car is agile through corners, though the steering is not as generous with feel as a Mazda RX-8's.

Of the two models available to sample at the launch event, the 3.0 V6 dCi diesel and 3.5 V6 petrol, the former was certainly the better of the two. Low-speed bumps cause a stutter in the ride comfort, and the 3.5 V6 petrol model suffered from the jitters at all speeds, although the big diesel engine, which follows two months after the initial launch, was more supple. It was also more refined and its auto 'box more suited to the engine's relaxed power delivery. The petrol's auto is too slow to register the driver's demands when using the manual override.

Business drivers will obviously prefer the diesel thanks to its 192g/km CO2 emissions and 39.2mpg economy. The diesel is also marginally quicker, covering 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds to the petrol's 7.4 seconds.

However, drivers will be even more interested in the more economical and cheaper four-cylinder diesels, which weren't available on the launch. But even when taking these into account, the Renault is likely only to make modest inroads in the coupe sector. Not so much leftfield, as mid-field.

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