Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Our Fleet Test Drive Review: Renault Laguna Coupe - 3rd Report
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Our Fleet Test Drive Review: Renault Laguna Coupe - 3rd Report

Date: 20 July 2009   |   Author:

[2] The dashboard materials are specifically impressive
Category: Sports
P11D price: £21,400
Key rival: Peugeot 407 Coupe

As good as our Laguna coupe looks on the outside, and as good as the interior material quality is, it doesn't take much to alter the opinion of a car.

All the designers' good work has, to some extent, been undone in one fell swoop. Anyone looking for a few minutes' entertainment should sit a colleague in a Laguna and ask them to change the stereo from FM to medium wave.

It's broadly true that Renault doesn't install the most user-friendly stereos (see the Megane for more details), but chief biscuit-nabber is the Laguna.

Editor Young, lover of Five Live's afternoon show, was the first to complain, and to be honest I thought the boss was just being a techno-numpty as, under normal circumstances, especially in the football close season, I hop between London's FM stations and hadn't ventured out to medium wave. So I marched out to smugly teach him how simple it was, having worked out the correct sequence of buttons in a Megane we recently had in for a test drive.

But no, the Laguna is equally complicated, but in a different way. As far as I can work out, and I'm not even pretending I've got it sussed, it takes three presses of different buttons to switch bands, whereas all other car makers makes do with one.

I know it's the sort of irritation that fades with both time and familiarity with the system, but a stereo should be a simple tool that can be operated with minimum distraction.

The Laguna's still pretty, appearing to be well-built and returning a decent fuel economy, but the little details are sometimes as important as the big ones.

Renault Laguna coupe 2.0 dCi 150
Mileage2661
Claimed combined
consumption
47.1mpg
Our average
consumption
38.8mpg
P11D price£21,400
Model price range£21,400-£27,460
CO2 (tax) 157g/km (22%)
BIK 20/40% per month£78/£157
Service interval12,000mls
Insurancegroup 14
Warranty3yrs/10,000mls
Boot space423 litres
Engine size/power1998cc/150PS
Top speed/0-62mph131mph/9.5secs
Why we’re running itCan Renault match style
with substance and bring
glamour to Laguna?
PositiveLooks, P11D,
space (for a coupe)
NegativeUnsettled ride, RV



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