Renault Capturs the Imagination
Renault Capturs
the Imagination
On
Renault’s open day on 2nd July they displayed some of their
flexibility in range: from the ready-to-personalise Captur, to the
superscrimper Sandero Stepway (part of the Dacia) range and on to my true love,
the queen of green Zoe, their fully electric supermini.
Renault Captur: Colour Rapture
Kicking off with the Captur, it seems that most of the major car manufacturers are finally taking note of the fact that cars are much more than their constituent parts...we have the Fiat 500, the Vauxhall Adam, the Citroen DS3 (not to mention Minis and Beetles)...and now the Renault Captur, along with its’ myriad of customisable colour collections. The new Renault crossover supermini starts in price from £12,495 (more economical than its main counterpart the Nissan Juke) and is supplied with removable, washable car seat covers. There is also a removable board in the boot to create extra boot capacity-up to 377 litres.
An easy handling mid-size car, comfy seats, and great economy, both in purchase price (from £12,495) and mpg: the diesel model makes 76.4 mpg and coughs out only 95g/km in carbon emissions.
The Dacia Sandero:
Thrifty and Nifty
The Dacia Sandero comes in seven colour
options and is available from the (practically spare change price) of £5995. Or,to
put it another way, this car costs about
the same as the whole cost of the sound system in a Bentley Mulsanne.
I
drove the diesel version (starting price £8395) which racks up a very
respectable 74.3 mpg. A few niggles: I couldn’t find a way to adjust the height
of the steering wheel (and neither could the mechanics, so think we can assume
that you can’t) but the seat adjusts well to accommodate a comfortable driving
position.
There
is also no way to release the boot lock, unless you manually use the key to
unlock: not great if you are juggling buggies and small children.
The
gear box is a bit clunky, but acceleration is good. All in all, a super thrifty
buy for a more than capable vehicle.
The Renault
Zoe: Queen of Green
With
estimated running costs at less than 75% of those of a petrol or diesel car,
electric vehicles have come a step closer to practical everyday ownership with
the introduction of the Renault Zoe. Government incentives of a £5000 grant towards
the purchase price of EV’s (electric vehicles) means that the entry level Zoe
can be yours for £13,995 (OTR price £18,995).
The
ultra serene and quiet Zoe (equipped with a ‘voice’ to alert pedestrians of your
existence, at speeds up to 18mph) is a true trailblazer in the EV stakes (in
fact, the ONLY trailblazer on the market at the moment!). Replete with all
manner of high tech specs (a pre-conditioning mode allows you to pre-set the
interior temperature of the car before entering) Zoe drives like a silent,
surreal dream.
I
asked Renault about the feasibility of long trips and re-charging points:
apparently WelcomeBreak motorway service stations are the forerunners in EV
charging facilities, and there are many more charge points across the country
(check them out here: http://www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/charging-points.php).
The Zoe will run for between 90-100 miles in summer and 60-70 miles in winter
(more electric power is taken up with heating, defrosting etc)...but these are
both very conservative estimates. The range of the Zoe is estimated to be
approximately 130 miles, on average, on full charge. The only extra expense of
the actual car is the pre-required lease of the battery, at £70 per month.
Labels: womens online driving magazine
posted by Ruthie @ 11:27 AM
0 Comments
