Tag Archives: Renault Group

Nissan Qashqai facelifted

Nissan Qashqai

Nissan has unveiled its facelifted Qashqai and Qashqai+2, which will be going on sale next March.

Nissan says they have tweaked it for added comfort and responsiveness. They have also added insulation and changed the front window seal to reduce noise and vibration.

Changes on the exterior include a completely revised front end, with a new hood, bumper, wings, grille and headlamps. It looks quite nice, better than the old front end in my opinion.

Also, two new colours have been added to the range, a red and grey. Presumably these are the colours pictured above.

The rear hasn’t been changed much. The only changes are revised light lenses and some aerodynamic tweaks to reduce drag.

There are some new optional alloy wheels available as well.

The interior gets a few tweaks as well. The dials have been changes so that they are easier to read, footwell lights have been added, and there are some new storage areas.

There is also a new, eco-friendly trim level, called Pure Drive. It is powered by a 1.5L diesel engine, which is also available on other Qashqai models. The Pure Drive is lighter and more aerodynamic than other trim levels. It also costs a bit less than the equivalent engined and trimmed standard car.

Source: Autocar

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Nissan GT-R Spec V is Coming to Europe

Nissan GT-R Spec V

Nissan has revealed that it’s stripped-out, hardcore Nissan GT-R will eventually go on sale on the old continent. Unfortunately, they will only sell 40 of them here. Mind you, with a price tag almost twice as large as the normal car and with so little modifications, it is improbable they would sell many more. First deliveries are set to start in April 2010 so you’d better get you cheque in if you want a piece of Godzilla. Just to remind our readers, the GT-R Spec V has the same twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 engine as the normal GT-R, producing 478 BHP. However, the hardcore version gets carbon-ceramic brakes specifically developed for this car, lightweight forged aluminium wheels, a carbon fibre rear spoiler, a carbon fibre grille and carbon fibre brake ducts and a titanium exhaust system. All these changes add up to make the Nissan 60kg lighter than the standard car.

Source: Autocar

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Renault Launches Two New Entry Level Models

Renault has launched new entry-level models of the Laguna Coupe and Megane Sport Tourer.

The entry-level model of the Laguna Coupe is called the Laguna Coupe TomTom. It is based on the dCi 150 model, with sat-nav, automatic parking brake and chrome finished centre console now included as standard.

Other standard features include 18-inch alloy wheels, eight airbags, automatic lights and wipers, dual zone climate control and rear parking sensors. It is available to order now (Providing you live anywhere where Renault sells their cars, unlike me) for £19,995 (About 33,000 USD). First deliveries will begin in January.

As for the Megane Sport Tourer, there will be a new Extreme trim. This will be an entry-level trim available on the 1.6 100 and 1.5 dCi 86 models. Standard features will include air conditioning, electric front windows and stability control. This is also available to order now, starting at £14,935 (About 25,000 USD). Deliveries will begin around the same time as the Laguna Coupe TomTom.

I’m just wondering why they’d call an entry-level model “Extreme”. It’s like calling the Tata Nano the Tata SuperSportPlus. It just sounds strange. Though maybe Extreme suggests Extremely Cheap.

Source: Autocar

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Video: Alain Prost Drives the Duster Ice Racer

A few weeks ago I wrote an article on the blog about the Dacia Duster Ice Racer that was set to race in the Trophee Andros cup. Well, the guys have been busy at work testing it, including former Formula 1 World Champion Alain Prost . As a result, we are now able to bring you some videos of the thing.

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Great news! Dacia is set to race the Duster

The new Duster racer is quite a beautiful machine.

Well great news indeed (at least for me), as Dacia has announced that it is set to race its Duster model in an ice racing series called Trophee Andros.

Continue reading

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Renault Reveals Plans for Lada

Renault, who has a 25 percent stake in Avtovaz, the parent company of Lada, has revealed its plans for Lada.

It’s plans for a hatchback based on the Concept C (Pictured above) have been canned to focus on improving the current range.

Renault will be trying to improve the quality of the Lada Kalina. Russian cars are known for their lack of quality, so this is a good thing to focus on. New cars will eventually be rolled out, around 2012-2014 according to Renault. There will be cars based on Renault-Nissan platforms. They want to concentrate on the Kalina first.

The Russian government is urging Renault to invest money in Avtovaz, but Renault is resisting and says their contribution is “through technology, equipment, know-how and platforms”.

Avtovaz was hit quite badly by the recession, with new cars sales in Russia down 57 percent and down 75 percent in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are some of Lada’s biggest markets. They were going to sack 27,000 workers to save money, but the Russian government stepped in and provided cash, some of which will go towards developing new models.

Source: Autocar

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The New Fiat Doblo

Fiat Doblo

The latest edition of Fiat’s family bus was launched. And can I first say, although quite embarrassed, that it’s quite a handsome looking thing although not as good as the new Citroen C3 Picasso. But let’s get back to the facts.

When on sale it will be offered with four engines: a 94bhp petrol, and three diesels with 89bhp, 104bhp and 133bhp. It sounds ok for a car like this but 89bhp does sound a bit depressing. But these types of 7-seater cars never seem to be anything other than depressing. Well, I don’t think this is the case here, you see this is made by Italians. I’m not suggesting in any way that it’s passionate or any other thing that some Italian cars are but it’s not as bad as a Renault Espace for example.

Fiat Doblo

The interesting thing is that it will be offered with a dual fuel engine which will work on petrol or methane. There will also be a new diesel later with a paddle shift gearbox. No comment on the dual fuel engine, that sounds ok but a paddle shifter? On a 7-seat family car? Who is going to buy that?  Another good thing for the family oriented motorist is the start-stop system which will come as standard. And it’s ecological too with only 129g/km of CO2.

Unfortunately, Fiat hasn’t announced the prices yet.

Source: Autocar

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