Konfusing Koleos

Read the full article in Drive Magazine!

Renault’s Koleos SUV is one of those vehicles that’s fairly easy to overlook. In fact, when it arrived we’d not only completely forgotten about the booking, we nearly didn’t recognise what it actually was!

And yet, it’s actually quite the handsome machine. We had figured it, considering the extent of the Nissan-Renault alliance at this point, for a somewhat more grownup, quirky Qashqai to be honest, but in fact it’s a very different machine.

And in short, well, Renault would do well to realign the Koleos with the Qashqai objectives. As it is, the company maintains that this is its first ever SUV complete with off-road credentials, and has included features like Hill Descent Control and a very healthy ground clearance to underline this fact. The AWD transmission is switchable, so if you’re on-road you can enjoy lighter fuel consumption by driving just the front wheels, and then switch back to AWD only when you need the traction.

However, this makes for a car which is uncertain of its own character. The stylish looks and comfortable interior suggest a luxurious small SUV, but the heavyweight gearbox and trucklike clatter of the 2.0-litre turbodiesel immediately wreck this ambience.

Again, the Nissan 2.0-litre turbodiesel is playing a whole other ball game. It’s quiet, smooth, refined, and free-revving. The Renault mill is easily the more powerful yes, boasting 360Nm of twist and a healthy 127kW, the former developed at just 2000rpm. This makes the dCi model the most potent in the range, which is primarily built around a 2.5-litre petrol unit. But the petrols are still quicker on the road.

Steve was quite happy with his time in the Koleos, but then when he’s not ripping around on fast bikes he still yearns for his days as a lorry-driver and therefore, by his own admission, immediately felt right at home in the noisy Renault. “Oh, it’s definitely a truck,” he explains before I’ve even had a go behind the wheel. “And I like it all the same!”

Kyle, who’s more accustomed to your everyday road cars, was less complimentary after his evening in the Renault. “That noise is unbearable, and it shakes the whole structure about all the time that it’s running. It also does odd things with its steering, the variable-rate changing suddenly when you least expect it to, seemingly not in the least connected with the speed you’re doing. If I wanted to drive a truck, I’d have my truck license. It’s pretty dismal as an SUV.”

I must say, they’re really both right. There’s huge body roll through the corners, and while there’s enough torque for fairly vigorous progress there’s no enjoyment to be had. It’s also fairly heavy on juice for what it is, even after discovering the switch to FWD we were still getting 10.8l/100km as our average.

It’s also a particularly smelly diesel. Spend too long at a set of lights with your window open and the overpowering chlorine-like stench invades the cabin aggressively. Even at idle it’s a noisy thing with significant vibration, and shifts every few seconds to a faster, louder idle back to the already quite-intrusive “normal” level for some reason. And yet inside it’s all leather and style and luxury. Very strange.

It does make a little more sense if you take it for some light off-road work. The soft suspension soaks up bumps well, and the rounded lower edge of the nose allows superb angles of approach. Thankfully the Hill Start Assist works, as electronic hand brakes and smooth off-road hill starts don’t go well together. Look, yes, it’s no Landie, but it’ll certainly take more in its stride than the Qashqai, which Nissan itself admits is more of an on-road stability-biased AWD system than for bundu-bashing.

What I also like about the Koleos are all the quirky bits, things you really do expect from a French manufacturer. The stalks and switches are poorly labelled and seemingly arranged in a haphazard fashion all over the dash and facia. They’re all made of relatively cheap plastics as well, although not jarringly so.

But, although we try not to focus on this matter too excessively, the Koleos is priced to sit in showrooms like puppies in a pet store, literally begging to be bought. Particularly this diesel model, which comes in without options at a hefty R385 000!

Yes, there’s a lot of convenience features thrown in for the money. There’s a full complement of airbags as well as ABS and ESP (strangely not fitted to lower-end models). There are rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone climate control with individual venting for rear passengers, ignition based on the Renault Card system and a start/stop button, electric windows with one-touch operation for the driver, even Bose sound if you’re willing to dig deeper still into your pockets. There’s an on-board computer as well as cruise control, although weirdly you can’t actually activate the cruise control and still have access to the information the computer will provide.

The one thing we did all rather enjoy, are the looks. It isn’t spectacular or truly stunning but manages to say small SUV without following the norm for the breed. Again, typically Renault, and you have to appreciate a company so committed to doing things differently.

But overall it’s hardly a winner, and if you don’t need the 4X4 capabilities we’d have to recommend a Qashqai, that 2.0-litre diesel is streets ahead of this one. If you do like the occasional bush jaunt, a high-end doublecab might not have the image of an SUV but are for the most part as comfortable and more capable. And for the true clout of SUV ownership, well, get yourself a proper SUV – a similarly-powered Q5 is just on R25 000 more…

Russell

Renault Koleos Second Opinion

I am not a fan of the Koleos. The reason is quite elementary really, I don’t like trucks. And unfortunately the Koleos is a truck in my mind, a good truck but a truck nonetheless. What’s more is that in classic French fashion there are several quirks in the car that are possible to find endearing but I found annoying. So an onboard computer that point blank refuses to stay on the information I want, namely fuel economy, some will dismiss easily with : “It’s French” but for me it is just silly.

Yes the diesel is quite a torque machine but I want to know about that torque by impressive performance only, not via the clutch pedal as well. So whilst the rough motor does twist very effectively the relentless shaking of the clutch pedal had me climbing up the wall.

The seats were very uncomfortable, the ride was good but the seats ruined the overall comfort level. I found myself sitting at an angle just to avoid the alarmingly stiff double seams running parallel down the seat for instance.

The Koleos has a rather worrying tendency to randomly alter the steering feel too. The dynamic steering seems to change its mind seemingly at random hopping from heavy to light steering without any relation to speed, which is how dynamic steering is supposed to work.

The manual gearbox whilst performing its function well enough took a little getting used to. The slots were too close together you see, so if for example from second gear you made a fairly standard up, across and up motion for third gear there was a good chance you’d end up in fifth. The torque heavy diesel dealt with that well but still, not ideal. Of course that problem is easily solved by merely learning the ‘box so to speak.

The Koleos isn’t a bad vehicle in fact it’s got many good points, it has a good engine, plenty of space and is relatively well equipped. Driving it however just isn’t an experience packed with joy and that’s what kills the whole experience for me.

Kyle

Drive Vitals

Engine: (Four-cylinder turbodiesel)

Capacity (cc) 1995

Power (kW) 127@3750rpm

Torque (Nm) 360@2000rpm

Kerb weight (kg) 1655

Driven wheels AWD

Wheel/tyre dimensions 225/60 R 17

0-100km/h 9.9s

Price R386 000

For more information, visit the Renault SA homepage.

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