Scala RxL Review
The transnational French car maker, Renault S.A has been doing business in the Indian car bazaar since a few years now. Renault India has been doing quite well in the country’s automobile market and has a few impressive vehicles in their fleet. One such brilliant premium sedan from their stable is the Renault Scala, which is their latest entrant in their remarkable fleet of cars. Renault India is in alliance with Nissan India in the country and they share the same manufacturing facility as well. This manufacturing unit is based off Oragadam, which is located near the southern metropolitan city of Chennai. There are quite a few similarities in the Renault Scala and the Nissan’s elegant sedan Sunny as both these cars are being developed and made at the same factory. Renault Scala Petrol RxL has been equipped with a power packed 1.5 litre petrol drive train, which generates pertinent power and torque that is apt for the Indian traffic conditions. This engine is quite fuel efficient as well and generates a healthy mileage, which is very important for the Indian populace. Renault India has bestowed this sedan with quite a number of striking safety and comfort features, which will certainly entice the buyers. Some of these brilliant features that are incorporated in the Renault Scala are rear AC vents for added comfort to the back seat passengers, a powerful and advanced music system with speakers and a few input options to enhance the in-cabin entertainment, multi functional steering wheel with mounted button controls to augment the drivers comfort. Apart from these comfort features, Renault India has also incorporated some very crucial safety features as well in this sedan to make it better for the Indian conditions. The company is said to be offering a 2 plus 2 year or 80,000 kilometers warranty along with their Renault Complete Care package to keep the after sales service and maintenance costs on the lower side.
Exteriors
The overall design of this premium sedan, Renault Scala Petrol RxL is beautiful and it has an aerodynamic design. The frontage of this Scala sedan gets a neatly styled hexagonal radiator grille and also a central air dam. The front façade looks bold and aggressive with a large Renault badge affixed in the center along with quite a bit of chrome elements as well. The head light cluster has elongated lamps that has a swept back look and have been fitted with high intensity double barreled lamps, which are surrounded by chrome and throw out radiant beams of light for enhanced visibility to the driver. The body colored bumper has some blacked out surface in the center, while the company has fitted a pair of round shaped bright fog lamps, which further boost the vision of the driver in adverse weather conditions. The side profile is sleek and lustrous with chrome finished door handles and body colored outside rear view mirrors, which have been integrated with side turn blinkers. The neatly carved out wheel arches have been fitted with a modish set of 15 inch alloy wheels of size 185/65 R15 , which have sturdy tubeless tyres with a strong road grip. The rear end gets a sleek and curvy boot lid with a lot of chrome treatment, which makes it look wider and very spacious. The tail lamp cluster is bright and clear with side turn indicator and reversing lights integrated in it. Overall, the Renault Scala has a very striking and impressive design that will certainly be liked by the Indian buyers.
On the whole, this premium sedan is quite spacious and has ample leg room along with head and shoulder space. The total length of this sedan is about 4425mm along with an overall width of 1695mm, which includes the external wing mirrors. The total height of the Renault Scala is around 1505mm and it also has a roomy wheel base of 2600mm, which can easily accommodate five passengers inside it. The minimum ground clearance of this wonderful sedan is about 161mm and it has a huge boot space of 490 litres along with a centrally mounted fuel tank of 41 litres. The total kerb weight of this petrol sedan is in the range of 1005 kgs to 1010 kgs, while the minimum turning radius of this luxuriant sedan is just 5.3 meters.
Interiors
The interiors of this amazing sedan are extremely spacious with lots of room, which gives a very pleasurable driving comfort to all its occupants. The seats are plush with lavish and very comfortable cushioning and are covered with premium and high quality upholstery. The rear seat legroom is unmatched and very relaxing with a rear center arm rest to further augment the comfort. The interiors are done up very tastefully with a dual tone combination of grey and beige, which gives the insides a very refined look. The internal surfaces are done up very neatly with good quality plastics. The steering wheel as well as the gear shift lever and the hand brake are covered with high quality leather. The steering column is adjustable, while the internal day and night rear view mirror saves the driver from the high beams of heavy vehicles in the night. There is a multi information display, which displays quite a few things such as distance to empty, average consumption of fuel, tripmeter, instant consumption, external temperature and several other notifications and warning lamps as well, which give instant and up-to-date information to the driver. There is quite a number of storage spaces as well like a large glove box, bottle holders in the front doors as well as the in between the front seats, a couple of cup holders on the rear center arm rest and so on, which further adds to the comfort level of the passengers. The sun visor’s of both the driver as well as the front side passenger gets a mirror with a flap as well.
Engine and Performance
Renault Scala Petrol RxL is equipped with a performance packed 1.5 L, 4 cylinder based XH2 petrol engine, which has the capacity to displace 1498cc . This power train can generate a peak power output of 97.02 Bhp at 6000 Rpm along with a maximum torque yield of 134 Nm at 4000 Rpm. This engine is mated with a smooth five speed manual gear box transmission and the company claims that this fuel efficient engine can generate a healthy mileage of close to 16.95 kmpl , under standard driving conditions
Braking and Handling
This premium sedan has an efficient braking and suspension mechanism, while the front wheels get disc based brakes, the rear wheels get a drum based braking system. Apart from these efficient braking mechanisms, Renault Scala also gets an advanced antilock braking system with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist for further enhancing the brakes on any terrain . On the other hand, the front axle of Renault Scala has been fitted with a McPherson Strut type of suspension, while the rear axle gets a torsion bar, which aid in keeping this premium sedan stable and well balanced.
Safety Features
The company has given this latest entrant some of the most sophisticated and best in class safety features. Some of them dual front air bags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, speed sensing automatic door locks, engine immobilizer, central locking and many more such vital features , which makes this sedan one of the most safest vehicles in its segment.
Comfort Features
Renault Scala Petrol RxL has been fitted with some of the most exciting and interesting comfort features, which will definitely lure the customers. To begin with, there is this powerful and very efficient air conditioner unit, which has an automatic climate control along with rear AC vents for added comfort to the back seat passengers. The power steering is chunky and responsive and has been equipped with mounted audio controls for added convenience for the driver. The sophisticated music system is quite good and has a Radio FM, CD player and also an Aux-in along with four speakers. This premium sedan also has a manually adjustable driver’s seat, all four power windows, rear defogger, push button start, smart key with central locking, remotely operated boot lid, fuel cap as well as bonnet opener, automatically folding and electrically operated external rear view mirrors and many more such exciting and practical utility features, which will enhance the comfort level of this sedan.
Pros
Exteriors are quite good, powerful engine with good pickup and acceleration, very spacious.
Cons
Mileage has to be improved, lot of comfort features are absent when compared with other sedans, price has to be lesser as many features are not included.
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