[Frontosa]

Congrats buddy! Could you post interior pics? And 14lac is good I guess? What's the engine power?
How does it compare with the new Jetta trend line feature and otherwise?

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

Congrats buddy! Could you post interior pics? And 14lac is good I guess? What's the engine power?
How does it compare with the new Jetta trend line feature and otherwise?

My only query is: Do you think that buying this at a couple of lacs cheaper than Jetta Trendline fair enough or not?

VW has slowly built a semi-premium image in India (just as Honda had a year or so ago; maybe has it even now). Renault is completely unknown brand in India.

Can you post some interior pics? I guess one of the prime things you can look at to give the spartan interiors a more upmarket feel is 'Stanley Leather'. The Stanley looks particularly good in Black. Having said that, when I checked out the car, I was impressed by its interior quality, if not the trim level.

Happy motoring.

[tosathyas]

Congrats on your new car ! Its quite odd that Renault has offered you Mahindra resort vouchers... Was it from their parting gift... Hope they are 2nd time lucky like Ford...

[Durango Dude]

@Ramesh: Congrats on the Fluence, you will be keenly watched as you are the first Fluence owner here. The flavor of the review: "It's different". I'd say enjoy "the difference" and keep us posted.

[AdityaLN]

Congratulations Rameshdude on the new car.

Finally seeing a Fluence. The car looks elegant.

Just the other day, I was wondering if anyone's buying the car. Haven't seen any in Bangalore till now.

[C300]

Congrats Ramesh. Great choice of colour. Fluence looks stunning in that colour.
Hope to see this thread alive with detail interior pics in coming days!

[neoonwheels]

Excellent review. Very crisp and to the point. Whenever get time upload the interior pics as well. The side profile of the car in your pic looks awesome.

[Y@SH]

Congratulations! Excellent Review. Your's is the first diesel fluence review on Team-BHP.
Can you kindly post the interior pictures as well? Looking forward to see the interiors. Is the plastic quality poor? Do you feel that the grey interiors make the interiors look dark and less spacious? I think its a good deal at 14L. This car has good on road presence.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by Y@SH

Congratulations! Excellent Review. Your's is the first diesel fluence review on Team-BHP.
Can you kindly post the interior pictures as well? Looking forward to see the interiors. Is the plastic quality poor? Do you feel that the grey interiors make the interiors look dark and less spacious? I think its a good deal at 14L. This car has good on road presence.

* No, the interiors are definitely not of poor quality. I checked them out a while ago. The dashboard has 'soft touch' plastics (BTW, don't go by the marketing gimmick of 'soft touch' crap created by every tom,dick and harry company. Till now, I have only seen the European companies have true soft touch stuff)
* The grey shade takes away the premiumness from the interiors. It has black-grey combo. Had they replaced the greay with beige, the interiors will suddenly start looking better. Alternatively, they could have done an all black interior (just like most Euro cars have in Europe) couple with some more silver and chrome accents. As it is, it looks spartan with funny choice of colour. But the quality is good. Much better than cars like Toyota 'Karela' Altis


Sirjee! Interior picks please...

[arup.misra]

Congrats buddy on your new ride? Wish you have a long saga to tell us in the long term ownership report. Give us some interior shots as well. It'll juice up your thread. By the way just out of curiosity, did you consider a shoot out between the new Jetta and Renault?

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

* No, the interiors are definitely not of poor quality. I checked them out a while ago. The dashboard has 'soft touch' plastics (BTW, don't go by the marketing gimmick of 'soft touch' crap created by every tom,dick and harry company. Till now, I have only seen the European companies have true soft touch stuff)
* The grey shade takes away the premiumness from the interiors. It has black-grey combo. Had they replaced the greay with beige, the interiors will suddenly start looking better. Alternatively, they could have done an all black interior (just like most Euro cars have in Europe) couple with some more silver and chrome accents. As it is, it looks spartan with funny choice of colour. But the quality is good. Much better than cars like Toyota 'Karela' Altis


Sirjee! Interior picks please...

Agree. While interiors are not bad quality, they do give out spartan/low quality appearance due to the strange color combo in the Diesel. Stands out even more as the Petrol Fluence has pretty chic interior colors. Wonder why Renault couldnt have offered both options in Diesel as well.

[vb-saan]

Congratulations Ramesh! The car looks awesome. I think yours is the first diesel Fluence review we have. Thanks for sharing. As many mentioned, please post some interior pics

[ASTRIKX]

Congrats Ramesh ! on your Fluence. I had a few test drives of the vehicle myself and am contemplating buying the car. Could you please help me by providing me with a few inputs,
> How is the clutch ? I found it a bit too hard compared to the other diesel's around.
> What about the Built ? Do you notice any rattles or loose ends so far with the vehicle ?
> You mentioned that TVS & Sons are the agents @ cochin. What about the Service ? Are they the agents for Service and maintenance as well or just Sales ?
Awaiting your reply as soon as you are done with your 'Trip'.
Be Safe & Have Fun.

[druk75]

Congratulations Ramesh! On your new car. I'm so happy for you. Good luck and safe motoring. Do post some nice clean pictures of her as well as the interiors. Also clock in your initial driving experience after your trip. Happy Onam too.

Btw, how much discount did you manage to get. Pls PM me as I'm also considering the car. Test drove, but waited all this time for the new Jetta. The TVS relation is a shocker to say the least. Please elaborate as my first car in India was a Palio and the TVS guys ruined the experience of a very good car.

[Rameshdude]

Hello Guys,
Thanks for reading my post,and posting your comments too.And GTO,too,thanks for editing and posting my thread.
I had a 3 day trip covering 950 kms across 3 states,national and state highways, hills and jungles. Good roads,cracked and pot holed roads too. We saw a few wild elephants too.

The power is good on highways,the car just breezes through. You will not know or feel the speed until you look at the speedometer. You would think you are going at 70 km/hr,but when you look at the speedometer,it is actually 110 km/hr ! The car is well planted and firm on the road,no vibration at all. It is a solid car,no doubt. Only once did i try and click to 140 km/hr and then you did feel some vibration,otherwise it is very smooth. I don't take undue risks,but yes, maybe some speed.

On the mountain ranges too,in the ascent,it climbs easily.Only in steep hair pin bends,does the car cry for more power. One has to just shift to first gear, and it pulls off. ( i have been driving a petrol car so far,so it is a learning curve). And i used the "Traction control" feature on the hills,i know it affects the mileage,don't know about the pull. How useful is this feature? I am not a rash driver.
The power delivery is not linear. There is a definite lag,and then sudden acceleration at 2200 rpm.

The brakes are good,and the braking distance is short too.

The suspension is soft and it just runs over small bumpers and undulations easily and quietly. Very gentle on your back.

I had a very bad low back disc problem,with weakness in my foot 8 years back, and another episode of severe back pain four years back. After that i have been avoiding long travels. My back would hurt.
But on this trip (touch wood),even after driving the whole time,i never experienced severe back pain. A little ache at times. This car has 3 level lumbar support,and it helps.
The adjustment for the reclining set is of the knob type,rather than lever,i find it helpful.

The route was Kochi-Trichur-Coimbatore-Coonoor (over night break) non stop 7 hrs drive. Kochi-Coimbatore is about 200 kms,and i reached in three and a half hour time.
Then the next day Ooty-Mysore(about 5 hrs drive).
Return was Mysore-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore-Trichur and Kochi,(10 hours drive with only a 30 min break for food) (it is about 390 kms).
After a total running of 1000kms,i heard occasionally squeaking sound when i pressed the accelerator pedal. I called up the service manager,He asked, if any message is being displayed on the MID. I said "no",he then said,it is fine,small issue.Today,after the car got a good night break,there is no sound,thankfully,anyway i need to check on it tomorrow.

The total fuel consumed for this trip was only 62 Lit of diesel,that is an average mileage of 15.5 km/lit ,with my usual driving style,not driving for the mileage way.

Night visibility is good with stock head lamps and fog lights. I sense the lights are good,because when the opposite car comes with full blaring bright lights,when i switch mine to bright too,he quickly dims !

Only issue is we have to get used to the switching lights. It is on the left,and to dip,you have to gently pull /move the lever towards you,and to make it bright,you need to pull again. And then to go to dim,you gently tap the lever towards you,it slips back to dim.
The indicator control is on the left,and wiper on the right. One needs to gently touch it,and it moves to the spot. Soft touch ones.

The steering is light,and you can turn it with one hand,easily. Short turning radius too.

The ground clearance is good too, I never once did scrape in the whole trip.
This has "take me home" feature too.

The doors are solid and closes with a "thud".

The music system is just ok. If you play a cd with few tracks,you can switch to the next track easily,with a gentle turn on the knob (one has to search for it !) But if you play a mp3 cd with few albums and each album having few tracks,it is difficult to switch albums,i have to try and learn that art.But,if i tell my kids,they would quickly teach me !
But,i have plugged in a RCA to Aux cable,so you can listen to songs from ipod/mobile. The sound is nice. But ardent music lovers may not feel happy with this system. There is no USB port.

In one shop in Mysore,the owner asked me what features does this car have,i was short of words. It doesn't have automatic climate control,rear A/C, rear wiper, steering mounted controls and so on.
But then i said,well, it has adequate power, good suspension, spacious, easy ingress and egress, good all around neck,back and thigh support. Very comfortable for elderly rear passengers,with nice leg room.

At present the car is imported,with full CKD,and assembled. Later on there would be localisation. The seats are good fabric and supportive,the interiors are "soft touch",though a bit bland,i would say.
I am not keen on leather seats. kochi is a humid place,and i have good
"Stanley leather" on my Jazz. In hot times,your back becomes sweaty. And also in the evening,after some tennis,i would hesitate to sit on such nice leather seats.

Everyone has certain priorities on buying a car. No car is perfect,and one has to find a balanced ride.

And to reply to some queries:

@ libranof1987- yes the bonnet opening lever is on the passenger side,not easy,have not used it though.

@ Ghodlur The car colour is "Ash Biege". and the OTR price is 14 Lakh.

@ Amitwlele,yes i don't know what is the under hand dealing between Renault and TVS. Maybe Renault is utilising the "expertise " of TVS!

@flyingkolors, there is very minimal noise inside the car. the car is well insulated.
@Y@SH, the interiors and plastics are good quality.


@ Frontosa,the engine is 1.5 lit diesel with 106 ps

@ astrikx, the clutch was initially hard in city drive,but now it is smooth. There are no rattles,and sound is minimal inside.


@Abhi, yes Jetta trendline is good car with nice power. But i felt it to be a bit low seating,with low GC and basically a 4 seater. nowadays most premium cars are 4 seaters with either a big central tunnel,or back bucket seats. And VW has established themselves. Well,to tell you frankly, This Kochi dealer, i had called him up 4 times that i am coming for TD,he says please come.And when i reach there,there is no TD car. I can sit in one of those cars ! He would then say,he will call me and send the car to my residence,it never happened ( i wanted to TD Vento AT or the new Jetta) and finally,after all i wanted one of those cars, i called up the dealer in the next district,through a mutual contact. Maybe if i had another sales personnel,things might have been different. The car is good,no doubt.
But the Kochi BMW guy is good. He knows how to sell. I had almost finalised on x1 ! Who knows,another day,another time, it might have been so. But i have no regrets till now.Only time will tell,after the initial euphoria settles down.
Yes,Renault is here,playing alone(supposedly),and the car is new,i have taken a gamble,hope in the end "all iz well"

i am not able to add caption on the pics,but you can see the exteriors in different angles.
In one pic,you can see my left foot on the dead pedal,with a little free movement.
In another pic,you can notice that my left knee is not blocked by the instrument panel,and hence in a relaxed position.
another,you may notice me easily driving in single hand,with the light steering wheel.
In another pic,you may notice the lumbar support lever.
You may also notice the spacious interiors,with good legroom (good for the elders) and not so protruding central tunnel. Middle person can sit reasonably well.
In one pic,notice the way the sunglass holder is positioned in front of the rear view mirror,it obstructs a bit at night times.
And then the elephants,and some scenic beauty.