[Rameshdude]

Dear Guys,
The search for a car began a few months and ranged from SX4 to BMW X1 ! After reading countless reviews,comparisons and test driving very many cars,i finally took home Renault Fluence Diesel.

My priorities were
a) comfortable seating with good back support
b) easy ingress and egress(have a bad back)
c) nice and soft suspension (Kerala roads are bad)
d) a comfortable 5 seater with good rear leg room
e) adequate power
and a few more

I test drove the Fluence on 26th of August,booked it on 29th and took delivery on 31st of August. The price came to 14L on the road. They gave me extended 4 years /80,000 kms warranty,plus a 3night/2day stay in a Mahindra resort in Kerala(except Munnar !) (yet to get it though).

They claimed they have sold 45 cars in last 2 months. I took their customer list and then called 2 people and checked. They said,In India,only in Kochi,Renault has started their service center. I went to their service center located else where and yes,fine so far. Checked the spare parts price lists,fine too. Ex showroom price of Renault Fluence is cheaper here ,than in Delhi!

And then it came to issue the cheque ,asked to whom it should be to,and they said "TVS & Sons LTD" .i was shocked..what...no way,i don't want this car. Then they showed that Renault would be handling the whole show,still not convinced ,why then this act. Anyway, TVS are our clients in another aspect,and we have not had any problems with UNO or Palio. I told my dad about that i have booked a Renault,and he was so happy. He said,my grand dad's first car was a renault !(were they here in the 1940s and 50s?) have to research too.

My kids were sad to see their favourite I10 go. My wife still not comfortable with the Jazz ! And i took the delivery of my first diesel car !

I have driven about 200 kms in the last 5 days. A few things

- a nice curvy look

-a very comfortable ride,absorbs the potholes nicely.

-a very light steering,easy on slow speed and gets tighter on fast drive. precise too.

- gear shifts are smooth (on the TD car,he drove at the 6th gear,at 40 km/hr speed),but i don't like to drive like that. We should pull the car,than other way round. In city drive,car cruises well in the 2nd gear.

- nice driver seat,with good support all around (head,back,thighs). Back seats comfortable and spacious too.Elders found it good. Easy ingress and egress,with good seat heights.

- good power.Turbo picks at 2200 rpm,a small engine sound and the car zips( close to Laura power)

-nice soft interiors.good seat fabric too.

- A pillar not so obtrusive as the Hondas.(been a Honda city,civic and jazz owner)

-very less noise or vibration for a diesel car.

-wiper speed adjusts to the driving speed.

-the MID shows so many informations,like your average speed ,fuel consumed,mileage. but don't know how to start the trip meter,does it start automatically on full tank?

- And then the "smart key" .It is raining,one hand holding the umbrella,other hand the tennis kit/or any other bag,just walk to the car,with the key in your pocket,slide your hand inside the door handle,and you are quickly in .You don't need the key to start the car either.

But,in the same manner,you leave the key in the slot,and you are in a hurry,you forget to take it (though there is a good warning),on return you may not find your car!

Or you have the key in your pocket,you come out,and tell your wife to turn the car around,will be back in a min,and you walk 3 feet away,and she is all locked up in !

- center arm rest,gears are in nice position

- and the best thing,you fill her with 55 L diesel it will be Rs 2500/ the same amount i spend to fill my Jazz with 33 L petrol !

-mileage shows 11,should improve,i suppose.the average speed i am able to drive is only 15km/hr !
And now for some bad things

-the center rear view mirror is bad at night.The sunglass holder obstructs the view,when you switch the mirror to night mode.

- AC is ok(will need to put suncontrol film,another Rs 10k)

- stereo is average

- and then the RCA input....still searching for a convertor. Balkin has one,through which you can connect to FM (another Rs 5K)

- no GPS/reverse sensor/bluetooth connectivity ("Map my India, Rs 16K!)

- the light and indicator and wiper controls are on opposite side !
and many more or less to come !

I am going on a long drive this weekend. Kochi-Ooty-Mysore. It will be through ghats and highways. I would know the true power with 3 adults and 2 kids !If anyone has any suggestions about the road or route,please guide me

Thanks for reading,i know,i am a poor writer.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the public forum. Thanks for sharing!

[h@r$h@l]

Congrats Rameshdude on the First (I believe) Fluence on Tbhp.

Few of us went to the Renault showroom in Ahmdabad soon after it was opened and got to see the car. The car does have good space inside. What i disliked the most was the equipment levels offered on the Diesel variant in comparison with its petrol brother. Sadly their test cars had gone to Baroda for some demos so we didnt get a chance to TD the same.

Enjoy your new ride. Do post interior pics and other details and your initial experiences for the same.

Regards,

[libranof1987]

Congratulations on the Fluence! Guess yours is the first on T-BHP.

How easy is it to access the engine bay? The way the bonnet is designed, you'd have to bend quite a bit to reach out.

We'll need a lot more pics please.

That pic with your son not letting go of the i10 is really adorable btw!

Happy driving!

[ashis89]

Congrats on your purchase. A beautiful write-up. The car looks very nice from front(aggressive look) and has very good side stance too. Please post some more pictures,both interior and exterior.
Enjoy your ride. Best wishes

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Guess yours is the first on T-BHP.

This is the second Fluence ownership, BHPina Dheeraj23 has reported the first ownership thread.

Congrats Ramesh on the Fluence.

Mind sharing the the OTR cost and what colour is the car? Is it grey or silver? Request you to post pics of the interior too.

Your second pic reminded me of my son's tantrums when my earlier Santro sold to an office colleague was being taken away by him. Had to pacify him with my Fiesta though.

Happy mile crunching and drive safely.

[Seeler_Rebeiro]

Seen a few in Mumbai. It does have a very good road presence. Congrats. I think Renault is doing the right thing by having their own dealerships.

[bluevolt]

Congratulations on owning the Renault Fluence.

This is most probably its first review on team-bhp. Take good care of her and drive safe.

Wishing you happy and safe driving!

[noopster]

Congrats Rameshdude! I saw the exact same model on display (beige diesel Fluence) at Renault Pune and fell in love with it. Since you'vedone your due diligence w.r.t after-sales service etc., hopefully you should be in for a smooth ride.

As for your sheepish admission that you are a bad writer, actually you're not. Just need to structure what you put down a little better. And of course, you're missing good pictures especially of the interiors- could you post those please?

[rajcs]

Congratulations rameshdude- a great looking car. Thanks for sharing the initial impressions. Rather emotional farewell to the i10.

We will be keen to know how she drives on the hills and highways. So looking forward to that update next week.

[amitwlele]

@Rameshdude - Congrats. The color looks awesome. But would love to see more pictures. Would be interesting to read about your experience in the future with respect to A$$.

By the way did not quite understand the mystery behind "TVS Motor Company". Why was the cheque issued in their name? Is there some partnership that i am not aware of.

Wishing you a Very Happy Long Term Ownership.

[flyingkolors]

Congrats on your wonderful buy. The car looks awesome in this color and I really like the curves. How are the NVH levels inside the cabin?

And for your route query for Ooty and Mysore, please refer to the Travelogues section. There are many threads that can help you!

And yes, please post more pictures. Drive safe.

[neil.jericho]

Congratulations on the Fluence, I really liked the car when I saw it at the Blore Auto Show. The boot seems to be pretty huge though I wasnt a big fan of their different options list for the petrol and diesel. Did the showroom throw in anything for free?

[Habanero City]

Congratulations on the Fluence, though you may be a poor writer, you can provide us with some more pictures of the car especially the interiors and special features.
Please clean up the car and choose a good location for the shoot out.

HC

[amitk2kin]

Congratulations on the Fluence! The color that you have picked up looks awesome! Do share a detailed report on the usage and please share pictures of the interiors!