Test drive Renault Arkana. Ice and turbo
Winter test for a 1,3 engine with CVT and four-wheel drive, which proves that a family crossover can go sideways
Clear ice underneath the Continental IceContact 2 with increased studs. No sand, no reagents. The car glides on the curves of the sports track along the ponds of the Urals, which are shackled by the cold near Yekaterinburg. And an old song is spinning in my head: "Ice, ice, ice - will immediately give an answer, can you at least do something or not."
Here's another icy twist. Ay, casually drove in. Hopeless displacement - and Renault Arkana in the parapet. The bumper slots are clogged - it looks like a mouthful of snow porridge. So the additional steel plate of the lower protection fixed at the time of the races came in handy. The technician deftly pulls us back, and on the radio they tell us to continue the exercises.
The idea of the event is simple: find out if the Arkana with a petrol 150-horsepower 1,3 turbo engine, X-Tronic variator and four-wheel drive is good in a real winter. Earlier, we drove in a column along the rolled forest tracks, we were glad about the energy intensity of the suspension and the clearance of 205 mm, but now - the ice.
Renault makes a special bet on expensive turbo versions. Such Arkanas are bought by about half of the total, but for typical customers of the brand, the combination of a turbo with a variator is a little-studied and rumored phenomenon.
On the other hand, the new turbo engine is a direct candidate for localization, and in the future it will probably appear on other models of the brand in Russia. The market has been waiting for updates for Renault Kaptur for a long time, in the outline of which the idea of a new older engine fits very logically. If our assumptions turn out to be correct, then other models of the Russian assembly should also receive a turbo engine.
It makes no sense to consider ice races with high speeds as a test of the reliability of the power unit. But it turned out that high revs are not needed for a high-torque engine on the proposed routes. On the contrary, it is better to handle the car here with more care.
After a spell with the control unit, the instructors turned off the stabilization system. Not up to 50 km / h, like a regular button, but completely. Left alone with the car, I experiment with the Auto and Lock all-wheel drive algorithms, as well as with the sport mode, which slightly makes the steering wheel heavier. In any case, the first races turn out to be sweeping: once, twice - and I finish in the above-mentioned parapet.
But I continue training, and it turns out that making friends with the car is not difficult. Caution, careful handling of the gas pedal, very tight steering and - most importantly - the understanding that there is a lot of torque on the rear axle too.
Reducing the throttle before turning, one has to take into account a small "turbo lag", which makes it difficult to accurately meter the thrust. If you pass it, you will get a "whip" astern at the exit from the turn. For the same reason, it is not easy, out of habit, to give the pedal a short and precise impulse for a beautiful, controlled drift.
Ideally, without the help of the stabilization system, you need to drive the car, acting a little ahead of the curve. Then Arkana will seem very flexible. The thing is in the exact calculation, because the machine is also not designed for lingering responses, since it turns out to be very lively in its reactions.
And if the stabilization system is on, driving at the same pace turns out to be jerky and boring. Electronics rather a compliment: it regularly upsets the car and "chokes" the engine - so that the car is then difficult to pull out of the corner. Just now Arkana was interesting, but now you feel its detachment, and it is no longer possible to slide on the ice in slides. But this is much safer and further from the snow parapets.
With the onset of this year, Renault Arkana has received new price tags. The base 1,6-wheel drive version with manual gearbox has risen in price by $ 392 and costs $ 13, and with all-wheel drive and "mechanics" it is more expensive by another $ 688. The most affordable 2 turbo version with front-wheel drive and CVT is offered for $ 226 and with a full price for another $ 1,3. more.
It would be all the more interesting to find out how much the updated Renault Kaptur will cost. So far, we can only assume that with a 1,3 turbo engine it will be a little cheaper than the Arkana, but it will surely turn out to be just as lively and gambling. And this is exactly what was previously lacking in mass models of the French brand in Russia.
| Body type | Hatchback |
| Dimensions (length / width / height), mm | 4545/1820/1565 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2721 |
| Ground clearance, mm | 205 |
| Curb weight, kg | 1378 – 1571 Feet |
| Gross vehicle weight, kg | 1954 |
| engine's type | Petrol, R4 |
| Working volume, cubic meters cm | 1332 |
| Power, hp with. at rpm | 150 at 5250 |
| Max. torque, Nm at rpm | 250 at 1700 |
| Transmission, drive | CVT full |
| Maximum speed km / h | 191 |
| Acceleration to 100 km / h, from | 10,5 |
| Consumption of fuel mixture., L | 7,2 |
| Price from, $. | 19 256 |
