Test driving the all new Renault’s Lodgy RxZ 110 PS MVP car was something me and our expert Ajinov Mathappan was very much looking forward to. Ours was a 108 BHP, white colored car with an eye catching chrome grille and standard sized headlamps that looked powerful. It had a distinctive dual-colored chin with angled edges gives the front a distinctive look. The high waistline gave it that majestic MPV profile. There rear gets angular and the tail lamps are somewhat small. We commenced our journey driving this car that is made of 1.5-litre diesel engine that also power the Duster. We took her out by 7 :30 am in the morning on a fine Tuesday from the Kalamassery showroom through the roads of Vallarpadam container terminal. Being the expert Mr. Ajinov had the onus of taking the wheels.The car we took out was an 8 seater. The first thing what I look for in a car when I get in are the safety features. There are airbags for both the driver and the co-passenger in the Lodgy. That is a good start. The second is how spacious it feels. It has the longest wheel base in its class with 2810 mm. That shows.The dashboard looks a lot like Duster but, whatever works, one feels. There is a Vanity storage space on the console which can be used to fill magazines or other valid stuff. It is a nice addition one feels. Glove box in the console is considerably lower than usual. I find that to be a bit perplexing as I assume nobody will prefer to bend lower to open it. But it does look spacious however. There is also a power window switch on the center of the console. One feels that to be quite a good selection as it gives convenience to both driver and the passenger.
The cooling comfort of this caris as good as any car you will be 170 kph. The braking system come with ABS , EBD and Brake assist. The Lodgy with its adaptive suspension hits the jackpot
The LCD panel has navigation and phone Bluetooth answering facility. The car onreverse also gives a good rear view when reversing. It has a good resolution. One can also adjust the display’s brightness and contrast. Audible warnings are provided by the parking sensors. The Lodgy also offers satellite navigation with 3 years of free map updates. You get to enjoy a real good head space in this car. The roofs are high and if you area man 6 feet plus, will appreciate this. But it is an entirely different story when you are in the middle and last row, as there is not much leg space and under-thigh space, as the seats are low.Tyre size of the car is small and can be a disadvantage. The 185/65 R15 tyres are actually too small for all that body bulk.The Duster’s 215/65 R16 size would have been more suitable one feels.Doors are all hard built like those German cars like BMW or Audi. They give you a really solid feel and don’t close with a big thud either. It also has a door binfor storage and you can store a one liter bottle horizontally. There are 3 Mobilephone 12 V charging units– one on front, middle and then on the back. That is in. It was a hot morning and yet within a very short time, the entire car was comfortably cold. Whether you are sitting in the first row or the second or the kiddie space, as I would like to call the third, cooling comfort remains honest.
Talking about the seating, Lodgy has the same of the Duster, which is not a bad thing as Duster’s seats were pretty comfortable and stylish. It goes well with Lodgy too. The second row seats split in a 60:40 ratio,while the third row can be split in a 50:50 ratio or removed completely to make more boot space available.The 6 gear car showed a smalllag when you shifted from the 2nd gear to the 3rd. But it makesup this lag big time as it gains momentum. The car hardly makes any noise and the cabin remains silent even above 100kph. It hits from 0-100 kph in something very thoughtful indeed. The car has a turning radius 0f about 70%, which is not bad. One really cool thing I like about the Lodgy is where they have kept the spare wheel. It is in the most unexpected place—under the body.
One another thing you notice when you look under the car is how well everything is protected from the fuel lines to the brakes, everything is metal cased.No car reviews are perfect and nowhere complete without a sneak peek under the hood. The Lodgy has a Renault-Nissan badged Exide battery. The firewalls are heavily insulated. Sound levels have been insulated to achieve low NVH levels. The ECU is behind the car battery. Under the hood, one can notice a lot of damping. The ‘K9K’ engine in this is used across a wide variety of Renault-Nissan products. The power output it brings makes the car the fastest MPV in its class. As we test drove for 35 kms through those roads and back to the showroom, we found the car to be a powerful and fuel efficient one that has the most space and has plenty of features like cruise control, dual ac vents, leather upholstery, Media nav system with bluetooth, USB and navigation, dual front airbags along with ABS and EBD. It is definitely a car worth a try.