CNBC Business | Style Over Substance

Style Over Substance

The new Renault Laguna Coupe may be a head-turner, but it’s the pared down fifth generation BMW 3 Series that really gets the pulse racing, says Richard Lofthouse

You’ve got to love Renault. It churns out freshly minted metal with the flamboyance of a couturier. The diminutive Modus was criticised for being too small so hey presto, the Grand Modus popped up alongside it with a new, larger derrière. Meanwhile the Mégane’s awkward rump, made famous by a run of extraordinarily sexy ads, did nothing to prevent Renault from producing a dowdy saloon version of the same car despite the fact that no one had asked for it. You can’t fault the French company for hyper-creativity. Real or imagined, they’ll fill a niche quicker than you can eat a pain au chocolat.  

The Laguna Coupe is one such creation. An achingly pretty rebuff to anyone who moans that the current Laguna is dull, it remains to be seen who this car is for. Is it Renault’s act of recessionary genius or a piece of French mutton dressed up as English lamb? 

During our test of the mid-range, 178bhp turbodiesel version it drew admiring glances from a wide range of onlookers, some of whom confused it with the Aston Martin Vanquish that seems to have inspired it. From the rear lights to the side silhouette, and not forgetting that gaping maw grill at the front or the GT-styled, twin exhausts at the rear, this is a car dressed to kill. 

Out on the road the Laguna Coupe drives like all big Renaults, with slightly numb but relaxed steering, a big car feel and plenty of pace and grace at motorway speeds where  the diesel power is in its element and the  six-speed, manual gearbox allows for very relaxed cruising. 

By contrast, city driving is less enjoyable and the coupe’s firmer suspension upsets the ride. Every ripple is transmitted to the cabin and the car fidgets on all but very smooth surfaces. Meanwhile the diesel is too characteristically a diesel, lighting up a band of torque too suddenly and narrowly in the lower gears. This makes for choppy progress brought to a standstill by the overly grabby brakes. During our test a flimsy plastic matrix in the footwell caught tip of the tester’s shoe when moving from accelerator to brake, resulting in one heart-stopping moment in a queue of slowing city traffic. 

This beautiful French catwalk model of a car undercuts its BMW 3 Series coupe rivals by as much as €10,000, and the Aston Martin Vanquish by €140,000. Put like that, it is a startling proposition and a real-world GT offering good but not class-leading economy in diesel guise. Residual values are predicted to be poor, however, so you could wait until three years and 60,000kms have passed, by which time we predict that you’ll be able to snag a used one for 30% of its list price. Until then, indulge if your employer is offering to pay and you’re not encumbered by boring family necessities requiring five doors. There is much to love about big Renaults and the Laguna coupe is simply too beautiful to ignore. 

Stepping from the Renault into BMW’s 3 Series is like leaving a Parisian lingerie boutique for a Bavarian lederhosen store. Admittedly, comparing a coupe with a four-door saloon might seem odd. But the price point is the same and that’s the purpose of the comparison: can the stripped-down German product hold its own?  

Like Volkswagen’s forthcoming, sixth generation Golf, this fifth generation 3 Series is a jewel. Lightly facelifted for the 2009 model with a new kidney grille, new front bumper, new headlamps, new wing mirrors, new tail lamps and a larger boot lid, the E90 platform looks more athletic than it did three years ago at launch. No match for Gallic prettiness, it nonetheless exudes lithe athleticism from almost any angle except from behind.  

Meanwhile the interior is a brilliant place to be even before you fire the ignition. It exudes premium quality the Renault could only dream about. Similarly, the engine, in this case — like the Renault — a two-litre, turbocharged diesel unit, fires up with a hint of growl before settling into a steady hum, the epitome of smooth, German engineering. 

Out on the road the 318d that we put to the test has wonderfully engaging steering and dynamic appeal like no other saloon in its class, which explains why most testers have concluded that the 3 Series is a five-star proposition. Compared with the Laguna  Coupe, it boasts considerably lower CO2 emissions and higher fuel efficiency, with stop-start technology on the manual transmission models. 

If this review had been penned before Lehman Brothers blew up, we’d no doubt have gone on to moan about the lack of standard equipment, urging readers to splurge on all  the extras to attain a luxurious, cosseted feeling of having it all.  

But here’s the strange thing. While the blue and white propeller is still more ‘luxe’ than any Renault, the meaning of that has changed. Our entry level 318d seemed far more luxurious than its generously specced Laguna competitor — not because the BMW was loaded with gizmos and gadgets but because it was stripped of them.  

Ignore the more expensive SE model, which adds bigger, more easily damaged alloy wheels, fancy door handle lighting, parking sensors and an auto-dimming rear mirror. Head right down to the utilitarian ES model, which comes with everything you’d need and nothing that you don’t.  

The integrity of its build quality and the certainty that this car will still be plying the highways in another 20 years makes, perhaps paradoxically, for an utterly tranquil proposition in troubled times.  

The infinitely adjustable seats, in this case manual rather than electric, are the product of top-notch engineering rather than a pack of expensive to fix, heavy electrical motors. The engine is an understressed version of the same unit found in the more expensive 320d, so it should last for several trips around the moon.

Renault Laguna Coupe 2.0 dCi 180 GT 
 Price: c. €25,000 depending on discount 
Engine: 2 litre, 4 cylinder turbodiesel 
Power: 182 PS 
Top Speed: 220 km 
0-100km/h: 8.5 sec
CO2 172g/km 
Economy: 6.5 l/km 
We like: The overall styling and  the Super Fold rear seats.
We don’t like: Fidgety ride, bulk,  pretending to be an Aston.  BMW 318d ES, 6 speed manual  Price: c. €25,000 depending on discount 

BMW 318d ES, 6 Speed Manual
Engine: 2 litre, 4 cylinder turbodiesel 
Power: 145 PS 
Top Speed: 209 km 
0-100km/h 9.3 sec 
CO2 123 g/km 
Economy: 4.7 l/100km 
We like: Intrinsic engineering quality and impregnable feel of an automotive icon 
We don’t like: Run-flat tyres and easily  damaged alloy wheels  