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2015 Renault Kadjar Review

OUR TEST CAR: 2015 Renault Kadjar, 1.6 dCi, 6MT, AWD, 130 HP

 
Kadjar isn’t a household name in the automotive industry, or any other industry on this planet. Furthermore, Kadjar doesn’t even mean anything in particular. After imagining nameplates such as the Captur and Talisman, the time has come for Renault to go one step beyond, so here we are in the presence of the 2015 Renault Kadjar. But does this newcomer C-segment softroader have what it takes to challenge the burgeoning world of the compact crossover?
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While softroaders don’t meet most enthusiasts’ criteria for bush-travel vehicles, the general impression that owners of this kind of vehicle are trying to project an outdoorsy image of themselves is still kicking strong. You can even sense it in the oddball name the automaker bestowed upon this model.

I’ll spare you the gratuitous Google search and let you know Kadjar is a portmanteau of two terms: Kad, which is related to quad as in all-wheel drive; and Jar, which is the root word of Jaillir or agile in French. Renault has a dedicated webpage for the model’s name, implying that the Qajar dynasty is another inspiration for this outlandish choice of letters.

Now that we know what’s in the Kadjar name, let us carry on and try to put the finger on what the designers did with the exterior and interior of this Chelsea tractor. Made in Spain and assembled with parts sourced from the UK, the 2015 Renault Kadjar seems remarkably similar to the Nissan Qashqai from its side profile.

It’s true, they do share some design cues, including the shape of the glasshouse. Here at autoevolution we are fans of calling a spade a spade. Ladies and gentlemen, what we’re dealing with here is 60 percent Qashqai in terms of mechanicals. Renault is quick to point out that despite the shared innards, the Kadjar prides itself with about 95 percent of brand-specific parts, those bits and bobs customers come in contact with most of the time.

This isn’t your typical badge-engineered vehicle, but an individual machine with unique attributes and a different nature from the extremely popular Qashqai. It took the French manufacturer quite a long time to bid the Koleos farewell and get a hint of Nissan’s success with the Qashqai. Despite its Johnny-come-lately character, the people behind the Kadjar had plenty of time to observe, research, and develop the model as well as possible from the get-go. Spoiler alert - it’s unmistakably good.

If you remember the sketch that predates the production vehicle, you’ll be starstruck by the similarity between the two. Opting for the opulent 19-inch wheels really brings the best out of the aesthetic front, but be cautious - big wheels equals compromised ride quality. 17 or 18-inch is the way to go if you don’t want to spoil its road manners.

But more on that later, for now just soak in the curvaceous lines. Pretty, isn’t it? While opinions may be divided, do analyze the Kadjar’s visual appeal by drawing a parallel with how the Qashqai, both old and new, is perceived. It was always hard to strike gold in terms of automotive design, but we like what we see here. Mind you, it is hard to shake off the feeling that the front fascia is on the chubby side and the rear overhang is slightly pudgy.
Design grabs attention like a flare in the night sky, not because of the physical attractiveness, but because the Kadjar doesn’t adhere to Renault’s regular styling ethos.

Even in caramel-like metallic brown, the Kadjar gets the thumbs up and the curious glances alike. The huge logo up front dominating front grille, the C-shaped LED daytime running lights, the anodized aluminum roof bars, ginormous liftgate, and rippled light effect of the taillights sum up the Kadjar best. If you insist, Renault will gladly sell you optional full-LED Pure Vision headlamps for the dipped and main beam, although the standard lights are not too shabby either, style-wise or when the night unfolds.

As far as length, width and height are concerned, you’ll be surprised to find out that the 2015 Renault Kadjar is mere centimeters bigger than its Nissan-branded sibling. Only the wheelbase is more or less identical. All of this similarity comes courtesy of the Nissan-Renault’s CMF-CD vehicle platform, which is employed by the Nissan Qashqai, X-Trail (Rogue), Pulsar as well as the Renault Espace V, Kadjar, all-new Talisman and soon-to-debut Megane IV.

Are you, like us, fed up with the glossy black plastics and general feeling of “could’ve been better?” of older Renault interiors? Prepare to experience an epiphany then. Make no mistake about it - the Kadjar doesn’t have the 8.7-inch tablet-like media system of the Espace and Talisman, but it compensates everywhere else. Other than the total lack of scratchy plastics, every single detail welcomes both driver and passenger to have a seat and enjoy themselves.

Be it cloth or leather-wrapped seats, the Kadjar wraps its occupants in coziness and tranquility. With Volvo-inspired headrests, an enormous cubby in the center armrest, and enough head and knee room for six-footers, the Kadjar is a thorough family hauler. With two Isofix child-seat mounts and class-leading elbow room, the Renault crossover is a machine that caters to the needs of the whole household.

Speaking of room, the modular boot is bigger than that of the Qashqai and there’s even a space-saver wheel under the boot floor, not one of those useless tire repair kits. If you’re a fan of flat-pack furniture shopping sprees, you’ll be happy to find out that the front passenger seat can be folded flat to accommodate longer items. On the other hand, the Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix35 boast more boot capacity when the rear seats are upright.

There are three details we aren’t so sure about, though. As an appetizer, there are two brown-painted yet glittering ornamental plastic bits glued to the car’s center console, flanking the gear lever. During cornering or when you try to move around in your seat, one of your legs comes in contact with the ornament, producing an audible creaking sound. Needless to say, one has to wonder how the creaking will evolve over the course of 30,000 miles.

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Due to a plethora of active safety equipment, the rearview mirror’s appliqué on the windshield is extremely big. From the driver’s point of view, you can’t appreciate its size because the mirror itself eclipses the appliqué housing all those safety nannies. But if you’re the front passenger, it’ll be surprising, to say the least, to observe a chunky bit of plastic obstructing your field of vision of the road ahead.

Last but not least, the A-pillars. In a similar manner to the A-pillars of the 2015 Ford Mondeo, the Renault Kadjar’s dramatically raked greenhouse supports are thick-bodied. Strictly speaking from the driver’s perspective, you’ll have to bend over in order to negotiate an intersection. While we’re on the subject of driving, how does the Kadjar fare once you push the button and the four-pot roars to life?

The entry-level powertrain is a 1.2 TCe turbo petrol with a six-speed manual and 130 HP to play with in front-wheel drive form. Curiously enough, it’s the fastest engine of the bunch. Moving on up to the mid-ranger, there’s a 1.5 dCi with 110 horsepower that can be coupled to a front-wheel drive chassis and a stick shift or a six-speed EDC dual-clutch automatic. Our test car wasn’t either of those models.

What we have here is a 2015 Renault Kadjar Energy 1.6 dCI with 130 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and a manual, specced in mid-range Zen trim. Available in FWD as well, the 1.6 turbo diesel at hand is the most powerful and most torquey engine on the list. Once again, the French make us curious about the fact that you can’t get an automatic for the top-tier powerplant. In the Nissan Qashqai’s case, you are offered the possibility to pair the oil burner with a CVT, which makes Renault’s judgement even harder to comprehend.
The 1.5 dCi found popularity with the Dacia brand, while the 1.6 dCi of our Kadjar did the same in the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Not joking.

Compared to the C 200 d, the 2015 Renault Kadjar 1.6 dCi is 6 horsepower down on the German sedan. Yes, boys and girls, Mercedes-Benz uses Renault engines because they’re smooth and fuel efficient. In the city, the 1.6 dCi sips fuel like a hummingbird and it’s silky smooth. The downside is that the rubbery clutch and sub-1,500 rpm lack of torque don’t help with fast starts off the line.

Parking the Kadjar and negotiating congested traffic is a breeze if you’re aided by parking sensors. Our car had some of those, although we would’ve preferred a parking camera. We’re not being pretentious here at all, the first time you peer at the rearview mirror you’ll be shocked to see how bad visibility is through the rear window. As such, parking sensors or a rearview parking camera are a must.

Outside of town, the efficiency of the 1.6 dCi and positive feel of the six-speed manual transmission come into their own. In-gear acceleration is reasonable for a sub-2-liter coal burner. For overtaking maneuvers on the motorway, it’s recommended you swap a cog or two in order to get the most out of the available 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque.

It’s not asthmatic, nor is it a particularly strong performer, but it’s fair and willing to give its best for a small turbo diesel motor. And the efficiency outside of town? 5 liters (47 US mpg / 56.5 UK mpg) if you have a steady right foot and refrain from overtaking. During our time behind the wheel, we didn’t try to hypermile or stretch the legs of the Kadjar, but drove it like a normal person should - relaxed and tidy.

For a vehicle of this size, with all-wheel drive, and dual-zone climate control always on, we have to give it to the Kadjar for the impressive fuel economy it returned. If we were trying our best, chances are we would’ve bettered the ratings advertised by the manufacturer. But the economy isn’t the defining character of this car’s on-road characteristics - it’s the velvety ride quality, the yielding suspension, and dynamics that impressed us.

Just to get this straight from the start, the new Renault Kadjar isn’t the type of vehicle to drive fast and carve beautiful canyon roads with. Despite its generous grip, weighty steering, a sense of lightness, and its eagerness to take a bend without breaking a sweat, the Kadjar doesn’t do aggressive driving. Fast-paced yes, but hell-bent for leather canyon runs easily unsettle the vehicle. Smooth sailing is the name of the game here, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, this is no RS.

The Nissan-developed all-wheel drive system can send half of the available torque to the rear axle if you switch the Kadjar into LOCK mode. In 2WD you save a bit of diesel, but here’s yet another curious thing in a typical French way - most of the time, 4WD AUTO sends oomph to the front axle. Even when you give it no quarter like a man on a mission, the AWD system won’t send more than 15 percent of the torque to the rear axle. I am not making that figure up because the all-new Renault Kadjar shows you how much grunt goes where at any given moment.

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Moreover, 4WD AUTO doesn’t send any torque to the rear wheels at speeds over 25 mph (40 km/h), which defeats the purpose of all-wheel drive. The bottom line is that all-wheel drive is a necessity only if you live in a snowy place or do a lot of greenlaning in the countryside. And here is yet another reason why you shouldn’t opt for AWD if you can do without it: it’s 0.6 seconds slower to 100 km/h (62 mph) than the front-wheel drive Renault Kadjar 1.6 dCi.

The final argument for going FWD instead of AWD isn’t the price, but the vehicle’s nature and customers. The crossover was born as the gateway drug between the station wagon and SUV. We’re told that less than a tenth of Kadjar customers will opt for all-wheel drive because most people buy a crossover because it’s a crossover. They don’t want the utilitarianism of an estate, nor the footprint and running costs of an SUV. As simple as that.

One other aspect of this jacked-up hatchback’s nature is found by fiddling with the R-Link 2 infotainment system. It is a swipe-capable Android-based system that lets you configure the digital instrument cluster theme and color to your heart’s content. More than that, it’s got 1 Gigabyte of space available for apps that range from Twitter to e-mail clients and, get this, Sudoku and quiz games. Fantastic stuff to have in a traffic jam alright, but it can do better.

We’re referring to a function titled 'User profiles.' Say you share your Kadjar with your wife and daughter. This little feature lets everyone set up their own dedicated user profile. At the touch of a button, you, your wife or your kid can access their predefined audio, instrument cluster, seating, and climate control settings, simple as that. It’s like a memory function for the vehicle in its entirety and, from our point of view, it is the feature that makes the R-Link 2 system worthwhile.

On the safety front, Euro NCAP hasn’t crash tested the Kadjar yet, but keep in mind that it’s the brother of the Nissan Qashqai, a 5-star overall machine. With six airbags, ESP, and hill-start assistance as standard, we bet this bugger is a 5-star machine as well. Our mid-ranger came with a few active safety systems like lane-departure warning and a traffic sign recognition system. When it comes to blind-spot warning and autonomous emergency braking, prepare to pay top dollar for the range-topping Intens (EU)/Signature Nav (UK) trim.
The Kadjar’s best selling point is that it undercuts its main competitors, including its blood relative made by Nissan.

Sorry North America, but you can’t have the Kadjar. In Europe and the UK, 2015 Renault Kadjar prices start at a reasonable €18,200 (1.2 TCe 130 4x2 Manual in Life trim) and £17,995 (1.5 dCi 4x2 Manual in Expression+ guise), respectively. An ideally configured model would come as a mid-range 1.5 dCi model with the EDC six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, sat nav, rearview parking camera, leather inserts, and theatrical panoramic sunroof.

As long as you keep away from the range-topping model and its 19-inch alloy wheels, you’re good to go. Would we recommend the Kadjar over the Qashqai? It’s every bit as good, if not slightly more complete as an overall package than the Nissan, but to each their own. Some prefer the more mundane looks of the Qashqai and its more driver-focused chassis while others want the Gallicised version - its je ne sais quoi and hard-to-resist comfort credentials.

To wrap things up nicely, this Renault isn’t the speed merchant’s crossover of choice, but we heartily advise anyone in the market for a compact crossover to take it for a test drive and understand its charm before paying an advance on a Nissan Qashqai, Ford Kuga, Mazda CX-5, Honda CR-V, and the list goes on and on.

Contrary to expectations, the Kadjar doesn’t appeal to the heart, but not a single crossover can. Instead, the Renault Kadjar ticks all the right boxes. The French outfit is fashionably late in the crossover segment, but it’s obvious that it took its sweet time to deliver an all-purpose and gifted vehicle.
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autoevolution Jul 2015
75
Value for money: 9/10
History
4
Exterior
6
Interior
8
In the city
9
Open road
6
Comfort
8
Tech facts
7
Gadgets
8
Safety
9
Conclusion
9
85user rating 94 votes
Rate this car!
 
Key Specs
USEU
Engine
1598 cm3 I4
Fuel
diesel
Power kw
95
Power hp
127
Power rpm
4000
Torque val
236
Torque rpm
1750
Transmission
6-speed manual
Traction
AWD
Acceleration
10.3
Top speed
118 mph
Length
175.2 in
Width
72.3 in
Height
63.3 in
Wheelbase
104.2 in
Ground clearance
7.9 in
Cargo volume
18.6 CuFT
Weight
3386 lbs
Seating
5
Power
95 KW/127 BHP @ 4000 RPM
Torque
236 Lb-Ft @ 1750 RPM
Engine
1598 cm3 I4
Fuel
diesel
Power kw
95
Power hp
129
Power rpm
4000
Torque val
320
Torque rpm
1750
Transmission
6-speed manual
Traction
AWD
Acceleration
10.5
Top speed
190 km/h
Length
4450 mm
Width
1836 mm
Height
1608 mm
Wheelbase
2647 mm
Ground clearance
201 mm
Cargo volume
526.7 L
Weight
1536 Kg
Seating
5
Power
95 KW/129 HP @ 4000 RPM
Torque
320 Nm @ 1750 RPM
fuel efficiency
mpgOfficialOurs
City43.633.6
Highway53.547
Combined4939.8
fuel efficiency
l/100kmOfficialOurs
City5.47
Highway4.45
Combined5.85.9
base price
$
-
base price
18200
Photo gallery (48)
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