Thread Starter
#1
Did a TD of Renault Scale CVT RXL (Petrol):
Positives:
- Super spacious cabin - simply awesome!
- Super spacious boot space
- Comfortable seats
- Driver seat height adjuster
- Fairly loaded with all basic features
- Safety features like ABS and Air bags
- Fairly good mileage considering the size of the car (10 km/ltr in city with A/c)
- Good breaking (with ABS)
- Center armrest on second row with cup holders
- Stiff acceptable suspension
- Fairly good music system
- Leather seats
Negatives:
- No bluetooth (I don't get it!)
- No driver arm rest (Can't beleive they missed this on such a spacious sedan)
- Very noisy engine especially when you floor it a bit
- Ground clearance not very impressive for Indian conditions
- NVH not impressive due to engine noise
- The black stretches on the bumpers tend to get dirty and need polishing as opposed to just a wash
Notes:
- Engine is very noisy because it hits high rpm (3K) when you give it a bit of gas to gain speed or over take the auto in front of you. If you're super gentle driver than you might be able to avoid the engine noise.
- I don't think the problem is with the engine. I reckon there are two things involved here: 1. It's the CVT coupled with a bigger engine that is probably making more noise. 2. I suspect that the cabin sound proofing is not adequate.
- If you're in sports mode the engine rpm would be 1K more than the normal mode (3K vs 4K) and it tends to get stuck at high rpm until you take your foot off the gas. I was going at 80km/hr in sports mode and the rpm continued to stay at 4K making much noise.
- Surprisingly, I experienced the same engine noise problem in the Honda Amaze AT:
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/test-drive-reviews/13683-honda-amaze-test-drive.html
In that case it was the geared automatic transmission of Amaze upshifting too soon only to downshift as soon as you demand a bit of power.
- Interiors look cheap even with leather seats. I didn't like the quality of the materials used all over (dashboard for example). I expected more from Renault.
Summary:
No WOW factor found. Even the exterior is not very impressive. The engine noise is not acceptable.
P.S. Interestingly, I remember reading a feedback from a Nissan Sunny CVT owner who thought that the car was smooth yet powerful with not much of engine noise. Technically the Scala CVT and the Sunny CVT are reported to be the same. The cabin sound proofing may be different though. And of course the Sunny looks different especially from the front and the back. Perhaps I should TD the Sunny CVT.
Positives:
- Super spacious cabin - simply awesome!
- Super spacious boot space
- Comfortable seats
- Driver seat height adjuster
- Fairly loaded with all basic features
- Safety features like ABS and Air bags
- Fairly good mileage considering the size of the car (10 km/ltr in city with A/c)
- Good breaking (with ABS)
- Center armrest on second row with cup holders
- Stiff acceptable suspension
- Fairly good music system
- Leather seats
Negatives:
- No bluetooth (I don't get it!)
- No driver arm rest (Can't beleive they missed this on such a spacious sedan)
- Very noisy engine especially when you floor it a bit
- Ground clearance not very impressive for Indian conditions
- NVH not impressive due to engine noise
- The black stretches on the bumpers tend to get dirty and need polishing as opposed to just a wash
Notes:
- Engine is very noisy because it hits high rpm (3K) when you give it a bit of gas to gain speed or over take the auto in front of you. If you're super gentle driver than you might be able to avoid the engine noise.
- I don't think the problem is with the engine. I reckon there are two things involved here: 1. It's the CVT coupled with a bigger engine that is probably making more noise. 2. I suspect that the cabin sound proofing is not adequate.
- If you're in sports mode the engine rpm would be 1K more than the normal mode (3K vs 4K) and it tends to get stuck at high rpm until you take your foot off the gas. I was going at 80km/hr in sports mode and the rpm continued to stay at 4K making much noise.
- Surprisingly, I experienced the same engine noise problem in the Honda Amaze AT:
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/test-drive-reviews/13683-honda-amaze-test-drive.html
In that case it was the geared automatic transmission of Amaze upshifting too soon only to downshift as soon as you demand a bit of power.
- Interiors look cheap even with leather seats. I didn't like the quality of the materials used all over (dashboard for example). I expected more from Renault.
Summary:
No WOW factor found. Even the exterior is not very impressive. The engine noise is not acceptable.
P.S. Interestingly, I remember reading a feedback from a Nissan Sunny CVT owner who thought that the car was smooth yet powerful with not much of engine noise. Technically the Scala CVT and the Sunny CVT are reported to be the same. The cabin sound proofing may be different though. And of course the Sunny looks different especially from the front and the back. Perhaps I should TD the Sunny CVT.
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