Renault Espace Dynamique Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Renault Espace Dynamique range
Prices: £22,390-£26,035 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 10-13
Emissions: 187-252g/km
Performance: [2.2 dCi 150] 0-60mph 12s / Max Speed 117mph
Fuel Consumption: [2.2 dCi 150] (urban) 27.4mpg/ (extra urban) 44.8mpg/ (combined) 36.7mpg
Safety: Twin front & side airbags, full length curtain bags, lateral airbags, ABS with brake assist, ESP with CSV understeer control
Dimensions: [Grand Espace] length/width/heightmm 4861/1860/1746

BOXING CLEVER

Our Rating: 7.3 / 10

A full sized MPV is just a box on wheels, right? Wrong says Renault, as they wheel out the Espace Dynamique. Andy Enright takes a look

If there’s one thing that Renault has consistently excelled at, it’s understanding the market they pitch their Espace into. Where other manufacturers play catch up, introducing long wheelbase versions or developing a competitive range of diesel engines, Renault is there already, mopping up sales across the board. The latest Espace Dynamique S range is evidence that what Renault is doing now, the rest will be trying in a year or so.

Diesel-engined models account for more than 90 per cent of all Espace sales so it’s no surprise that the engine line up of the Espace Dynamique range consists of three diesels and one solitary petrol unit. The Dynamique trim level is generally marketed as having sporting design cues although Renault is smart enough to know that a boy racer Espace isn’t going to fool anyone so has kept the Dynamique-specific bits agreeably restrained.

The exterior features 17" high-gloss ‘Tellus’ alloy wheels, a chrome effect bumper strip with optional metallic paint, extra tinted glass on rear windows and tailgate, Climate control with separate driver/ passenger controls, part leather sports style seats with carbon trim and red stitching, heat reflecting windscreen, variable power assisted steering, rear parking sensor and front fog lamps. Prices start at £22,390 and the longer wheelbase ‘Grand Espace’ variants cost £1,200 more, model for model.

The Dynamique, like all other Espace models, is first and foremost a family vehicle, and safety is the number one priority. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to find that it includes features such as seats with the safety belt built-in to provide maximum comfort and safety irrespective of the positioning of the seat or angle of recline. Also a standard fitment is the ‘slide and lock’ system, which consists of sliding seat rails set in the floor allowing infinite movement within the cabin to maximise practicality. The Espace ensures you and your family not only travel in comfort but also secure in the knowledge that every model comes with a top five-star crash test safety rating from Euro NCAP. That much is money in the bank.

Important safety upgrades have been introduced to the latest Espace line-up including rain and light sensors, "See Me Home" lighting, front and rear parking assist, a tyre pressure monitoring system and Emergency Brake Assist to beef up the response of the anti-lock brakes. The Electronic Stability Program has also been improved, with the addition of understeer control. Otherwise there’s the three-point seatbelts with load limiters and curtain airbags that cover all three rows of passengers as well as the more usual twin front and side balloons. The four outer passengers in the rear also get chest airbags, making the Espace a vehicle that must be quite magnificent to crash in.

Renault has strengthened the range of powerplants on offer with the addition of a punchy 175bhp dCi unit. Able to accelerate a standard wheelbase Dynamique to 60mph in a fraction under ten seconds and on to a top speed of 127mph, this state of the art common rail turbodiesel is also capable of turning in a combined fuel figure of 38.2mpg, quite something when you consider the Espace weighs as much as a Mercedes S-Class. It’s a testament to Renault’s engineering that a vehicle this big and rapid will churn out just 200g/km of carbon dioxide.

Two other diesel engines – a dCi 130 and a dCi 150 - are offered at this level. The 170bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol powerplant might prove of minority interest to Espace Dynamique buyers but it’s still an intriguing piece of engineering. Thanks to what Renault call a ‘twin-scroll turbocharger’ which improves efficiency by limiting the re-aspiration of burned exhaust gas, there’s a hefty slug of pulling power (some 250Nm) available from just 3,250rpm. Still, you’d expect a certain amount of noise with all that turbocharger puffing and whirling. In actual fact, it’s not too bad. The acoustic solutions have come courtesy of modified valve timing, a special tensioner for the camshaft drive toothed belt and a twin-mass damper which reduces noise from the rotat