The Renault Fluence is a good car for the money, but the major chink in its armour was the weak diesel powertrain. To fix that though, they've given it a new 1.5-litre dCi diesel motor. It Produces 108.5 bhp of peak power and 24.3 kgm of peak torque, which is a slight improvement over the old version's 105 bhp. It may not be much of an improvement on paper, but they say the engine now has a flatter torque curve, so driveability should be much improved.
The engine is now a Renault-Daimler co-developed engine which has a power to weight ratio of 71 bhp/ton and an ARAI fuel efficiency figure of 20.4 kpl.
The Fluence continues to have high levels of comfort and safety, like four airbags, pass key, dual-zone climate control and a Bluetooth compatible media unit. The new Fluence E4 D variant also comes with 16 inch alloy wheels, ESP and traction control, leather seats, rain and light sensors.
Production capacity at its RNAIPL facility in Orgagadam has been increased from 2 lakh units to 4 lakh units thanks to the addition of a second line.
The Fluence E4 D model is priced at Rs 15.2 Lakh, Ex-showroom, Delhi. For comparison, the Toyota Corolla GL D-4D is priced at Rs 15.23 Lakh, Skoda Laura Elegance MT at Rs 16.05 Lakh and The Volkswagen Jetta comfortline 2.0 at Rs 16.4 Lakh (All prices are Ex-showroom, Delhi)
