Renault Espace, first impressions: a very particular hybrid that remains a safe bet for families

In 1983, Renault introduced a car that broke the mold. That Renault Space It was (beyond precious, if you ask me) a car that changed the way of understanding the interior of the vehicle, prioritizing habitability and built with huge glass surfaces to avoid an interior that was too oppressive.

40 years later, another generation of the Renault Espace returns. A sixth launch that converts the minivan into an SUV, more in line with current tastes to abandon a type of vehicle in absolute decline. According to Renault, 1% of all cars sold in Spain are minivans, for 61% of the cars that are framed within SUVs.

Despite this, the Renault Espace does not lose its essence. The packaging has been changed but not what it contains. That is to say, the fifth generation of one of the iconic models of the diamond firm continues to bet on a huge interior life, to which it adds interesting technology and reflects some of the changes that are taking place in the automobile market.

The entire Space family throughout its 40-year history

This is the market

It is no coincidence that the Renault Espace has pivoted towards the SUV market. In fact, the new family car from the French meets each and every one of the premises that we have observed on the market in recent years.

In addition to this change, this fifth generation will only be sold with a single engine. He E-Tech full hybrid of 200 CV It is an electrified combination that promises consumption of 4.6l/100 km. It is made up of a 96 kW (130 hp) three-cylinder engine and two electric motors. The main one is 50 kW (70 CV) that moves the car in exclusively electric mode. It is supported by a second 25 hp high-voltage electric starter motor that starts the combustion engine and is used for gear changing.

Its general photography: a propeller and three levels of equipment. It has tried to simplify the range as much as possible, they assure us from Renault. However, during the press conference for the presentation it was also confirmed that they continue to have the odd problem with the supply of semiconductors. The problem is not new and Renault has been addressing it for some time with a simplification of its range.

As if meeting market trends point by point, the Renault Espace receives a huge facelift in its infotainment system. Play with two screens (12.3 inches for the instrument panel of 1920 x 720 pixels and 12 inches for the central screen of 1250 x 1562 pixels), very well integrated into the dashboard. The Head-Up Display is 9.3 inches and looks really good.

In addition, they have Google services supported by their OpenR Link, the operating system that governs all their functions. It comes with Google’s integrated voice assistant, Google Play apps, and OTA updates. Although it has Google Maps as the main browser and the environment works as if it were a mobile, it is also compatible with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay for greater customization.

The technological battery continues with the connection via Bluetooth for the mobile phone, two USB-C ports for all rows of seats (including the rear), wireless charging for the mobile phone, a good battery of options between the instrument panel screens, a multitude of lighting options and, as a curiosity, its own karaoke application to enjoy family trips.

Finally, it accompanies a good load of ADAS driving aids, among which we find adaptive cruise control, with lane keeping and emergency braking, blind spot detector, fatigue detector, parking aids, traffic alert crossed rear, safe exit for the occupants and 360º panoramic vision cameras.

that’s how he behaves

As we said, the new Renault Espace is everything the market is asking for: a safer, more comfortable, highly technological car in an SUV format. But what can we expect from him inside?

First of all, the whole cabin makes a good impression in terms of its quality. The seats in the first two rows are extraordinarily generous in terms of legroom. The seats are very comfortable and a very nice headrest pad can be included in the second row seats.

The rear seats, however, are limited to children. Access to them is very narrow and their size, both in terms of legroom and backrest, forces the smallest to move here. The good thing is that the central bench can be moved and gained up to 220 mm once seated.

Of course, with the rear seats deployed, the trunk remains in about bare 159 liters. With them folded down or in its five-seater version (the car can be ordered in a five- or seven-seater configuration), the trunk reaches a very interesting 777 liters (with the center bench moved to the maximum). With all the seats folded down, the trunk rises to an endless 1,818 liters.

Already on the move, the Renault Espace surprises with the ease with which it adds curves and maneuvers in the city. The tested unit had 4Advanced control, its steerable rear axle. At low speed, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction of the front wheels up to a maximum of 5 degrees. The result is so good that its turning radius is 10.4 meters (11.6 without the system), comparable to that of a Renault Clio.

On the highway, rear wheels spin up to one degree in the same direction as the front ones. At first it’s a bit difficult to get the feel for it and we may have the feeling that we’re turning too much but the benefits outweigh these feelings and we quickly take the car where we want.

Trunk with the seats of the third row deployed

Some shadow leaves us the propellant in terms of its refinement. The complex system allows us to drive in fully electric mode, either because the battery has enough energy or because it acts as a series hybrid with the combustion engine feeding the battery but with the sensations of smoothness typical of electric.

We miss a little more refinement when the combustion engine starts whose sound is more evident than we would like and when, on occasions, the gear change hesitates in the shortest relationships and becomes a bit lazy. And, in short, the car can drive in up to five modes:

• 100% electric (only the electric motor drives the wheels).
• Dynamic hybrid (combustion engine and electric motor combine to drive the wheels).
• e-drive (electric motor drives only the wheels, combustion engine works to recharge the battery).
• Thermal (the combustion engine moves the vehicle and/or recharges the battery).
• Energy recovery (the wheels drive the electric motor that recharges the battery).

For the rest, driving the Renault Espace is a task pleasant. It is a car designed by and for long distances, comfortable the more motorways and highways you drive on (the left pillar can make vision a bit difficult on twisty roads) and it perfectly meets what we ask of a purely family vehicle.

Its multimedia environment works like a charm. It is very fast, the screen has good quality, it is easy to use in its menus and the climate control controls are restricted to a strip of physical buttons in the lower area. Wireless charging, however, has worse performance, as it is easy for the mobile to move and the charge to pause.

However, in this first contact we have the feeling that the Renault Espace does exactly where it is asked. Due to the lack of kilometers on the road (the test took place mostly in secondary schools) we could not verify all the performance of its driving aids.

In the parking lot we do check that the cameras are good and that Renault seems to have been right by dropping much of the weight of its multimedia system on Google. It is clear, simple and very easy to use. And if our idea is to travel with the little ones and we need a good trunk, the choice of the Renault Espace seems very successful.

In Xataka | One day a Renault Espace reached 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds. This is his story

Photos | xataka