Subspecies

On the first day of spring, sales of a hatchback based on the Logan sedan, which, by the whim of marketers, received its own name, began on the Russian market. We are talking about the five-door Sandero, which, like the "Logan", is presented in Russia under the Renault brand, and, for example, in its "homeland" in Romania with the Dacia badge.

There is no special history behind the creation of this car – the platform, suspension, engines, transmission, and interior were inherited by the hatchback from the Renault Logan. But despite this, the importance of the "Sandero" appearing on our car market cannot be overestimated. After all, this is a new stage in the expansion of budget Renault-Dacia small cars into Russia.

Global sales of the "Sandero" began in 2007,
and in the first 12 months, 300 thousand cars were sold

Perhaps someone will think that "expansion" is too loud a word for the successes of the French automaker, but the speed with which "Logan" cars find Russian buyers will convince any skeptic. For example, last year the sedan took first place in sales among foreign cars on the domestic market – in total, 54 thousand French small cars were sold in 2009.

Unification The B0 platform, on which the Sandero and Logan are created, is a version of the "Nissan" small-car platform B, adapted specifically for the Romanian Dacia. On the latter, in turn, models of the Renault-Nissan alliance such as the Nissan Cube, Nissan Micra, Renault Clio, and Renault Twingo are built.

In the Russian representative office of Renault, they are as proud of these achievements of the "Logan" as parents are happy about their child's good grades. Therefore, employees of the French company do not tire of finding more and more new evidence of the popularity of the four-door small car among Russian motorists. For example, at the presentation of the "Sandero", the commercial director of the Russian representative office of Renault, Denis Le Vot, stated that based on the results of last year, the Logan not only managed to rise to first place in sales among foreign cars in Russia, but also took a significant share of the entire car market: in 2009, every 25th car sold in our country turned out to be a "Logan".

For one model of one manufacturer, this is a good result, but, as Denis Le Vot hopes, the appearance of the "Sandero" will further strengthen the position of French small cars in Russia. After all, the new body should bring new customers to Renault showrooms, and there may be many of them: according to marketers' estimates, in the Russian "B" segment, hatchbacks account for about one third of the total number of cars sold. That is, theoretically, only thanks to the appearance of the Sandero on the Avtoframos assembly line, the plant's sales could grow by 50 percent.

And when the French are asked whether there is a danger that the Renault Sandero will take away some buyers from the Renault Logan, they smile and explain that according to their research, these cars have completely different audiences. Like, the "Logan" is liked by older family motorists, and the "Sandero" is a more youthful car. What kind of "cannibalism" is there, at most – a conflict of generations.

"Sandero" is so young

Indeed, the hatchback looks more modern than its predecessor. Although the familiar appearance of the "Logan" was changed by only a few touches, such as stampings on the hood, new optics, and body kit. Apparently, the five-door body itself looks more relevant than the three-box. But at the same time, it will not be possible to forget that in the appearance of the Sandero, as in the sedan, aesthetics play a subordinate role – after all, the main goal of the developers was to provide the driver and passengers with as much space as possible in the cabin.

Interior From afar and in photographs, the front panel and center console of the "Sandero" look better than in real life. The fact is that the French managed to find plastic for these interior elements that seems soft from the side and gives the impression of being expensive. An optical illusion, but the mood in such a cabin still improves. In the "Sandero" cabin, five adults can freely fit. But even in the top version of the hatchback, there are only two airbags - for the driver and front passenger. After all, this is a budget car. But the driver's airbag is included in all trim levels as standard equipment. With the rear seat back folded, the Renault Sandero trunk holds 1200 liters of cargo. By small car standards, this is a lot. For comparison, even the compact van Honda Jazz has a trunk volume not exceeding 900 liters. In addition, transporting bulky cargo in the "Sandero" will be facilitated by the fact that the distance between the rear arches is one meter.

And the engineers coped with this task with flying colors. Thanks to the high roof and the wheelbase inherited from the "Logan", the "Sandero" is spacious both in the front seats and on the rear sofa. By the way, in terms of the distance between the front and rear axles, the Franco-Romanian small cars even surpass the senior classmate Volkswagen Golf: they have 2588 millimeters, while the German hatchback has 2578 millimeters.

The trunk volume of the "Sandero" is also not class-large – 320 liters. True, the "Logan" has even more – 510 liters. But in the hatchback, you can fold the rear seats (depending on the trim level, either in a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio), and then the useful volume increases to 1200 liters. Such impressive capacity is matched by the large opening of the fifth door and the low loading height. The only drawback of the trunk is the rather massive rear bumper, which gets your trousers dirty in bad weather.

The passenger "compartment" of the Renault Sandero is an exact copy of the updated "Logan" interior. The same budget center console with an "aluminum-look" insert made of silver plastic, the same minimum of buttons, the same instrument panel, and the same non-marking upholstery fabric. Boring, but it's hard to find fault with the build quality – even on broken rural roads in Estonia, where the presentation of the "Sandero" took place, no squeaks or "crickets" were found in the hatchback's cabin.

The front seats are height-adjustable only on the Sandero in the top Prestige trim, but even on the "Auto.Lenta" tested Expression version, it's easy to sit comfortably behind the wheel. Moreover, in budget cars, you rarely find such dense, well-formed seats with good lateral support as in this small car. The instrument panel with a visor made of soft plastic in the hatchback is also "adult": large black numbers on the white dials of the speedometer and tachometer are perfectly readable in any lighting.

But the center console of the "Sandero" with its minimalism resembles an interior element of some commercial van – hollow plastic, three heater control knobs, five large buttons in a row, a standard radio (on those versions where it is included in the standard equipment), and two ventilation deflectors. Simple and… inconvenient – the heater "knobs" are located almost at the transmission tunnel, the radio buttons are too small, and next to the rear window heating button there is exactly the same one for the front driver's window lifter – it's easy to make a mistake.

Take two

Another miscalculation in the ergonomics of the driver's seat is the large travel of the five-speed manual gearshift lever. When engaging third, and especially fifth gear, the driver has to reach forward. But the mechanism itself works not in a French way clearly – the lever accurately finds the desired gear. In addition, the "Sandero" has a light and understandable clutch pedal.

The steering wheel of the small car is also light and not very informative. In principle, this feature could be attributed to the car's shortcomings, but the "Sandero" holds a straight line perfectly even on a broken road. In addition, in sharp turns, a pleasant reactive force on the steering wheel still appears. It just happens not immediately, but as the driver turns the steering wheel to an increasingly greater angle.

When creating the suspension for the "Logan", engineers primarily cared about ride smoothness, and because of it, they had to sacrifice handling – the French small car willingly rolls in corners. As the French claim, the "Sandero" has the same suspension – "MacPherson" in front and a torsion beam in the rear – tuned in a new way, but for fast driving on winding roads, it is still poorly adapted. Apparently, in the markets of developing countries, where most "Logan-Sandero" cars are sold, ride smoothness is most important.

As for engines, of all the variety of motors that Renault offers on different markets (there are gasoline, diesel, and even "green" ones - running on biofuel), our "Sandero" is equipped with the same gasoline trio as the Logan. The base remains the 75-horsepower 1.4-liter unit, while more expensive versions get eight- and sixteen-valve engines of 1.6 liters with 84 and 102 horsepower respectively.

On Estonian roads, the Renault Sandero could only be tested with the 102-horsepower engine, and no changes in dynamics compared to the "Logan" were noticeable. And according to the specs, it accelerates the small hatchback to 100 kilometers per hour in the same 10.5 seconds.

By the way, on paper, the "Sandero" with the top engine is much quicker than in real life – due to the short first, second, and third gears, when accelerating, the hatchback seems to struggle against a strong headwind, whining with the engine revved to the red zone from excessive effort. Therefore, you want to finish accelerating as soon as possible to return the tachometer needle to the two-thousand mark, where the "Sandero" responds much more calmly to the gas pedal, but, as befits its status, saves fuel.

Step forward

Naturally, any publication reporting on the "Sandero" test is doomed to compare it with the Renault Logan. And we are no exception. But all the considerations published above about handling, ride smoothness, dynamic characteristics, and the quality of plastic in the Sandero's interior are, by and large, intended for those readers who have never even thought about buying a Renault Logan.

For those already familiar with the budget small car, the nuances that distinguish the "Sandero" from the "Logan" are not so important. They are much more interested in how much more expensive the "Logan in a hatchback body" will be than the sedan. So, the line of Sandero modifications literally repeats the list of Logan versions, and in the base, the hatchback is only nine thousand rubles more expensive than the sedan, and in the top Prestige version – 10 thousand.

Given the pace at which prices for foreign cars have been rising in our country over the past year and a half, this is an excellent result. Currently, foreign automakers use any pretext to increase the cost of cars by an extra ten percent. After all, they need to compensate for the crisis-induced devaluation of the ruble and last year's increase in customs duties.

Alternative The main competitor of the "Sandero" on the Russian market is the Lada Kalina hatchback. The Russian small car in basic trim with a 1.6-liter 8-valve engine will cost the buyer only 256 thousand 490 rubles. True, for this money the car won't even have a driver's airbag. Prices for the five-door Chevrolet Aveo hatchback start from 395 thousand 860 rubles. The basic version with a 1.2-liter engine and five-speed manual includes power steering and front electric windows. ABS and airbags are installed on this modification as an option. The "bare" Skoda Fabia with a 1.2-liter engine and five-speed manual gearbox costs 389 thousand rubles. This version has a driver's airbag, electro-hydraulic power steering, and a full-size spare wheel. ABS is installed for an additional fee.

So the launch of the "Sandero" on the Russian market will most likely justify the expectations of Renault's management. And our motorists won't be hurt by a high-quality and practical budget hatchback. True, personally, I would prefer that instead of it, the Sandero Stepway modification (translated from English as "step forward") would be put on the assembly line of the Moscow plant "Avtoframos". It's the same "Sandero", but with unpainted body kit, plastic arches, increased ground clearance, and roof rails. That is, a pseudo-crossover. Such a one can be easily bought in South America.

By the way, in this way the "Renault people" would kill two birds with one stone – a compact pseudo-crossover is simply doomed to success here. It's enough to recall how popular the Ford Fusion was right after its appearance on our market. The reason for such a buyer frenzy is the fact that foreign SUVs and B-class cars are equally popular among Russian motorists, and in sales they yield leadership only to the golf class.

Technical characteristics of Renault Sandero