Renault Laguna GT
Posted by Sam Philip at 5:08PM on Tuesday 08 April, 2008 4 Comments
"Watch out for the wide cows," said the woman at Figari airport as she handed over the keys to the Laguna GT. "And the big pigs."
Sound advice, as it turned out. The back roads of Corsica are packed to the brim with wide cows and big pigs, wandering from verge to tarmac with no regard for the Highway Code. The Corsican Highway Code may contain very detailed rules regarding free roaming of livestock in public roads; I wouldn't be the one to ask about it, though.
Anyhow, what I'm really saying here is that they weren't ideal conditions for testing out the new performance edition of the Renault Laguna.
Well, sort-of-performance. The big news on the GT - apart from two-litre turbo petrol and diesel engines (205bhp and 180bhp respectively), and a bit of upmarket trinketry - is a new four-wheel steering system.
It's one of those bits of technology that various manufacturers have had a shot at it one form or another over the last few years... and still no one can really decide if it's a good idea or not.
This version is an active system that steers the rear wheels in the opposite direction to front wheels below speeds of 38mph, making the Laguna more manoeuvrable around town and sharper in response.
At higher speeds, the four-wheel steer helps to cancel out understeer, countering the centrifuge that pushes the rear end out round corners. This, says Renault, gives the GT the edge in both safety and driveability.
That's the theory, anyhow. And, from a brief test drive on greasy mountain roads, it actually seems to work. The GT corners with far more bite than the standard Laguna, gripping for longer and keeping it nicely in-line.
It's still resolutely front-wheel drive, remember, so there's not the back-end adjustability of, for example, a 3-Series, and if you really bury the accelerator out of a tight corner, it'll still revert to gentle understeer.
But compared to the Laguna's usually sedate road manners, the four-wheel steering is a mini-revelation. It feels weighty and direct as Renaultsport has been put to work on the traction control, meaning the ESP helps you round corners rather than slamming on the brakes at the first sign on trouble.
In fact, the GT feels like it could handle a lot more power than the new engines provide. It's still a big car, so even with these new turboed-up units, performance remains brisk rather than properly hot. The performance end of the German saloon market shouldn't be too worried yet, but there's the root of something decent here.
As evidenced by the fact that Corsica's wide cow and big pig population remains exactly the same as when I arrived on the island. Remember that line from Animal Farm? Four-wheel steer good, two-wheel steer... OK, I'll stop now.
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4 Comments for "Renault Laguna GT"
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I love the idea of 4-wheel steering - just a pity it's on a scarily ugly vehicle.
Ugh. It's got cheapy black-plastic rabies...
By the way, I think the old Nissan Skyline GT-Rs had 4-Wheel-Steering. Renault could call that sporting heritage... or something.
Really, it looks ugly!
Yeah, the Laguna coupe at Geneva was sexy because it had this here and here, but add 2 more doors, and you wish it was a stick of dynamite!
I had a 1993 Honda Accord 2.2i VTEC 4WS which had the exact same 4-wheel-steer system as the Renault, with the change in direction at 40 mph. It didn't catch on then and even though I enjoyed it, I can't see why it will now.