A touch of elegance

Upon opening the back door of the new Renault Fluence for the first time, photographer Ryan yelled with excitement ‘it’s so spacious and clean, maybe I’ll sit in the back’ … that was just the beginning of my role as Ryan’s chauffeur for the day.

And, this is a man who likes to travel in style.

Being stuck in traffic for hours is usually the pitfall of driving on Thursday afternoons, but it was certainly comfortable, doable and enjoyable in the Fluence.

This mighty mid-sized sedan is simple, concise and well-built. It goes by the less-is-more approach to provide an uncluttered look, with easy-to-use features (a plus side for drivers like myself). The car was also very spacious and sturdy enough to double as a family runaround.

I don’t usually find white cars appealing but with the Fluence, the white exterior gave it a touch of elegance.

Its thin slit headlights give it a modern look and with its narrow floating grille, smooth embossed lines on the bonnet that mark up to the windshield and the petal-shaped backlights that hug around the curves, the Fluence is easily one of the more stylish cars in its category.

It is definitely one of the most spacious too, with more than enough rear legroom as well as one of the biggest boot volumes, which comes in handy for shopaholics.

Under the bonnet is a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine that develops 112bhp. Its CVT (continuously variable transmission) gearbox provides a smooth and economical drive. The high end models even have an electronic parking brake that turns off automatically when the driver pulls away. However, as this driver is fond of pulling up the manual handbrake every time she comes to a stop for a dramatic exit out of her car, she didn’t mind that that she had the mid-range model.

The cabin is sleek and sophisticated. Although simple, its new digital speedometer makes it possible to check if you’re within the speed limit with a quick glance (a feature needed in this country).

Available cabin features include hands-free mobile phone connectivity and audio streaming music with Bluetooth or USB/AUX connection, a 4x20W audio system with a three-line display and an MP3-compatible CD player, and steering wheel controls.

The Fluence offers standard Anti-lock Braking System with electronic brake force distribution, emergency brake assist, an Isofix child seat anchorage for the outer rear seats and projector headlights.

In addition, the Fluence’s headlights stay on for a while after being locked to guide the way, which I thought was very nifty as I walked through a very dark area in Sitra when returning to the showroom.

And when I hopped back into my regular motor and continued to chaffeur Ryan around, he didn’t fully adjust to the change and spent at least two minutes looking for the door that led to the ‘spacious’ backseat in my two-door vehicle … he already missed the Fluence and exclaimed: “Your car sucks, I want the Fluence back.”

The price for the Renault Fluence is BD5,595 for the PE 1.6L CVT version.

For more information, contact the Renault showroom on 17732732.