Renault Wind 21/07/2010
 
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The Renault Wind – it has to be the silliest name for a car since the Suzuki Light Dump, and that was a Japanese market pick-up truck.

The Wind, which is actually a coupe-roadster, is expected to appeal to the trendy young things of Europe.

Look beyond the name, however, and you will see an effective new rival to other drop-tops such as Peugeot’s 207CC, the Fiat 500C and MINI Convertible.

It’s essential to Renault that the Wind is considered alongside such cars as it is being pitched squarely at younger buyers aged between 25 and 45, who see the car as part of their personality.

Crucially such buyers form a market that Renault makes very little dent in at present. Yet while the Wind is a ‘fashionable’ car, it will also score extra points for certain practicalities. The car is smaller than a Clio – at 3.8 metres long sitting precisely between the 3.6-metre Twingo and 4.0-metre Clio – yet there is no lack of room in it for either driver or passenger, while the 270-litre boot matches the Clio’s.

Crucially, you don’t lose half of this boot space when you drop the metal roof – in fact you don’t lose any of it. The hardtop flips over in just 12 seconds to lie under a protective cover above the bootspace.

The actual flip process is reminiscent of Ferrari’s Superamerica, though Renault technical staff on the international launch event claimed the design was different enough to merit its own patents – in particular the way it uses the cover.

Renault believes another strong selling point for the Wind will be the fact that this is a car from the marque’s famed RenaultSport subsidiary.

It’s by no means a clean-sheet design, some 60 per cent of its parts donated by the Clio 2 and Twingo RS, alongside which the Wind is being built in Renault’s Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia.

Just two engines are currently available for this little car, Renault claiming that no further powerplants are currently planned, and certainly no diesel – Renault UK boss Roland Bouchara, on his last day in the job before a promotion to Paris, said that there is no market for diesel in such cars.

The choice lies between petrol units of 1.2 100bhp and 1.6 133bhp, both already seen in Clio and Twingo models.

Both were available to tackle the challenging mountain roads around Nice on the launch event, and both acquitted themselves well – so long as one was free with the right foot. Neither is too generous with its torque at the bottom of the rev range, something that showed itself when traversing the various hairpin bends on climbing gradients.

I also struggle to justify the extra £900 you will pay for the bigger unit. The 1.2 passes 62mph in 10.5 seconds, which is more than a second behind the 1.6, but it doesn’t feel any slower, and let’s face it, the target market for this car won’t be drag racing away from the lights.

No complaints with the handling – the combination of a Renaultsport chassis and significant extra strengthening of the cabriolet body makes for a taut package and powering through those hairpins very quickly became a lot of fun.

To get the Wind (snigger, sorry…) you will need £15,500 for 1.2, £16,400 for the 1.6. That’ll get you a Dynamique trim with such niceties as air con and 16-inch alloys. Find another £900 for the Dynamique S and the highlights include wheels beefed up by an inch, better audio and climate control. There’s also a 200-unit limited edition launch version with lots of extra style touches.

And the name? Even under heady cross-examination from the UK journalist pack Renault’s high-ups remained firm in their view, well publicly at least, that UK buyers won’t be at all bothered about driving a Wind. Apparently the name is supposed to promote a feeling of ‘in the open air’, while Bouchara summed it up by saying: “It is trendy, fashionable, playful and short.”

By Andrew Charman
 


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