After 10 years of being one of the most popular light commercial vehicles around (2,300,000 sold), Renault has launched the second generation Renault Kangoo, and it is bigger now as it is now based on the C-segment Renault Scenic platform. At 4210mm long, it is 180mm longer than its predecessor, with a wheelbase of 2700mm.
Under the Kangoo’s hood you will find one of three different engines – a 1.5 litre dCi turbodiesel, a 90 horsepower 1.6 litre 8 valve petrol and a 105 horsepower 1.6 litre 16-valve petrol. The 1.5 litre dCi turbodiesel comes in 4 different stages of tune – a 70hp, a 85hp, a 105hp and finally a 105hp with a DPF filter.
On the interior, you have 5 seats with air distributed evenly for both front and rear passengers thanks to air outlets at each passenger’s feet. Storage space for “glove compartments” alone is a massive 77 litres, including aircraft-style storage compartments for the rear passengers. Boot space starts at 660 litres but can be increased to a maximum of 2800 litres with both the 60:40 split fold rear bench and front passenger seat folded down. This allows a maximum item length of 2.5 meters. Rear bench is a true 3-person bench with 118mm more elbow room than the first gen Kangoo. Legroom is also best in its class at 210mm, 43mm more than the Kangoo.
Suspension is a typical MacPherson strut at the front and a space-saving torsion beam with coil springs, and a 15.1mm anti-roll bar. It uses a variable power steering to help with city maneuvering. Safety features include Bosch 8.0 ABS with Electronic Brake Variator, ESP, USC (under-steering control system), ASR (traction control), and MSR (torque movement regulation). ASR allows the vehicle to launch easily on slippery surfaces, and MSR prevents the wheels from locking during deceleration on slippery surfaces.
Renault quotes realistic loading figures for the Kangoo as it is very important for a typical Kangoo buyer’s purchasing decision. Here’s the deal: the boot has a maximum loading capacity of 660 litres (1312 litres with luggage restraint net). If you fold the rear bench down flat and fill it up to the front seat backrest, you get 1500 litres. Set up the luggage restraint net to enable loading up to the ceiling and you have 2600 litres. Fold down the front passenger seat and this increases to 2800 litres (with luggage restraint net).
The most economical Kangoo is of course the 70 horsepower dCi version, using only 5.2 litres per 100km. It also promises to be a pleasant drive, with the torque of a typical 2.0 litre engine – 185Nm – available from as low as 1,750rpm. The top of the line dCi makes 105 horsepower at 4,000rpm and 240Nm of torque at 2,000 and features modern diesel technology like a common rail injection system with 1,600 bar injection pressure, piezo-electric injectors and a variable geometry turbocharger. This gives a combined cycle fuel consumption of 5.5 litres per 100km, not that much more than the 70 horsepower version.
Two more Kangoo engine variants are expected to be launched by Q2 2008 – an E85 1.6 litre 16V engine and a B30 (biodiesel) 85 horsepower 1.5 dCi.
More photos after the jump.
Video: New Renault Kangoo
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
Still retain most of old design!
The interior looks nice… Hope it will be assembled here too…
nice… they managed to make the odd shape look funky rather than ugly…
Hey that’s actually cute…
A little bit more style please. Wierd steering wheel design …..shoehorse crab
Looks better than the old version
it mite not be a looker…bt its so practical…its a very sensible car…i like the curent one as well….its got so much space……
i still dun like dis kind of car…
da cabin looks bigger
Lookslike all the interior panel and roof has been covered nicely, not a barebone like the current model, cant wait how fast TCM can put it on Malaysia road..
Quirky. Fun. Unconventional. Risky. Cool. Only the French can get away with it and still ring in the sales…Props!
i like it..
people+luggage mover.good for taxi.
oso a stall mover.
mmm, hopefully they improve the driver seat space. The current version is simply too small for a tall driver : foot space all went to head space.
Safety features include Bosch 8.0 ABS with Electronic Brake Variator, ESP, USC (under-steering control system), ASR (traction control), and MSR (torque movement regulation). ASR allows the vehicle to launch easily on slippery surfaces, and MSR prevents the wheels from locking during deceleration on slippery surfaces.
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WoW!! ABS 8.0 & ESP!!!!!! Even Belta(aka 2007Vios) doesnt have ESP!
So when ETCM brings in, ABS 2.0 might be fitted and excludes ESP, even its lower cousin Traction Control also not!
Will the next P1 Flagship aka Perdana comes with any ESP ?
Had a kangoo for 7 years now. Bought new. is a comfortable & practical car but there is always something going wrong…little stuff but irritating and surprisingly expensive. right now there are 2 big probs. The struts in the lift up boot have given up (will be €250 to replace) and the seatbelt sockets in the back are useless too ( another couple of hundred!!!). if you get one, plan to dump it after 2 or 3 years.
Hi Barry,
I see that you have problem with the previous Kangoo, is this why there are so many used Kangoos around? Looks like replacement parts are expensive as a Merc or BMW. Like not really worth it.
Bought a second hand Kangoo, not much has gone wrong so far. It’s a good car, and some repairs can be done by everyone. Spare parts can be really expensive for some parts, that is true, but it’s not that bad (I live next to Singapore so I can always try to find parts there) as it seems rather popular in SG).
TCO isn’t a big problem for me though, I just wanted a car that is safe and immensely practical. Can easily put in a wheel chair and still seat 7 ppl rather nicely, for 25k RM, and it is still very easy to park (4 meters!). Drives nicely too, albeit a bit slow (still fast enough for Malaysian roads and drivers). To me there is no competition to the Kangoo, a shame that they don’t import it (or the new one) anymore.