This is the Renault Fluence 2.0, the latest C-segment sedan to be launched in Malaysia. It made its debut in May this year after a few months of sighting lightly taped-up Fluence test units in the country.
We got to see disguised test units running about because Renault distributor TC Euro Cars went and immediately started local assembly of the model – this has resulted in the car rolling in with an attractive price tag of RM115,000 (on-the-road, without insurance).
The Fluence competes with C-segment sedan rivals such as the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla Altis, as well as other European badge C-segment cars such as the Peugeot 408 and C346 Ford Focus Sedan.
It’s essentially a sedan built on the Renault Megane platform, but while the previous-generation Megane sedan just tacked on a boot onto the Megane design, resulting in awkward looks, the Fluence gets its own bespoke exterior design. Because of that, it gets its own name rather than just being called the Megane sedan. The only thing that reminds you of the Megane is the identical dashboard.
What’s under the hood is also completely different from what’s available in the Megane. You get a 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine mated to a CVT gearbox. The engine is called the M4R in Renault nomenclature, but Malaysians are familiar with the engine as the MR20DE, also found in cars like the previous-generation Nissan Sylphy, the 2.0 litre Nissan Teana and the second-generation Nissan X-Trail.
Some people might term the Fluence a reskinned previous-gen Sylphy, but that’s not true, as the two cars are built from completely different platforms. The old Sylphy was built on a stretched version of Nissan’s B-segment platform, while the Fluence is built on the same C-segment platform that underpins the Megane.
There are of course limitations as to how far you can take a stretched B-platform, which explains why the old Sylphy looked awkwardly narrow and tall. The Fluence, being built from a proper C-segment platform, does not suffer from this.
At 2,702 mm, the Fluence’s wheelbase is technically the longest in its segment, but only by a marginal two millimetres. This number was more impressive when the Fluence was first launched, but since then plenty of its rivals have come to the 2,700 mm wheelbase mark with their latest incarnations.
The 2.0 litre engine under the hood is mounted transversely and the Jatco CVT gearbox drives the front wheels. Peak output is 143 hp at 6,000 rpm, with 195 Nm of twist at 3,700 rpm. The 0-100 km/h sprint is done in 10.1 seconds, on to a top speed of 195 km/h, while rated fuel economy is 7.7 litres per 100 km, with an average CO2 emissions figure of 178 g/km.
At RM115k, it’s one of the cheapest non-national 2.0 litre C-segment cars around to buy. The cheapest is actually the Peugeot 408 2.0 at RM106,824, followed by the Ford Focus 2.0 Titanium (not the more expensive Titanium+) at RM113,734.
But that’s just the cost of acquiring the car. The most interesting USP of the Fluence is the ownership package that TC Euro Cars has crafted to go with it. First, there’s a five-year manufacturer warranty with unlimited mileage. Yes, all five years are by the manufacturer – no extended warranty at play here.
Second, there’s 100,000 km of free service, which Renault advertises as five years of free service based on an average of 20,000 km per year. The service interval for the car is 10,000 km. The total value for the free service package is RM5,231 (exclusive of service tax or GST, which TC Euro Cars bears as well). When it’s time to service your car, TC Euro Cars provides a free pick up service, so you don’t have to send it in yourself. For work that requires at least 48 hours, the company will provide a courtesy car.
It’s quite an interesting after-sales package. You could say it’s rather Lexus-like, but as a company that’s been selling Kangoos and then Meganes for so long, TC Euro Cars realises it has to do this to dispel any fears and uncertainties that potential buyers might have in going with a less popular brand like Renault in this segment. After all, the last Renault sedan in this segment in Malaysia was what, the Renault 19?
So once you buy the car and drive it off the lot, you’re covered for the next 100,000 km. And I’ve rambled on for quite a bit already about the car’s supporting infrastructure without actually getting onto the actual car.
When I picked up the Fluence for this review session, I was surprised to be handed a black “card” instead of a key. It’s about the size of a business card, maybe wider, and much thicker of course. It goes into a slot on the dashboard just forward of the gear lever. The Fluence has keyless entry/start, so you don’t actually have to bother with the card much, but it did feel a bit odd having a big card in the pocket. You don’t even have to bother locking the car – it locks automatically when you walk away from the car.
Now, the Fluence probably won’t raise your fancies in a way say, the Mazda 3 will. You won’t be buying this one because of its looks, but it’s certainly not an eyesore. There’s actually a second, better-looking facelift with the new Renault face (similiar to the new Megane facelift) somewhere out there, but TC Euro Cars had to bring this first facelift version in, because CKD preparations had to start much earlier.
We were told the latest facelift was only available as a left-hand drive at the time, and some right-hand drive markets such as Australia also have the same first ’face’ as we do.
Inside, you’re greeted by an instrument cluster that features an analog RPM metre on the left, a digital speedo in the centre with integrated door opening indicator, fuel gauge and water temperature metres, and a multi-info display on the right.
The Renault R-Link navigation system is mounted on the top of the dashboard, looking like it could potentially fold into the dash like an Audi’s, but it’s actually fixed in that position. The Fluence is one of the few cars in the C-segment with a full colour touchscreen infotainment system from the original manufacturer (the Mazda 3 is another one), so it somehow looks more premium.
If you don’t want to reach out to use the touchscreen, you can use a control knob mounted on the dashboard, but this is unfortunately mounted vertically, and the knob diameter is actually quite small, so it’s not very comfortable to use, especially when you’re on the move. The knob is situated in the middle of some shortcut buttons that you can use to skip to different sections of the infotainment system.
There’s a data USB port at the bottom of the centre stack, which you can use to hook up your mobile phone or a USB storage device. There’s also an SD card slot but this is used to store the maps for the built-in TomTom navigation system. The TomTom navi is visually pleasing with high resolution graphics, but I think no built-in navi system can hold a candle to Waze these days.
You also have an AUX port for old school playback devices. Sound is output through a six-speaker system, and the infotainment system has a CD player and Bluetooth capability as well.
Other features to note include dual-zone automatic climate control with rear air con vents, cruise control, automatic headlamps and automatic rain sensing wipers. Curiously, there are neither front or rear parking sensors, but Renault makes up for the rear ones by including a reverse camera in the R-Link system. You’ll have to rely on the video feed though, as there aren’t any beeps to help you along.
The projector lamps are halogen with manual height adjustment, which aren’t as bright as xenon units, and thus the car lacks that certain ‘premium’ look at night time that xenon headlamps give a car. There are no DRLs either, and the rear lamps are powered by bulbs as well.
Like its seats, the Fluence steering wheel is wrapped in leather and the two o’clock and 10 o’clock rest positions are made thicker for a sportier feel. There are only cruise control buttons on the steering wheel – for audio you have to reach to a separate panel extending out from the back of the steering wheel, similiar to older Peugeots or Citroens. Must be a French thing.
There’s also another oddity – the switch to activate cruise control is near the handbrake lever while the rest of the controls are on the steering wheel. Other than that, operating the Fluence is quite intuitive. In general, fit and finish is very good, and there’s a good choice of material selection as well.
As for storage, you get shallow door pockets, two cup holders in the front between the two front seats and two cupholders at the rear in the pull-down centre arm rest, and a rather small glovebox. They could have certainly done better with more storage, especially with the door pocket volume and glovebox.
There is another downside that I have to point out – the seats are not very well sculpted and the seat bottoms feel a little short, so they feel a little flat and the seat padding feels a little hard; I found myself a little fatigued after getting stuck in an hour-long jam after picking my wife up from the centre of town.
The safety bits are covered by the inclusion of six airbags and electronic stability control. Child seats can be fixed on either side of the rear via two pairs of Isofix points that are provided, which gives the Fluence an edge over the other Tan Chong-sold C-segment car, the Sylphy, when it comes to potential buyers that have infants or toddlers.
The Fluence is well balanced through the corners thanks to a typically European suspension tuning and steering weight, but although it shares the Megane’s platform, it drives nothing like one. That said, at the very least it remains quite stable at highway speeds, which is getting more and more relevant these days as we all start to live further and further away from central Klang Valley. This is pretty much a car designed to travel from A to B while being as invisible to you as possible.
Don’t get me wrong – that’s actually a good thing in this segment. You just get in and drive to your destination without any fuss from the car getting in your way. You don’t really notice what the engine and gearbox are doing either, because of the well-calibrated CVT shift logic and engine’s good mid-range torque.
The combination somehow encourages you to drive economically and keep the revs low. If you don’t get what I mean, let me explain – driving a Fluence is like the opposite of driving a car that you have to rev up all the time because it’s gutless in the low to mid revs, or a car where the gears shift up and down too often, or even a car where you have to take care on how much power you give it from standstill because the clutch might judder.
With such cars, you really ‘notice’ the car, and you have to work your way around its faults. The Fluence simply wants to be a reliable tool that you don’t have to bother too much about. Sounds somewhat like a Toyota, right? But this one’s got full safety specs as standard.
So yes, the Fluence, not the most exciting C-segment car around, but you might want to consider it especially if you are a very busy person and you value the extra focus on aftersales services, like free pickup and return-for-service appointments.
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The exterior looks dated and interior is just ‘meh’.
So sad. A good Toyota Corolla C segment in the US is US$12,000. You work as a kuli also you can buy this car outright from the shelves in 4 months. Last time I wash plates and deliver newspaper in the mornings. I earned US$3000 a month.
Here, you have to be rich to buy a simple C sedan.
Where got those price in ASEAN?
That’s the problem. Why cars in ASEAN have to be expensive.
bcoz ASEAN have nothing…
You have to thank proton for those price
Proton responsible for expensive car prices in the whole of ASEAN?
Seriously?
brunei
$3000 a month? The average salary for a Burger King, McDonald’s etc. employee is around or less than $8 an hour… to get $3000 you’d have to work more than 12 hours a day, every single day of the month. In 2005, the average income in the US was $2000 a month. The average, many earn less than that.
Its certainly doable.
I was moon lighting as a delivery guy for a chinese restaurant (it was fun..i get to drive fast on rural mountain roads at night :D). Normal take is over 100/night for pay and tips. 3000/month is doable.
Yeah you can get at USD12,000++ for base car without a/c etc. However, the road tax, car maintenance and labour costs are extremely high in comparison to Malaysia.
Check before u comment. America has no road taxes. Their tax is built into the fuel charge which is USD 4 per gallon or 1+ per litre, not much more than our RON 97 considering people also get EURO 5 fuel and standard.
How much you think the car insurance you need to pay yearly in the US without discount? Cost of purchase is cheap but cost of ownership to maintain it is very high.
You say insurance. Very soon Malaysia will be the same. Then what will you use to compare?
Who said insurance is expensive? You have to consider the liabilities coverage you get for the money you pay. You tack on the same sort of riders to your insurance (if you could) here also wont be cheap.
I get 2 million damage and injury liability coverage, free car rental.
I was paying about 200/mth for a Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo AWD with 300+ hp, when I was in my early 20s – arguably the highest risk group.
$ to RM on par, 200/mth very expensive?? You pay the same here and get less. You have to stop bloody converting USD to RM.
You write like you have no idea what it is like to actually own a car there.
Cost of ownership not high here? If you drive a perodua or Proton, possibly, but even a japanese marque wont be kind to you on spares, let alone the contis. At least there, if the car cost too much to repair, you just go buy another new one.
Actual accident claim.
Crashed my winter beater, not at fault, other driver made an illegal turn. I bought the car for 1600. Insurance was very cheap. Insurance paid 2200 (wrote off the car – not worth reparing), and 1 week of free car rental FOC (so i can drive while the claim is settled).
Do you seriously think you can get this in malaysia? The insurance company will rape you the first chance it gets.
When the cost of car is so high here,M’sians have to take a 9 year loan just to get a decent car.$40k loan for myvi becomes $60k after interest added in.From 1st day keluar showroom already hutang banyak.Untung is Gomen &bank.Isn’t it worse than higher maintenance?You use ,you pay lar….tinggi pun,tak seberapa lebih dari M’sia(Dollar to dollar).
A typical macai stupidity like you is what our government want. When comparing on socio economic standard, you tend to do currency conversion. Also you always tend to forget to compare the income standard, buying power & inflation. If other said otherwise, you will said if you don’t like Malaysia, you can migrate to other country.
It’s more like $17,000. And it’s cheap because it’s manufactured in the US, and the American car market is more developed & full of competition, unlike Asian car markets – hence why even in Thailand you wouldn’t be able to get an Altis for that amount of money.
Stop buying Toyota cars and justify buying an empty shell for RV & you’ll see their prices go down.
Friend, don’t forget to mention the ownership cost i.e fuel, insurance, highway toll fares, parking fares which are comparable to us. I’m not saying that I support G with the exorbitant amount on the taxes but be fair to them as well. The cost of living there is comparable too with ours, you will appreciate more here if you have been living there for more than 7years. There are pros and cons. But do we ever wonder regardless what races we are why Banglas here can afford to run business and even earned way better than us? After all, the success nor failure is depend on oneself, not G, parent, neighbourhood etc. Peace.
Go to US then.. have a big laugh with Alvin
Look nice
To be fair, for the price, you’d usually not expect it to be that exciting considering you do get quite a lot for the money.
I personally have experienced this car, when it came out. By far I was truly impressed for the price. The CVT is not bad actually, and it has a lot of usable power. What really impressed me was that it actually felt nice inside, compared to the cheapish feeling Corolla and the rather boring and hard Civic. A friend recently was looking to trade in his 10 year old Camry for something less than 150k, with good safety since he had kids, and he too was impressed with the Fluence. It is not a Prada or Louis Vuitton, but it’s not trying to be, and that is a good thing. It is a honest, down to earth car, that will genuinely give you lots of reliable miles, especially since it is backed by that rock solid Nissan power train.
I beg to differ that Corolla has that cheap feeling. Although Corolla’s retro interior design looks hideous & out of place with the modern exterior, its interior has higher grade materials than the Sylphy and Cerato. I know people will thumb me down for this.
After sales service quite tempting. Interior is quite simple but it do its job.
I saw a lot this in Korea.. This car known as Samsung Renault SM3… I just knew that Samsung also make a car…
They also make ships, guns, robots with guns, …
pretty sure this are the most ugliest C segment car ever, I rather buy a Kimchi beside of this, poor outlook, outdated interior.
u rather this, u rather that. can talk kok but only got money for saga
sit ur SLK come to visit my home if u have time dude :P
yeah and u can come to my mancave where i have a comaro concept that can transform itself into a sentient robot. people call ’em bumblebee… u talk kok I also can talk kok
shut up la, talk alot for what? stop messing with me on here, face to face if u have guts, dont be keyboard warrior, waste ur parent money to bill your streamyx.
That day i saw the Fluence on MRR2 highway. Honestly it’s much better looking in the flesh than in pics. I overtook it quite fast so i did not see it properly but from what i saw the car looks pretty good and it was right beside a Civic and it looks much better than the Civic. It also has a pretty nice interior. The tech inside is quite good too.
For those who are saying Renault spare parts are expensive! Well my car spare parts are much more expensive
5 years free service sounds like a lot. But it’s only RM5,231, with an average of RM500+ per service. Sounds like the maintenance cost is very low, at least lower than my current Sylphy serviced by TC.
The seats don’t look very comfortable though, and the instrument gauges looks weird. And is it really that expensive or difficult to have “footbreak” instead of handbreak? This would have free up some storage space between front seats.
The car external looks pretty decent though.
Electronic handbrakes have massive disadvantages, especially for manual gearboxes. And I guess most Fluences and Meganes are being sold with manual gearboxes, as that’s more popular in Europe. I’ve also read a disgruntled Citroen owner complaining about his car being very hard to tow because the electronic handbrake couldn’t be released.
Maintenance cost at TC is generally pretty reasonable, and I mean, with that engine spare parts are everywhere.
everything just nice until you see the start/stop button & handbrake at the passenger side. why the button not switch with the 12v outlet socket.. doesn’t make sense at all
114k for a car that is used as deadbeat taxi in Turkey. What a rip off!!
The Vios, Avanza and Innova are deadbeat taxis in Indonesia, Thailand etc. So what?
Being used as a taxi just means that it’s a reliable workhorse… that’s why in Germany Mercedes taxis were super popular. Much more expensive to buy, yes, but they’d last much longer than their competitors, and in the long run make more sense financially.
The french with their voyueristic taste and appeal. The car definitely looks disporpotionate on all angles. The interior looks tasteless and ancient. The discontinued honda insight somehow looks better. I do believe this car was made specifically with visually impaired and frail pensioner in mind. Grandfathers would love it.
That rear looks similar to the ford mondeo….previous gen that came with a 2.3cc engine…
Thy should market it better since thy dont have the name the japanese enjoy….
Oh. A review by the boss!
A few remarks:
IIRC what we see here is actually the 2012 (or so) KOREAN facelift… a few months later Europe got a facelift too, that is the one that is still current in Europe, with the new Renault family face. I suppose Renault thought Korean customers are a bit more… conservative, so they gave them a very conservative face. How wrong they were. Earlier this year, shortly before the Malaysian launch, Renault/Samsung launched a facelift, bringing the car to line with the European 2012 facelift. And sales jumped up.
It looks to me like it’s a plug and play job… basically they would just have to replace the front bumper, everything else is identical, including, it seems, the headlights. I wonder where TC is getting the front bumper from, as Korea is manufacturing the European style now…
The car has been out in Turkey like a year ago. And all car prices in Turkey is half the price of what’s in Malaysia. You can buy BMW 3 series the price of RM 60K (about Turkish Lira (TL) 58K).
Looks like a rental car sadly
The styling is OK , but the latest facelifted version is much better with the DRLs & better looking grille.Spec-wise (Powertrain, Infotainment, Safety , Ride & Handling plus the attractive maintenance package) this car is one of the best offerings in this class. Overall ,a solid effort from Renault & hopefully TC Euro could launch the latest facelifted version much sooner!
The exterior is very uninspiring.
Hasn’t stopped people from buying Toyota, Nissan, Honda and VW though… a car in this segment should be a bit unoffensive, though this car looks like a sleeping pill.
The front looks horrible. It reminds me of the older koreans cars. The rear is ok and reminds me a bit of ford. From the side profile, it look like a strecthed persona and it doesn’t look balance.
Interior is ok but i think citroen & pug do a better job in this. For equipment level, i must says, it’s pretty good for car costing close to rm110k as compared to sushi. The attractive part i can see from renault is the free servicing and courtesy car. Then again, the question may raise, how many courtesy car can they provide if there the volume sales is good ?
It’s a close fight between pug 408, ford and this, but if i were to choose, the ford is a much better overall car.
This car should appeal for Jap lovers. Reliable, though uninspiring mechanics, good after sales plan, and a bit boring a to b attitude. It’s beating the Japanese at their own game!
The 408 and Focus are more aimed at people who want something Western… people who are abit more daring and put more focus on fun and technology than on reliability. So yes, the Focus is more fun to drive, but it doesn’t have the leg room this car has, it has a DSG gearbox that may fail a few years down the road, etc.
I wonder if they would pickup for service in cyberjaya. LOL
Weird how you pointed out that there are no rhd facelift models present currently.. In singapore, we had the latest facelift model since mid-2014…
Proton Saga BLM has better design than this MR.Blunt Master. At least the Saga has cheap plastic,underpowered,Proton brand and best rear suspension. Also “its not boring than a car perfect at anything with bored face”
wtf, got people compare saga with this fluence c segment. omg.
Ya,Renault have do very good job but still not interesting.With a sluggish interior,looks empty exterior.They should add a sideskirt to make it more sporty.And the price also is not worth it with this car looking.Anyway,good job Renault.I will say that Proton car interior and exterior is better especially the Proton Iriz.Go Go Proton!!
Planning to get this car, as i am not very good with cars. Need some proffesional feedback. Petrol consumption, after 5 years warranty roughly how much will the spare parts cost if there is a need for replacements?
Samsung SM3 ? Samsung do not make automobiles. Surprise, surprise? They gave up after the Asian Financial meltdown and sold out to Renault who pay to licence the name (as in Renault-Samsung) so they can sell cars to Koreans. The name is not about influence or affluence. Fluence refers to the flow of electromagnetic energy (see Fluence Z.E.) -they weren’t going to call it Flux (omg!!) were they? Photographs don’t do it justice. You need to see it in the metal, 3D. Has a pretty French derriere but the front face does need some cosmetic surgery.
Samsung SM3 ? Samsung do not make automobiles. Surprise, surprise? They gave up after the Asian Financial meltdown and sold out to Renault who pay to licence the name (as in Renault-Samsung) so they can sell cars to Koreans. The name is not about influence or affluence. Fluence refers to the flow of electromagnetic energy (see Fluence Z.E.) -they weren’t going to call it Flux (omg!!) were they? Photographs don’t do it justice. You need to see it in the metal, 3D. Has a pretty French derriere but the front face does need some cosmetic surgery. BTW, where’s the sunroof? Not an option in Malaysia? And that hard white color is more refrigerator white than pearlescent white.
I test drove Influence last week. You’re right it’s a normal A to B car. No fuss just drive n go. Unfortunately it didn’t feel good for me personally. I currently drive a Honda Civic 2.0 and i love the fact that its very zippy when you need that extra power to overtake cars or come out of a busy junction. I didnt like the fact that itit runs on a Nissan engine. I really want a 100% continental for my next car. Not just the styling and handling. I dont know what poor Renault got from this terrible deal with Nissan…
Renault gt the reliability powertrain and gearbox from Nissan to aim for the Asian market which fully dominated by Japs…. from business point of view…. ppl who wan a boring car of A to B are way more than ppl hu looks for excitement in conti cars… and get breakdown with expensive chg for spare parts and suck after sales service….