Renault South Africa is growing quite rapidly, defying the “French curse” in this country. It has taken them
many years to get there, but they have done it. For example, the company plans on selling about 27 000
cars in this country this year, averaging about 2 200 units a month. This is certainly possible, as figures
show
Renault SA averaging above 2 000 over the past three months. And with the new
Triber in its fleet,
those numbers can only go higher.
To get the negative out of the way, the new
Triber is no performance car by any means. The engine is small and lacks overtaking power. Even take-off is lethargic and it will need a serious boost from the right foot to get it going. But once it gets going, it cruises along just fine. The engine in question is a small
1.0-litre which is naturally
aspirated, meaning it lacks the extra boost provided by a
turbocharger.
Maximum power delivered by this engine is
52kW at 6 250rpm, while
torque is 96Nm at 3 500rpm. The rest of the
powertrain is courtesy of a
5-speed manual gearbox and the
14-inch front wheels.
Renault has not supplied the
0 – 100km/h sprint time, or the
top speed. However, we can assure you that the
Triber can go over 120km/h, which is the national speed limit. More importantly is the
average consumption figure, which is said to be
5.5 litres per 100km.
So what is this
Triber and what makes it different?
Renault says the
Triber is not a
hatch, not an
SUV either, but it may straddle both worlds. A major feature that it comes with are
7 seats. Indeed, a small car of less than
4 metres in length,
1.6m height and
1.7m width is not known for this kind of seating capacity, but the
Triber does have it. Apparently
over 100 seating configurations are possible, including
5-seat mode with a
625 litre boot.
Triber is being offered in
three trim levels;
Expression,
Dynamique, and
Prestige, with the latter being the highest-spec. Some of the standard features across the range include
power steering,
front driver and
passenger airbags,
ABS brakes with
EBD,
rear parking sensors,
remote central locking,
front power windows,
air conditioning in all three rows, a
cooled centre console,
radio with
Bluetooth connectivity and others. Higher-spec models even come fitted with
reversing cameras and a
20.3cm touch screen infotainment system with
satellite navigation.
The new
Renault Triber – sourced from
India for our market – is poised to sell in large numbers. It does need some real
torque under the
bonnet and a
turbocharged engine would do the trick. Better yet, a
diesel/automatic combo. While
Renault would not be drawn into the true potential buyers of the
Triber, excluding the larger families with special space needs of course, we reckon the local taxi and school children transport industries are currently procuring
7-seat vehicles in high numbers, and
Renault is keen to take its own.
