Speaking on the looks, now if that isn’t a box, what is a box? But then over the years, I am sure, many of the car buyers would be enamored over the looks of this car. I personally like its looks though initially when it was launched, it was anything but French fluence. By the way, Renault is going to shortly launch the Renault Fluence in India shortly. Those straight lines with the tear drop shaped head lamps flanking the horizontal grille look strictly okay. In India, the car is named as Mahindra Renault Logan but then the logo is still Renault’s. The side view actually breaks away from the monotony of boxiness and does give some respite. The wheels, 15 inchers do the job of filling the wheel arches but not entirely. The door handles as well as the mirrors are body colored. The rear brings to light triangularly shaped tail lamps with turn indicators as well as stop lamps integrated into one. Since this was a car originally designed for left hand drive markets, there is a single reverse light. This is also seen on the Fiat Punto now. On the rear bumper, there is a towing hook as well. Another giveaway of its left hand drive market orientation is the tail pipe to the left instead of right.
Moving onto the interiors, the steering wheel is a 3 spoke affair devoid of any steering controls. The aircon controls are of the circular types which can be fully closed. Earlier Logans used to come in an all grey trim but then the later ones had a dual tone effect with some sort of beige and gray. On top end models, it has power goodies though the adjustment for the windows is still manual. Unfortunately there is no internal boot release system and the location of power window switches is on the front tunnel. Also the rear unlock button for the power windows is located beneath the hand brake on the central tunnel. Speak of cost cutting and this is very evident inside the cabin of the Mahindra Renault Logan in India. The dials on the car though look cool with a Bajaj Pulsar like orange back light and instant fuel economy readout with distance to empty information as well. The AC controls look and feel tacky as well. The aircon itself is made of less capacity cooling property and hence sometimes feels less powerful. The front screen wipers work in a fashion which is conducive to left hand drive markets. There is a huge glove box and above it a scoop to put in all the regular knip knacks. Most of the surfaces felt a bit hard wearing to touch as well. Cost cutting here again. The front seats were comfortable and even afforded one to sleep and drive the car(just kidding). I remember going to the airport in a Tata Indigo XL and ending up with a sore back whereas on the return journey, I was in a Mahindra Logan. The return journey was far more comfortable due to the inclined back rest of the Logan. The rear seats and one of the Logan’s USP in India are also very comfortable. There is an integrated head rest for even the middle seat passenger. Even for a 6 footer like me, the Mahindra Logan was much of a limousine. Now, the boot space is another astounding part with its 510 liters of capacity. Trust me even with a gas cylinder kit at the rear, there was enough space for two suitcases.
The Mahindra Renault Logan in India has been give a higher ground clearance than its European counterparts. The ground clearance is in the range of 170mm. Due to its high profile tyres, the ride quality is very good and even though for the test drive, we couldn’t have a full go at its ride and handling aspect, I can vouch for it due to the innumerable trips that I made in Meru Logan cabs. Even when we crashed into a pothole at about speeds of 80 kmph (Meru cabs cannot exceed 80 kmph due to speed restrictions), all I could hear was a muted thud and nothing was actually transmitted to me. During the test drive, the lifeless steering came into light. It is devoid of any feel. Though light in operation in the city, it doesn’t weigh up once on the highway. So much so that even last minute steering corrections at 60 kmph are dreary. While going around a corner, the car would protest its unwillingness with lots of body roll and understeer. NVH as expected out of a built to budget car is good but not exemplary. After speeds of 60 kmph, there is evident wind and road noise. The engine note is sufficiently muted though.
The Mahindra Renault Logan in India is offered with 3 engine options by Mahindra and Mahindra. There is the 1.4 liter 4 cylinder petrol engine producing 75 Bhp @ 5500 rpm with 110 Nm of torque @ 3000 rpm. The other petrol motor is the 1.6 liter engine which is also a 4 cylinder one pumping out 84.5 Bhp @ 5500 rpm with a torque figure of 128 Nm @ 3100 rpm. The diesel motor on the other hand is the 1.5 liter unit with 65 Bhp of power on tap at 4000 rpm and 160 Nm of torque @ 2000 rpm. Acceleration on all the three cars left much to be desired though the diesel motor as expected fared better than the petrol units. For the 1.4 liter unit, prod the accelerator and you would wait for an eternity for speeds to build up. The 1.6 fared marginally better.
Since it was a test drive, we couldn’t time the performance parameters of the variants but then expect it to be in the range of 17-20 seconds for the 0-100 kmph run. Brakes, even though weren’t assisted by ABS or any other aids, did the part wonderfully. Even after repeated quick stops, there was no brake fade noticed. The brake pedal action is also well modulated and hence assists in getting the job done without extra pressure. The high end variants however get a driver air bag, cross member in the back which in the even of a rear impact doesn’t allow the luggage to enter the passenger cabin, collapsible steering column, 3 point seat belts and the honey combe dashboard which is built to minimize injuries. The sales person at Mahindra and Mahindra told us that now the Logan comes with ABS as well as EBD for better braking performance. We don’t doubt it either.
Fuel efficiency is another trump card of the Mahindra Logan in India. The 1.4 liter engine, the favored partner for Meru cabs offers about 14 kmpl in the city and a high 21 kmpl on the highway. The 1.6 on the other hand (by the way, there are rumors that it has been discontinued) returns 12 kmpl in city and 17 kmpl on the highway. As with any diesel motor, even the 1.5 diesel goes 15 kms on a liter of diesel in the city whereas on the highway, the figure stretches to 23 kmpl. There have been many claims of owners who have been getting even more.
Finally the test drive done, I was surprised that many of the Indiandrives correspondents were beaming. This despite the fact that like the Toyota Etios, this was a low price car. It has low rent but hard wearing interiors, built quality is okay though there were some uneven panel gaps, lacking many of the prime features that a car has to offer and last but not the least, the taxi image now. Going strong on its sides are the interior space, comfort on long drives, boot space and the fuel economy. If Mahindra and Mahindra could up the after sales service for this excellent product, I am sure “India loves Logan” would be a reality. The Mahindra Renault Logan price in India starts from Rs. 4,339,50 for the base variant and goes all the way to Rs. 6,499,50 for the top end diesel variant. All these prices are ex-show room, Mumbai.
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