Renault Rafale 2023: First impressions aboard the new high -end Renault

It was without any modesty that Renault has chosen to call its new Rafale coupe SUV. Reference of aeronautics and national pride, the Rafale is an omnirôle fighter plane designed to dominate the heavens where it is deployed. Kinship with a diamond car is delicate to perceive, but connoisseurs will remember the Caudron-Renault Rafale, a benchmark single-seater plane in its time, with speed records established in 1934. Unsurprisingly, the Renault Rafale takes place at the top of the manufacturer’s range, and aims to make the latter a reference in the field of premium cars.

Renault Rafale: the SUV cut with 300 horsepower which targets the heavens

Revealed on June 18 at the aeronautics and space in Le Bourget, the Renault Rafale, a coupé SUV, carries in it all the hopes of the French brand, which intends to fly over competition with such an evocative name.

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It was without any modesty that Renault has chosen to call its new Rafale coupe SUV. Reference of aeronautics and national pride, the Rafale is an omnirôle fighter plane designed to dominate the heavens where it is deployed. Kinship with a diamond car is delicate to perceive, but connoisseurs will remember the Caudron-Renault Rafale, a benchmark single-seater plane in its time, with speed records established in 1934. Unsurprisingly, the Renault Rafale takes place at the top of the manufacturer’s range, and aims to make the latter a reference in the field of premium cars.

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Like a southern air

The most observers will not have failed to note that like the last space VI, this newcomer operates the CMF-CD platform inducted with the Renault Austral SUV launched at the end of 2022. To caricature, we could describe the space as an extended austral, and this burst as a southern cut, which would however amount to minimizing the work of engineers and designers from Renault.

Bad tongues will not fail to assimilate this burst to a simple restyling of the Arkana, another Renault SUV with the “Fastback” type body, but it is not the case. Indeed, this new new one is much higher than the Arkana, evidenced by its advanced equipment. The glass roof called Solarbay is electronically objects, a technology usually reserved for premium brands (Porsche Taycan or BMW IX). It is thus possible to adjust it in four positions: opaque, transparent, opaque at the back and transparent at the front, and vice versa.

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To strengthen its unique positioning in the Renault range, the Rafale is adorned with exclusive seats covered with a 61 % recycled Alcantara. He thus comes to walk on the sets of the only other manufacturer to offer such extravagance: Ferrari and his purosangue. The cockpit opted for its part for an original proposal mixing slate and cork supposed to offer a touch of French refinement.

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300 horsepower and four -wheel drive

On the motorization side, Renault trusts its hybrid e-tech group already present on several models of the brand. The latter calls on a 1.2 l three -cylinder heat engine with a power of 130 horsepower coupled with two electric motors, bringing power to 200 horses.

A new version should make its appearance, adding an engine on the rear axle and raising the cavalry to 300 horsepower, while granting the burst of a four -wheel drive transmission. We will also find the 4 -wheeled 4 -wheeled system, which should offer an exemplary road and agility to this SUV fastback Equipped with widened 4 cm routes compared to the Austral.

The cockpit is also typical of the diamond brand, using the OpenR link system: operating on Android, it displays driving information and infotainment on two slabs in the form of.

Rival and brother of the Peugeot 408

The pencil line is obviously reminiscent of the Peugeot 408 which plays in the same courtyard. No surprise since the designer of Renault, Gilles Vidal, made a visit to the lion by initiating the new visual signature of the Sochalian brand, before rallying to the banner of the diamond.

However, some details may make the difference, like this grille made up of a multitude of diamonds with a changing appearance according to the angle of view, or the “burst” logo placed at the back with its typography way handwritten.

A matter of taste, the brand new Renault Rafale will surely find it difficult to distinguish itself from the 408, with more aggressive lines and in the ultimately very close signature. Let’s wait to see if this cut SUV will convince on the road with its superior power and its four -wheel drive and directors, and if a possible 100 % electric version could tip the scales in its favor.

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Renault Rafale 2023: First impressions aboard the new high -end Renault

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Renault Rafale 2023: First impressions aboard the new high -end Renault

Drinked by the diamond, the new Renault Rafale SUV-cut is entitled to the best of the French manufacturer. We tell you everything about this “Super Austral”, which arrives next year and will display up to 300 hp.

The Rafale name is necessarily reminiscent of the Dassault fighter plane. Except that in reality, the appellation belongs to Renault, and designated in the 1930s a Caudron-Renault speed record plane. Today, Rafale therefore comes to designate the new SUV-cut which will have the task of coming to style the diamond range in the spring of 2024. History to fill the vacant space created by the Talisman judgment in 2022 and the repositioning of the last space, which left the moribund universe of the minivans to join the much more prosperous SUV at 7-plates.

Peugeot’s false tunes

Initiated in 2020, the Rafale project is the first designed since the arrival of Gilles Vidal at the head of the diamond design, coming from Peugeot … and that is felt. There is the spirit of the lion in the shape of the hood – reminiscent of a Peugeot 3008 – and the tapered headlights flanked by crocs. Without forgetting the opened grille, here covered with relief diamonds which are increasingly open as they approach the central logo, letting see, below, a blue satin shade. A concern for detail that we find almost everywhere, from the elegant spoiler to the “floating icps” appearance of the rear lights. The very worked lines and a black filling (wheel arches, rear shield, rocker panel) are not enough, however, to mask that the burst is a large baby 4.71 m long, 1.86 m wide, up to 1.61 m high.

An exclusivity package on board

On board, the Rafale takes up the screens and the open air system already seen in the megane e-tech and austral, in a more advanced version – It works on Android 12 and offers more than fifty applications in the store. And there are many other exclusives in the Rafale. Starting with brand new seats. Like real buckets, they offer thick lateral supports, and promise to be very pleasant to live. The files of “Our” Alpine Spirit Variant even have a stylized “a”, lit by diodes, whose lighting simulates a heartbeat with the opening sequence of the car. We can also talk about the inexpensive materials present on board. Like the thin layer of slate that covers the sliding central support as well as the dashboard headband in front of the passenger. On the other hand, no leather for the Rafale, which prefers Alcantara and recycled and vegan fabrics. The tricolor SUV also inaugurates Solar Bay, a glass roof designed with Saint-Gobain, which automatically opens according to a ballet of liquid crystals quite stunning. Finally, Renault split a rear armrest incorporating two USB sockets and two deployable supports to hold a screen each. A way to accentuate the family aspect of this spacious SUV which displays the same wheelbase as a space (2.74 m). The storage has not been forgotten, while, for its part, the trunk announces the capacity of 530 dm3.

Hybrid 200 hp at the start, 300 hp then

Renault also announces that it has treated the road qualities of its large SUV with a cut profile. If he takes up the CMF-CD platform of the Austral and Space, he takes advantage of 40 mm widened tracks and the 4-controlled four-wheeled system in its latest evolution, capable of pointing the rear wheels up to 5 ° in opposition to low speeds, and from 1 ° then in parallel. Under the hood, only the hybrid has the right of the city and the Rafale will be launched with the E-Tech motorization 200 hp of the space. But as nothing is too good for its new high -end, the diamond will offer it, six months later, a rechargeable hybrid variation displaying 300 cumulated and four -wheel drive. Many assets, therefore, on paper for this burst, whose prices should start around € 55,000.

New burst

Inspired by aeronautics, Renault Rafale design borrows their finesse and fluidity from the fuselages. Fruit of in -depth research, the sportback body with pure lines is part of the landscape without shaking up its harmony to make it a coupped SUV with dynamic and sports lines.

New light signature and unprecedented identity grille
Type seats Sport and Harman Kardon High Fidelity System

Solarbay panoramic roof

Comfort and brightness

Thanks to its technology, the vast solarbay® panoramic glass roof is opens and clears up on demand. It’s up to you to decide the desired brightness level among the 4 available opacity modes, for really tailor -made comfort.

Autonomy up to 1,100 km*

*Full Hybrid 200 CH Full E-Tech Motorization with a full of petrol, according to WLTP data

engines

Roll in electric without having to recharge up to 80% of your time driving in town and up to 130 km/h*. The battery recharges during the deceleration and braking phases and allows you to do up to 40%** of fuel saving.

Roll in electric without having to recharge up to 80% of your time driving in town and up to 130 km/h*. The battery recharges during the deceleration and braking phases and allows you to do up to 40%** of fuel saving. 4×4 300 hp e-tech version soon available. More information to come.

Find out more about E-Tech Full Hybrid

146 kW (200 ch))