Yes, the Renault Espace looks quite nice from the outside, and yes the interior is probably the best one the firm has ever made. However, it’s sadly yet another story of how a French manufacturer doesn’t go all the way towards making a great car all round.
According to this lengthy (35-minute) review by Autogefuhl, the car is a mixed bag. It looks sculptural and almost concept-like outside, while inside it seems as if it’s trying desperately to feel premium.
The car is worthy of your consideration if you want a unique looking, comfortable, frugal and clever near-premium MPV/crossover, but at least according to this test, it’s not fully flushed out.
Maybe they’ll fix all the niggles discovered here with a future facelift; the central front armrest lid, the way it flops about when open, is simply unacceptable in a car with premium aspirations and Renault should have figured it out by now.
It seems the French automaker is stuck in the days of the Vel Satis and Avantime, cars that looked good and avant-garde from a distance, but which were mediocre automobiles at best, whichever way you tried to look at it. Impression so far with this new Espace is that it continues the trend; let’s see if they managed to do better with the Talisman…