Latitude problems posts here, Hints, tips etc.
Latitude Hints, Tips and Problems
- Thread starter vivid
- Start date
The only problem i can see with the Latitude is that Renault are not doing enough to promote it like they are doing with their other models. For starters all they need is a standard white privilege with beige interior as a demonstrator in each dealership and just watch the sales come in, especially if they took it around to Renault car days put on by various clubs. This is just the start to becoming more in tune with the buying public.
Well it wont be long now when my new Latitude is delivered, the people at Essendon Renault have been very helpfull in my queries re ongoing costs to owning this vehicle and i will be putting this information on this thread soon. I have some answers that I need to receive. If anyone has anything about the latitude they would like to have researched please post it here and i will do my best to answer or obtain it for you.
I am thinking of buying a 2012 latitude Diesael Luxe with about 18000 ks on the clock . They seem like a great car. Any major dramas with them??? Can anyone advise what model they are as a Samsung, what engine they have in them Ie Nissan?? and what transmission they have??? Thanks
Last Wednesday I recieved my white Latitude with beige interior the first one in this combination to be delivered to Australia and have been busy putting it through its paces and everyone who has seen it has remarked how much better it is with the beige interior of course i will have to be diligent in keeping it clean but thats part and parcel of owning a car. overall it is a magnificent peice of machinery with so many features that im still finding more each time i sit in it. The only disappointment is that it may have been built this year but the front panel is from the previous model which had the large grill and NO led daylight running ights. Most of the other markets had the front upgraded for 2014 so this can only mean two things Australia is still being used by manufacturers to dump parts of the body they cannot sell elsewhere thereby reducing stock losses, or that Renault Australia has no commitment to safety when it comes to selling there cars here and will introduce the led daylight running lights and smaller grill to make people think they are committed to continual improvement to their cars when in fact we in Australia are behind the rest of the world in getting safety upgrades. Renault Australia CEO even refused to answer my concerns when i wrote to him, instead he had his customer relations girl just fob me off. I can now understand why Renault has a difficult job establishing itself in Australia the management do not comprehend what the the word customer means. I will post pictures of the car when i learn how to. Also will keep you updated on how the car performs over its life. Pity we do not have a Latitude register like the other models. Essendon Renault have been very good with their prepartion and delivery.
Last edited:
Didn't you have an image/brochure /specification of the vehicle you purchased before shelled out big bucks to buy it?
It seems that have looked at the "overseas" model and expected on "faith" the vehicle you were intending to purchase was the same. I would assume that Renault, like all other car manufacturers, builds market specific vehicles. The Aust delivery may simply not have DRLs fitted. No DRLs may involve a different panel.
In fairness to Renault Aust CEO, the features and aesthetics of a particular vehicle are beyond his control and decided at time of manufacture in Korea (?). The lack of Drls and a different grille panel on one vehicle probably doesn't justify a personal response.
I'd enjoy the vehicle as it is and not fret at all about features that are unimportant to the dynamics and engineering of the vehicle and do not affect the driving experience.
Well i found a couple of Australian motoring articles describing and showing photos of the 2014 latitude with the small grill and daylight led lights fitted to headlights. Asked questions from CEO even sent articles to him. Overall its a small annoyance rather than problem as the car is great. Just fail to see why LED daylight lights which are a safety device were not fitted like it is in the other markets. One would think that a company that was intent on reestablishing itself here would do its utmost in providing the latest technology to the marketplace to put itself above the competition. This car when released outsold their own estimates they should be building on this in my opinion.
Oh in your response to shelling out money, money is not a problem to me, so i will probably make and install Daytime running LEDs.in the blank area around the fog lights along with other minor touches to really personalise it for my comfort and enjoyment like i have done with all cars i have owned.
Oh in your response to shelling out money, money is not a problem to me, so i will probably make and install Daytime running LEDs.in the blank area around the fog lights along with other minor touches to really personalise it for my comfort and enjoyment like i have done with all cars i have owned.
Last edited:
If you read carefully I alluded to researching the vehicle before parting with the money. There was no suggestion that money was problem.
I apologise if you took offence. DRLs are fitted to vehicles in other markets because the rules and regulations in those market dictate they be installed. Australia does not have such regulations.
FWIW RING automotive in UK have a large range of aftermarket DRLs and are a quality product. You need to buy them from UK.
Ring Accessory Lighting
And before you actually make a purchase, ensure what you are buying complies with ADR 76/00, ADR13/00 and contents. Wouldn't want to get pinged by a smart copper now, would we?
I can understand niks disappointment and how he came to the conclusion that Renault could be using Australia as a dumping ground for parts they can't use else where for the Latitude.
What I don't understand, is that the Australian spec Renault Latitude is produced in the same factory as the Korean market Samsung SM5 (Renault Latitude), yet our market doesn't get the same facelift and upgrades as the Samsung? They're coming out of the same factory, so you'd expect the same product, wouldn't you? And it's not like the Australian market is a 'developing' new car market and so would be lumped with an outdated model. It just doesn't make sense? We get the same upgrades for the Fluence and the Koleos, as the Korean market models do, but not the Latitude?
As well as the other overseas markets that the Latitude is sold in, they received the upgraded front end styling, which include the headlights, with the LED DRL's, new grill and front pumber and fog lights, new alloy wheel designs, while the rear got the slightly restyled rear light cluster design. Inside, the car received a new dash and centre console layout.
In Australia, all we got was the slightly restyled rear light cluster design and new alloy wheel design, not even the new dash and centre console layout, we still get the old one!
As you can see, what we get, is different to what other markets get.
Apparently what we get is what is made for Australia. Perhaps the DRL's don't yet comply with our ADR's?
As has been said before the features are market dependent. Toyota do the same:look at the JDM model and the dumbed down Australian model. Why do the manufacturers do it? Because they can.
In other country's there would outrage if minimized product was offered and Sales would reduce. But, in other countries there is choice. In Australia we get what we are given and like it! Because our market is very small compared to overseas.
As I said, just because an overseas model has certain features the local version may not. Read the local sales literature and look at the images therein to discover what you are getting.
Yes, it's disappointing but cars in Australia compared to overseas are also limited and disappointing.
As has been said before the features are market dependent. Toyota do the same:look at the JDM model and the dumbed down Australian model. Why do the manufacturers do it? Because they can.
In other country's there would outrage if minimized product was offered and Sales would reduce. But, in other countries there is choice. In Australia we get what we are given and like it! Because our market is very small compared to overseas.
As I said, just because an overseas model has certain features the local version may not. Read the local sales literature and look at the images therein to discover what you are getting.
Yes, it's disappointing but cars in Australia compared to overseas are also limited and disappointing.
You've missed my point!
Why is the Australian market the ONLY market in the world that hasn't received the global update, when all OTHER markets have? It doesn't make sense? Especially when the cars come out of the same factory? Why would they make a batch of cars just for the Australian market, using all the old, leftover parts and then build the upgraded model for all the other markets?
I'm talking about major styling changes here, not little ones where the 'average joe' wouldn't notice the difference. I don't care if our model has different spec's to an overseas model of the same car, I do realise that happens, manufacturers need to spec a vehicle to different markets.
I know my Laguna Dynamique wagon is not the same, spec wise, as the one that would've been sold in France, Germany or even the UK, but at least it looked the same as the one in those markets.
And it's not like the Latitude is a huge seller in ANY market that it's sold in, regardless if our market is a small market or not, you'd think they would just do the same car for ALL markets, appearance wise.
Last edited:
I guess it could depend when the particular vehicle was built. Changes generally phase in on the production line. Although built on the same production line not all vehicles are the same.
We need someone else to buy one of few dozen latitudes sold in Australia and then do a detailed critique on the components to decide whether their particular vehicle is the result of collusion, stuff up or something else.
As sure as hell I wouldn't bother asking the Australian Renault CEO anymore questions about Latitudes 'tho. The request may not be favorably received. :roflmao:
I don't think all of us appreciate the very real subtle differences between vehicles made for different markets. What may to a prospective purchaser look like a fairly insignificant change still has to meet the standards of all the countries to which it is being exported. The biggest markets get served first, the smallest ones last. (In engineering and compliance terms.) Australia is a very small market, except for RS Meganes, where we get the latest and best. Everything else for us is just at the bottom of the Renault/Samsung/Nissan engineering job list.
You could always demand that our politicians abandon ADR's , seeing as we won't be building any more cars!
You could always demand that our politicians abandon ADR's , seeing as we won't be building any more cars!
My guess is that the new front hasn't passed our ADR's. Therefore they take a few old bits out of the spare parts bins for our cars until they are approved for use here. Why blame Renault when the real reason isn't known. Perhaps the Australian testing/approving body is over worked and these updates are on their to do list. Perhaps Renault would prefer to get other models further up the queue at the expense of the Latitude. Who really knows and you couldn't really expect the CEO to phone up and explain the reason to a customer. Otherwise he would end up doing a PR job and not that of a CEO. That is why he employs PR people to let him get on with his own job.
Except an RS Megane with an auto /dsg
The model is available in UK.Which is the very reason I'm looking elsewhere!