Renault Koleos - Opinions Please

[Fordman]

Sorry, Boleropilot, I may have misread your post. My comments above refer to the Cruise Control radar, not the braking radar.
Funnily enough, just yesterday in a bit of wet weather, I had a warning light (like a rear end collision) and a message something like "automatic braking disconnected". I think it is known generally as collision avoidance system. I think this is in all Koleos models. It can be turned on or off in the Vehicle menu. In reading about it, it mentions a radar sensor behind the front bumper, and the windscreen camera. I cleaned the area of the camera, but there was no mud or anything on the bumper. However, for this trip I am doing, I attached an insect screen across the front of the grille. I wondered if the lower right hand corner of the screen may be in front of the radar, and with a bit of water on the mesh, it may act as a perfect radar blocker?
Anyway, no warning light today.

 

[renault8&10]

That message Fordman is the start of being a symptom of the radar being faulty. It could just be the anomaly of the screen as you mentioned and a one-off but if it starts to display more frequently, I would take it to a dealer once you get home. They replaced mine under warranty without argument but scheduling it became problematic. It won’t stop you driving the car, just need to be aware the car won’t do the stopping for you in an emergency!

 

[jo proffi]

Hi guys. Starting to think about upgrading from the 2014 koleos, that’s now done 150k km.
so now the hard choice.. zen or intens……2 or 4wd. Cheap high km, or expensive low km…..or even new.

Took an Intens for a test run today, and boy does it make my koleos feel like a truck.
I was massively impressed with the low nvh of the car and the sound of the hifi.
had to keep turning off the music I was enjoying ad remind myself to listen to the car instead.
Ive looked quite a bit online to try and find the answer to the question, does the zen and the intens have the same audio system?
I felt the intense sound was better, but am fully prepared to find they are the same and was just eq’ different or maybe the special effects was enhancing my perception of superiority.

 

[renault8&10]

You need to check it wasn’t the version(s) with the Bose stereo system which is probably quite likely for a current intens. Otherwise they may not all have equal systems

I have 2019 zen petrol which I love, but do regret not stretching a bit further for diesel 4wd intens for the occasional towing I do with a car trailer and R8’s.

The spec level of a zen in diesel 4wd would also be suitable - you don’t lose much between intens and zen but I think that combo may not be available in Zen? The sunroof is one of the big ticket items you lose.

Happy for you to view and drive my 2019 zen but it is now coming up to 5 yrs old so not sure how current you are looking for.

 

[boleropilot]

hey jo, I think the Intens has the nice extras like the big screen in the dash, electric parking, LED headlamps and the hi-fi stereo system, plus other nice stuff. some have the auto following distance cruise control, some don't...

the sound system is spectacular, brilliant sound. If the vehicle has a big lift out sub woofer in the spare wheel, it's premium sound

BP

 

[Fordman]

Sorry, Boleropilot, I may have misread your post. My comments above refer to the Cruise Control radar, not the braking radar.
Funnily enough, just yesterday in a bit of wet weather, I had a warning light (like a rear end collision) and a message something like "automatic braking disconnected". I think it is known generally as collision avoidance system. I think this is in all Koleos models. It can be turned on or off in the Vehicle menu. In reading about it, it mentions a radar sensor behind the front bumper, and the windscreen camera. I cleaned the area of the camera, but there was no mud or anything on the bumper. However, for this trip I am doing, I attached an insect screen across the front of the grille. I wondered if the lower right hand corner of the screen may be in front of the radar, and with a bit of water on the mesh, it may act as a perfect radar blocker?
Anyway, no warning light today.

As a follow up, this warning light came on 3 more times on our road trip, each time in reasonably heavy rain, and has not occurred otherwise. My son-in-law with a current RAV4 says it actually mentions in the owner's handbook that rain may affect the forward radar sensor.
So I am taking that as being my Koleos does not have a problem, it is the insect screen with water on it causing the warning. All good.

 

[jo proffi]

hey jo, I think the Intens has the nice extras like the big screen in the dash, electric parking, LED headlamps and the hi-fi stereo system, plus other nice stuff. some have the auto following distance cruise control, some don't...

the sound system is spectacular, brilliant sound. If the vehicle has a big lift out sub woofer in the spare wheel, it's premium sound

BP

I had to check the spare wheel well…no sub, and based on what I was hearing, no need for it either.

 

[Fordman]

Hi guys. Starting to think about upgrading from the 2014 koleos, that’s now done 150k km.
so now the hard choice.. zen or intens……2 or 4wd. Cheap high km, or expensive low km…..or even new.

Hi Jo. I bought our Oct 2019 Zen with 30000 kms in June 2021 (worst time ever to buy a new/late model car, shortage due to COVID). At the time a new Zen 2wd petrol was $40k and there was a $2k discount (go figure Renault to discount during a shortage) so $38k driveway, with one only available at Perth dealer.
Knowing Renault's big depreciation I was still looking around online and found local Toyota dealer advertising about 20 Koleos, all Oct 2019, all about 30k kms, I said to wife, ex-rental cars. Most were listed as $28k - $31k. Go to dealer, he had had these for a couple of months and only had 2 left, on the lot at $36k each. He explained all the cheaper ones had gone but these better ones at higher price were still on the lot. The one we looked at (charcoal colour) was like a new car, I looked very closely for any damage, none, still shiny new paint on underbody. Good on test drive. But at $36k may as well get new one for $38k. So I tell dealer we came looking for a $30k car, but only $36k on the lot, so no thanks, sorry. He says "would you buy this one for $30k?", and I said show me where to sign. Now this was a week before end of June, and conditional on payment before then, which was ok by us.
Just saying, they must have had a fair markup on that vehicle to drop it by $6k, and I'm not really a negotiator, it was a bit surprising. And the car has so far been good, though I am aware the warranty runs out this year.
Also, I was not shopping for a Koleos, any similar vehicle would do, but I needed a replacement for my Territory which got written off with hardly any damage but needed airbags and exceeded insured value.
Pure luck to find this one, but if I knew how to find ex-rental cars on sale, I would be looking for them, they probably get them for a song, compared to normal trade-ins or whatever.
Good luck.

 

[boleropilot]

apparently the 2019 Koleos is a "statutory write-off" if it's just a tiny bit dinged but all the airbags have gone off...

 

[JohnW]

apparently the 2019 Koleos is a "statutory write-off" if it's just a tiny bit dinged but all the airbags have gone off...

You need a pretty good car and pretty new at that for the cost of repairing airbags to be inside the insured value! That's bad luck.

 

[JohnW]

You need to check it wasn’t the version(s) with the Bose stereo system which is probably quite likely for a current intens. Otherwise they may not all have equal systems

I have 2019 zen petrol which I love, but do regret not stretching a bit further for diesel 4wd intens for the occasional towing I do with a car trailer and R8’s.

The spec level of a zen in diesel 4wd would also be suitable - you don’t lose much between intens and zen but I think that combo may not be available in Zen? The sunroof is one of the big ticket items you lose.

Happy for you to view and drive my 2019 zen but it is now coming up to 5 yrs old so not sure how current you are looking for.

"R8s" now singular in your case. We seem to manage with just one, ourselves! I reckon the issue with many European towbar specs is a very low downforce spec.

 

[Fordman]

You need a pretty good car and pretty new at that for the cost of repairing airbags to be inside the insured value! That's bad luck.

I kick myself for that, because the 5yo Territory was like new, only 60000kms, extras like cargo barrier and good towbar with electric brake controller, and I let the insured value drop, as it does each year, but should have contacted Shannons and increased it quite a bit, which they will do for a good car. Lesson learnt.
In the conversation with Shannons just after that incident, I queried the value of my very original WRX, they asked how often I drove it (rarely), put it in the Extreme Low Usage category, and they doubled the insured value with a lower premium.