Renault Austral has a top speed of 175km per hour

Renault Austral – Over the decades, our cars have continued to improve their performance despite exponential weight gain, forcing an increase in power. When, at the top of the Peugeot 205 range, a 130 hp sports car was proudly enthroned in the 1980s, its great-granddaughter, now embodied by the 208, displays the same level of power without complaining about the clock.

However, if the inherent lightness of the 205 GTi allows it to accelerate more strongly than a 208 PureTech of 130 hp, with five tenths of better observed in the exercise from 0 to 100 km/h (8.2), the palm of the maximum speed goes to the latest in the lot (207 km/h vs 205 km/h). A small advantage that the 208 owes to the progress made over more than 30 years in terms of engine optimization and gearbox staging.

An observation that applies today to all contemporary automobile production, most Dacias crossing the 180 km/h threshold without complaint, for example, when most compact SUVs from the Peugeot 3008 or Volkswagen Tiguan easily exceed the 200 km mark. /H.

That's why it's surprising to read the datasheet of its new rival, the Renault Austral, recently introduced in the concessions. Whichever engine is chosen, all its versions promise a single maximum speed reached: 175 km/h.

An incomprehensible measure, at first glance, when we learned that the Kadjar, its predecessor, oscillated between 182 and 210 km/h at its peak, while its power level did not exceed 160 hp. And the mystery gets complicated knowing that the most vigorous of the Austral raises this characteristic to 200 hp, enough to catapult the machine well beyond 210 km / h theoretically.

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Worst. How can you justify that within the Renault group the 200 hp Austral reaches “only” 175 km/h when a simple 150 hp Duster flirts with 200 km/h? The reason is simple: the new Diamond SUV voluntarily restricts its maximum speed, according to a decision taken in this regard at a general meeting in April 2021 within the Renault group.

Luca de Meo, at the helm of the company since 2020, is the initiator. At the time, it was recorded that from 2022, all new models of the group, with the exception of the Alpine, would limit their performance to 180 km/h for the sake of improving road safety, according to the official speech.

Last spring, the new Mégane was the first to apply this new internal policy, limiting itself to 160 km/h. Nothing could be more logical for an electric car, the high speeds quickly penalizing the range of this type of car.

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At the end of the year, it is now the turn of the Austral, a hybrid SUV, to follow suit, with a performance level lowered by 5 km/h in relation to the initial prerogatives (180 km/h). While the safety argument is laudable, this move should also allow Renault to make substantial savings in terms of development and even supplies.

For example, equipping a vehicle with tires calibrated to reach a maximum of 180 km/h costs much less than its equivalents capable of running at even more reprehensible speeds.