It's a sign of the growing diesel awareness in the Australian market that even light courier vans are starting to adopt compression-ignition engines.
Renault is the latest company to head down this path, introducing such an engine to the Kangoo van. The engine fitted is a 1.5-litre dCi unit driving through a five-speed manual transmission. Developing 62kW of power and 200Nm of torque (from as low as 1750rpm), the engine produces output quite close to that of the Citroen Berlingo, with its new turbodiesel engine (more here).
Whilst the Berlingo has the legs on the Kangoo dCi, the Renault is slightly more economical (5.3L/100km versus 5.4 for the Citroen). According to Renault, the Kangoo could cover a range of 900km on one 50-litre tank of fuel.
Standard features for the Kangoo include air conditioning, CD audio system with remote controls, remote central locking, electric mirrors/windows, dual front airbags and ABS/EBD.
Citroen's announcement has proved timely, beating Renault to the punch by a matter of days -- and with a price that undercuts the Kangoo, priced at $23,990 -- by $2000.
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