Renault Trafic Lifestyle 2020 Review

Billy Joel's lyric came to me unbidden as I contemplated the Renault Trafic Lifestyle auto crew-cab van. This was the vehicle I would be driving in lieu of the Porsche Cayenne Coupe that I had been scheduled to drive up until a week earlier. 'That place', for me was Porsche Cars Australia...

And although Renault flung the word 'Lifestyle' into the name of this variant, the long-wheelbase van is aimed very much at bricklayers, plumbers and who knows... steel workers?

Just like the hard-working blue-collar blokes in Joel's song, 'Allentown'.

But motoring journalists? Not so much.

The Renault was surely a job for the Trucksales blokes, I thought, from the perspective of someone who hasn't written a one-tonne van review since 2013. Our commercial-vehicle experts had previously tested the Trafic, albeit with a manual transmission and smaller-displacement engine.

Given the short notice, what's more, there was no time to set up a specific test for the Trafic. No tow test, no tradie-proof interior plastics test, no fill-'er-up-with-toilet-rolls test – just the 17-year old and me on our daily commute to school/work.

That quickly highlighted one clear trait in the Renault's favour, however. The Trafic is tough. It actually demands to be treated rough when it comes to the slamming of doors – something for which my youngest has shown a remarkable propensity.

Whether it was the front passenger door or the sliding 'whizz-bang' door for the rear seat or the tailgate for the load compartment, no door was left unslammed during the Renault's week in our gentle, loving care.

This brought home to me that the Renault is not a surrogate for an SUV however. Here's where to go if you want a vehicle that will transport five passengers – some of them kids – in a higher degree of comfort and safety.

The Trafic tested is a vehicle designed to cater for big, burly blokes. There's three-abreast seating in the front and the back, with a walk-through facility for those occasions when you may not be able to exit the Trafic via the driver's door. That happens more often than you might credit, because the Trafic is nearly two metres wide.

Surprisingly though, the Trafic will almost fit in a standard parking bay. Almost... That's when you might find that you're limited to disembarking from just one side of the Trafic, not both.

Like Cell Block H, the Trafic is not always easy to leave, but it's fairly easy to enter, thanks to a step in the body concealed by each of the front doors.

The first thing to strike you about the interior is the rather workmanlike plastics. They do the trick, but this is primarily why SUV-owning families will turn their noses up at the Trafic as an alternative family wagon. There's a distinct lack of carpet in the Trafic as well, which is a strength as much as a weakness.

Compensation comes in the form of the durable and relatively plush fabric upholstery for the seats, which are supportive and well shaped. The firm cushioning provides enough 'give' for comfortable touring over longer distances. Overall, the seats get a tick of approval, although a footrest for the driver would complement them nicely, and the centre-seat position is a bit pokey – this is the spot for the apprentice perhaps.

The rear seat offers plenty of space for adults, including tradesmen types – but perhaps not the older, heavier-set kind. And the seats are as comfortable as those in front. About the only aspect to detract from rear-seat comfort is the lack of adjustable vents, although the windows in the rear doors feature a separate sliding section of glass for air flow.

Oh, and the sparky and the chippy may end up in a dispute as to who gets to hog the fold-down armrests. As the offspring observed, you've got to keep them separated.

The French are nothing if not stingy when it comes to cupholders – just one fold-down unit for the two front-seat passengers to share. There are two gloveboxes, a shallow storage receptacle in the top of the dash and a fold-down bin near the driver's door for coins, keys, security passes and other stuff. A fairly handy phone cradle is fitted, although it's inadequate for larger smartphones.

The passenger compartment is isolated from the load section by a thick plastic bulkhead, but there's a cut-out section at the base to allow the accommodation of longer, thinner goods loaded on the flat floor and under the rear seats. For bulkier goods, however, the Trafic dual-cab has its limitations – about 1.7 metres in length over the rear axle.

The load area can be locked internally with a screw-type peg attached inside the left-rear door, if a bashful tradie should need to change out of his or her overalls without being exposed to ridicule from workmates.

With no more weight than the driver on-board, the Renault Trafic Lifestyle auto crew-cab van gets up and goes when necessary. There's not a lot of turbo lag in normal operation, although expect a couple of seconds delay from a cold start.

The engine is impressively refined for a diesel in a commercial-vehicle application. There's little of the typical diesel clatter, and when the idle-stop system restarts the engine it's accompanied by a brief drum beat, but that's heard rather than felt. The short delay is something you quickly learn to anticipate.

Coupled to the engine is an EDC (dual-clutch) transmission that is adept and generally smooth. Some drivers won't even pick it as a DCT; it's pretty competent, selecting lower gears on a descent almost seamlessly. You will occasionally feel the transmission de-clutching, particularly when pulling to a halt, but we've driven passenger cars in the past with DCTs that performed worse than the Renault's.

Around the ‘burbs the Trafic was posting fuel consumption figures up to about 10.5L/100km, but on a separate test drive we got it down to 7.6L/100km. In cruise mode, at 100km/h, the Trafic is revving at just under 2000rpm, and fuel economy is all the better for it. Commercial vehicle operators can naturally expect to use more fuel with a load in the back (or extra passengers and their tools).

The Trafic is generally quiet at touring speeds, by the standards of this type of vehicle. No booming from the van bodywork, for instance. There's some rumbling from the powertrain blending with road noise – as distinct from the light rustle of air over the body. Over bumps and potholes, however, there are sundry rattles, knocks and squeaks emanating from the rear of the cabin, with the rattles apparently the work of the sliding door latches. All this is pretty typical of the breed though.

At lower speeds the Trafic's suspension is moderately firm, as is often the case with light commercial vehicles. The rear in particular is set up to support a heavy load, but wasn't as hard-riding as expected. At speeds above 60km/h on country roads the ride feels softer and more settled.

This is a vehicle that would be fine for most users in a conventional urban driving environment, and it's acceptably good for open-road touring as well. There's not a lot of body roll and the suspension is well damped.

The Goodyear 215/60 R17 tyres (on standard alloy wheels) were prone to squeal as soon as one stomped on the brake pedal – as you would in an emergency for instance. That may be countered by loading extra goods or passengers.

Cornering felt reasonably secure for a van; the Trafic offering flat handling and relatively communicative steering. After a while the driver learns to punt the Trafic around with a degree of confidence, although the rear end does become quite light without extra weight over the axle, leading to a tendency for the Trafic to nose in towards the apex of a corner. Apply power, however, and the Trafic will run wide on the exit.

Despite the turning circle of 13.2m (between kerbs too, not wall to wall), the Trafic is simple to manoeuvre in tight spots. In fact, you quickly forget just how large the Trafic is, provided you can rely on mirrors and the reversing camera to avoid obstacles in car parks.

The driver’s field of vision is enhanced by the reversing camera, the low waistline and the two-pane mirrors (the lower pane a convex type to check for kids near the rear wheel). One shortcoming is the graininess of the infotainment display for the reversing camera at night. The screen is small and a little far away as well.

Still on the subject of seeing and being seen, the Trafic comes with very good headlights for country driving at night. They're hard to fault on low beam and positively blinding on high beam. There was a glitch in the headlight switch however; briefly dropping the headlights back to low beam for no apparent reason, before switching back to high beam when the right-turn indicator was activated.

That may have been due to a loose connection in the headlight/indicator stalk, and it only happened once.

Despite that minor glitch, the Trafic is due for another round against the Ford Transit Custom that won the carsales best commercial van award for 2019. Now that the French van is available with an automatic transmission it's in with a better chance right from the start.

It may not be a Porsche Cayenne Coupe, but the Trafic is another type of ‘Lifestyle’ vehicle that does its job well.

How much does the 2020 Renault Trafic Lifestyle auto crew cab van cost?
Price: $52,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 125kW/380Nm
Transmission: Dual-clutch
Fuel: 7.3L/100km (ADR Combined); 7.6L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 191g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Three-star (Euro NCAP, 2015)