RENAULT SCENIC RX4-Anatomy of an SUV

Aanvullende informatie over de RX4 en z'n verschillende uitvoeringen.
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Dennis
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RENAULT SCENIC RX4-Anatomy of an SUV

Bericht door Dennis » 12-01-2011 21:58

The Sport Utility Vehicle, or SUV, started life as a peculiarly American phenomenon. Motorists deserted their traditional saloons and hatchbacks in favour of more "lifestyle" oriented vehicles, usually with four-wheel drive - although relatively few of them ever see any serious use in this guise.

South African embraced the SUV before the Europeans, although the sector is now growing rapidly in countries like France, the UK and Germany. Renault's brilliance has been in combining the SUV with the multi-activity car, which it can lay strong claim to having originated, in the form of the original Scenic.

Transforming the Scenic into the RX4 was no simple task, however. Renault wished to retain the attributes that had made the original so successful - versatility, spaciousness, driveability - and add to them genuine off-road ability, without ending up with a compromised vehicle that performed neither task particularly well.

Cosmetically, the RX4 is recognisably a Scenic, with the addition of protective side mouldings, larger front and rear bumpers, enhanced wheelarches to accommodate greater suspension travel, and wider front wings for a more aggressive appearance.

In order to accommodate the permanent four-wheel drive system, certain modifications had to be made to the basic Scenic structure. To avoid having to alter the floor, the front subframe was lowered by 73 mm to make space for the propeller shaft. The subframe is galvanised, and is also provided with a protective paint coating.

At the rear, a completely new subframe replaces the four-bar suspension used on two-wheel drive models. This required modification to the floor of the luggage compartment and the elimination of the spare wheel well. This is replaced by a small cavity which houses the jack, wheelbrace and toolkit. The change to a side opening rear door also required strategic bracing of the body in certain areas.

The RX4's permanent four-wheel drive transmission was designed in conjunction with Austrian all-terrain specialist Steyr-Daimler Puch. It comprises a modified version of the standard JC7 Renault gearbox with twin power outputs, a tri-section propeller shaft with two intermediate universal joints, a viscous coupling, rear final drive and two additional driveshafts. The standard exhaust system required extensive rerouting to enable the additional transmission components to be installed.

This intelligent system continually adjusts the front/rear power distribution, via the viscous coupling and an electronic traction control system. The viscous coupling allows the front/rear torque split to be varied almost instantaneously according to which wheels have grip. The traction control system operates on the front wheels to ensure that, if one wheel loses grip, power is transferred to the other side. With these two sophisticated systems operating in tandem, the RX4 demonstrates impressive off-road ability, limited in most cases only by ground clearance and arrival/departure angles.
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RX4 SUV two

The front suspension layout remains as before, with MacPherson struts and lower wishbones. The wishbones are of cast iron, while the struts and dampers have been uprated accordingly, and a special anti-roll bar added. Spring- and damper rates are unique, in view of the vehicle's on- and off-road abilities.

At the rear, a fully independent system with trailing arms, coil springs and dampers replaces the four-bar setup of the standard vehicle. All components are mounted on a detachable galvanised subframe which also carries the rear transmission components.

Together with 16-inch wheels shod with specially developed 215/65 Michelin XPC radials, the revised suspension provides a healthy increase in ground clearance to 210 mm. Disc brakes are fitted all round, measuring 280 mm at the front and 265 mm at the rear.

The RX4 weighs some 175 kg more than its two-wheel drive siblings, due to the suspension and body revisions, structural strengthening and its higher standard equipment levels.


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