Renault Alaskan

Renault's first-ever midsize pickup truck, the Alaskan, has enjoyed its notoriety at Latin America, its target market, and now it's ready for showtime at Europe, where it will face stiffer competition against the likes of the VW Amarok, the Fiat Fullback, or even the Toyota Hilux. While this is an all-new model, the Alaskan bears a familiar side everyone knows about and there's a clear reason for that.

2018 Renault Alaskan

The new Renault Alaskan maybe the company's first-ever pickup truck but what's underneath is co-developed by Nissan due to the nature of the Renault-Nissan Alliance so the way the Alaskan behaves puts you into the mind that it's like driving the not-for-Japan Nissan pickup truck that I cannot mention it to you due to search query reasons. But before that, what do you think about the looks? Well, at first glance, this is the first time you saw a pickup truck bearing a Renault badge on it, which is not very fleur by the looks of it but it has some masculine sense on it you would expect from the fruit of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

2018 Renault Alaskan interior

2018 Renault Alaskan interior

Unlike today's Renaults, the interior of the Alaskan is very different compared with the others because this is the same interior as you would expect from a Nissan pickup truck of today, although the steering wheel is different than the Nissan's by the looks of it. For a pickup truck with the sedan-like creature comfort, the Alaskan is pretty impressive in so many levels and rather than using it for work, it can also be used for leisure and with an ample bed space, just think about the endless possibilities you can do with Alaskan, as long as you're not making trouble with the public.

2018 Renault Alaskan

Since the Renault Alaskan is a Nissan underneath, it uses a ladder-frame chassis combined with the super-high-tensile-strength steel which makes it as tough as a Challenger 2 tank blowing a safe and in terms of its off-road ability, the Alaskan is a French car that is not very French indeed, in fact, it's like a French-Thai-Latino fusion cuisine that doesn't have any lactose on it, only tougher and braver when it was served on a wooden platter, which is very unique.

Under the hood, the Alaskan is powered by a 2.3 dCi engine with various configurations. The highest power output offered is 190PS and with 450Nm of torque output, it has a towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes, which is very strong indeed for a foreign exchange pickup who got transferred from a banana republic to a superpower by chance. It's surprisingly durable as well.

As a pickup truck, the Alaskan offered different driving modes to choose from such as rear-wheel drive if you are driving normally (or if you are planning to slide this car through the road as a show-off), high-ratio 4WD if you're feeling under the weather, or low-ratio 4WD when things get rough. Apart from that, the Alaskan is prepared with a multitude of safety features such as ABS, ESP, EBD, EBA, TCS, that autonomous braking thing, and the one thing Nissan happily lend it to the Renault Alaskan; the Around View Monitor.

Should you buy it? The Renault Alaskan starts at 36,860 Euros, which is less expensive than the VW Amarok by a wide margin, and that makes it a fair value for those who want a pickup truck that can do so much more than 9 to 5. This pickup maybe made for the 9 to 5 stuff but rather than being a workhorse, the Alaskan can do some leisure stuff on the weekends. There's so much you can do with Renault's first-ever pickup truck as long as you're not a magnet of trouble with it.

Photo: Renault