GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — Renault Korea’s new crossover Filante places comfort and refinement at the center of its identity, delivering the quiet and smooth riding experience of a sedan in a fiercely contested midsize SUV segment. The Filante is the second model under Renault Korea’s Aurora project. The vehicle represents the carmaker’s strategic bet to challenge the dominance of Hyundai Motor’s Santa Fe and Kia’s Sorento. Combining a sleek coupe-style design with the quietness characteristic of hybrid vehicles, the model seeks to carve out a distinctive niche in a segment largely defined by boxy SUVs. During a roughly 150-kilometer round-trip media test drive around the historic city of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, the Filante revealed itself as a vehicle balancing two identities — the comfort and composure of a sedan with the practicality of an SUV. Compared with the Aurora project’s first model, the Grand Koleos, the Filante had a more refined overall balance. The Filante pairs a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with a dual-motor hybrid system
