Marketed as the Triptic System, the Modus' rear seats are mounted on sliding rails with four preset positions. When in the rearmost two positions the seats are configured for two people with increased leg, hip, and shoulder room. When in the forward positions they are configured for three passengers, increasing cargo capacity.
Another seat-based feature of Modus is the "Stay Put" system. The base of the front passenger seat flips up to reveal a storage compartment. An optional feature of the Modus is a boot chute, a drop-down opening in the centre of the tailgate below the rear window.
The facelifted Modus was launched in Europe in 2007, featuring colour coded bumpers on all versions, clear Perspex 'glass' indicator bezels, revised side door mouldings and updated interior trim on all specification levels.
Soon after, in February 2008, a restyled Modus and the new Grand Modus were launched. Also that year, the Grand Modus replaced the Modus in Spain. The Grand Modus has an extended length of 4,034 mm (158.8 in) and a boot volume of 410 litres (0.41 m3 (0.54 cu yd)) below the parcel shelf.
This restyle saw changes made to the front and rear of the standard model to match the styling of the newer Grand variant. The boot chute has been removed from the options list.
In February 2012, Renault discontinued the Modus, Espace, Kangoo, Laguna, and Wind lines in the United Kingdom.1
The Modus was the first small car to receive the full 5 Euro NCAP stars for passenger safety due in part to its six airbag system, front and rear side impact bars and ISOFIX child seat fixing points. It was also one of the first cars in its class to have such features as automatic headlamps and windscreen wipers on its options list.
The Modus was offered with a cornering lamp function. Concealed in the main headlamp unit and operating at speeds less than 38 mph (61.2 km/h), the lights gave the driver a wider field of vision when going round bends. On Privilège and Initiale models, Renault offered the Modus with "double distance" Xenon headlamps.
In terms of reliability, according to the 2006 breakdown survey from the German Automobile Club,4 the Modus ranks 3rd in its class with an average 5.8 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles after three years. This is behind the Audi A2 (1st) and the BMW Mini (2nd) and ahead of the Lupo (4th) & Polo (5th), Toyota Yaris (6th) and Honda Jazz (7th).
"Renault to cut five UK models". telegraph.co.uk. 19 December 2011. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8966273/Renault-to-cut-five-UK-models.html ↩
"Renault Modus - technical". carinf.com. 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2012-10-11. http://www.carinf.com/en/e1d031700.html ↩
"ADAC Pannenstatistik 2006" (PDF). ADAC. 2011-09-21. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20090306153650/http://www.adac.de/images/Pannenstatistik2006_tcm8-179730.pdf ↩