Just posted a follow up to continued problems with daughter's Clio on the technical section
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=50...2
but the relevant section is this, which may be more appropriate to the "Discussion" section of the board.
"She is sending me all details of probems with car over last 4 years, is there any point in pursuing this with Renault HQ? (she is on her 4th Renault dealer - none of whom seem to show any concern)
She has (understandably) lost all faith in Renault and Clios(and French cars!!) despite her 2 previous cars being Renault, - a 5 and an old Clio neither of which gave any trouble at all, and is considering a "new" (not necessarily brand new) car
So far she has mentioned Honda Civic , Seat Leon, Toyota Corolla, and Skoda Fabia. (About which I know very little!)
She has a 60 mile commute each day (London to near Cambridge) so needs something not too big but comfortable and economical - recommendations please (not Focus or Astra she says - I don't know why!)"
Hope this does not count as a double post, if mods feel it is, please delete as you feel necessary
Thanks for any help, suggestions,
--
Phil
|
She probably needs to go Japanese for peace of mind, although Skodas run them close. My elder daughter has an even longer commute which she does in her nippy and comfortable Yaris 1.3 - more fun to drive than a Corolla I'd say. I haven't tried a diesel Yaris but maybe she should.
If this is too small then a Fabia 1.4 would be tempting - either wait for the new shape (suggest 1.6) or get a good deal on the old-shape 1.4 100 bhp version. Or ion either case she could have the 1.9 TDI - noisy but plenty of oomph.
Finally there's the Honda Jazz - very economical for a petrol and lots of room for people and things. No diesel option.
|
She probably needs to go Japanese for peace of mind >>
A friends Yaris has been rather troublesome, lots of niggles, where as our Clio has almost trouble free.
|
|
|
|
|
Said it before, I'll say it again........a Mitsubishi Colt. Lovely car, cheaper than Yaris and nicer looking (IMHO) in 2 door guise. Roomy, peppy, comfy and looks real nice in metalic storm grey colour. Should be able to bargain with a dealer, and stand better chance of discount than with a Yaris.
|
"Said it before, I'll say it again........a Mitsubishi Colt"
Oddly enough tack, I was looking at various options last night and ended up sending daughter some links to the Colt (HJ's CbyC breakdown, Mitsubishi site etc). Looks good to me but I was bit confused by the different models and wondered what the 3 cylinder diesel was like. Daughter is quite a diesel fan.
Anyone else got any experience of the Colt?
Thanks for other contributions by the way, Avant and Cheddar.
--
Phil
|
Phil - this may help: something I posted in January. The 1.1 is the only Colt I've driven but the 1.5 diesel could well be worth a look. I'd forgotten the Colt in my post above on this thread.
This might be useful for anyone thinking of a 'city-size' car.
My B-class is in to have the results of a small prang taken out, and the courtesy car provided by the repairers is a Colt 'Red'. I know that as it says 'RED' on each flank: I had thought this was to aid the colour-blind, but it seems that this is a special edition of the basic 3-door 1.1.
It's a frisky little Colt - very lively and nippy around town although the 3-cylinder (petrol) engine is no less noisy than the diesel Mercedes, although it's a more pleasant whirring noise than the diesel drone. Not bad on motorways - still some oomph left at 70 mph.
Ride, handling and steering very good - not quite an instantly responsive as a Ford Ka but getting that way, and the seats are more comfortable. It's well-equipped for a basic model too - remote central locking, one-touch electric windows both sides, a CD player and a trip computer.
Personally I wouldn't have the 3-door - the big doors are a pain in car parks and garages and the seat-belt is an almighty stretch. The 5-door version wouldn't have this problem and is well worth a look - the main recommendation being that although I'm used to bigger and more powerful cars, I'm really enjoying driving this one - as I do every time I drive a Ford Ka.
|
|
SWMBO has a 2000 Yaris 1.3SR and although it is nippy it is noisiest car I have driven - road and tyre noise - A friend turned up the other day in a new Suzuki Swift 1.4 diesel - was very impressed and he said 60 mpg -Turbo diesel he said but I couldn't see where it was. £9999 on road but that was part ex
|
Thanks for the input - she hadn't mentioned Yaris or Swift but I have sent her links from CbC Breakdown. Colt looks promising - thanks again Avant.
Becoming more urgent. She did her 60 mile commute to Cambridge for first time after "fix" today - got there OK, if a little apprehensively when overtaking trucks on M11 and quickly getting back to inside lane. However, she is now stuck in a lay-by near Cambridge because it stuttered to a halt when leaving work. Luckily she got to a friends and we are taking my car to her tomorrow so that she can use it next week while Clio is again towed to garage to be "fixed" for the umpteenth time. She rang garage - they said it must be a "different fault" because they had fixed the others!! Strange that symtoms are identical each time!
What is wrong with this Clio and why have four different dealers failed to "fix" it??
As I write this I see a link to "Very cheap deals on Renaults" - !!!!!
--
Phil
|
|
Get her to look at SEAT Ibizas. They're doing 0% finance on new ones with the 1.4tdi engine that'll go forever on a gallon of diesel. I picked up my new 1.4tdi Reference Sport model last friday night and am really happy with it so far.
|
"What is wrong with this Clio and why have four different dealers failed to "fix" it?? "
My guess is that there is no fault code getting logged. A lot of mechanics rely on these to tell them what's wrong :-0
Buy a petrol Clio (new shape) - well built and Renault petrol engines are quite competent.
|
|
|
|
Phil, I have just made you up a 'grid' of the cars mentioned, and ALL of their editions....
honestjohn.dealdna.com/grid.cfm?gridkey=2f3977c6
It is quite a big grid, so I suggest you only check it out on broadband, there are a LOT of editions of each of those models.
Jerry
|
|
|
