I have read HJ/UV tests, but does anyone have any feedback/ experience on build, quality, reliability of the Koleos before I buy? I know they are built out of Korea using lots of Nissan mechanicals but advice from friends based on their recent experience of Renault, cars and dealers, is "Whatever you do, don't do it!".
I have no ownership experience of Renault or anything French and so am guided by nothing more than general suspiscion and prejudice picked up elsewhere. I don't expect perfection from anything, but will it be typical of the marque or can I expect something better than expectation?
I might be presuaded, as there are some stupidly good deals to be had on this model.
Thanks.
Edited by Pugugly on 06/07/2009 at 21:15
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How long are you thinking of keeping it, and what sort of mileage will it be doing?
Maybe you get one on a PCP so you would have certainty of the residual value, or even do a personal lease / contract hire? At least that way if it gives trouble then you can just walk away at the end of the term.
Wifey had a Renault Clio II from 1998 to 2003 and the only issue we had was that it broke both rear springs at 4yrs, but Renault replaced FOC even though the car only had 1 year warranty.
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There are a reason why there are stupidly good deals on this model. They haven't sold. There was a thread on here recently and I think only one person has actually seen one on the road. Spare parts status must be in question I would have thought?
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I can only comment on the French aspect. It was with some trepidation when two years ago I bought a Peugeot 407 coupe. Everything is electric/automated and the as we know, 'all french electrics are rubbish'.
Two years on, I've not had a single thing go wrong. The car is safe, solid and I still enjoy driving it.
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HJ seems to like it a lot. Designed by Renault, developed by Nissan, made in South Korea, efficient quiet chain-cam diesels, 2wd version a grand cheaper, sails over speed bumps... If I were you I'd have it, unless anyone has experience that says don't...
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I am not a mechanic but I own one. I bought it for the wife in December and have had so much fun in it myself, she only gets to drive it to work. I should point out that mine is a lhd, as I live in France. I haven?t had any probs (covered 1980kms so far) The diesel is quiet and cruises nicely at 130kph with a minimum of road noise. The gearbox seems good, I?ve got the 6 speed manual so it took a few moments to get used to changing up first and second a little faster than in my Saab. (6 speed diesel vs 5 speed petrol)
4WD capabilities; I haven?t had it off road but on Wednesday this week my son was up at a ski resort when his return coach found a stretch of sheet ice, avoiding a skidding, oncoming 2CV (I kid you not ) which left the road and ended up in a tree, put a wheel in a ditch and stuck fast.
To cut a long story short, as they were stuck, night was falling and blizzard was in progress, parents with 4x4s went up to fetch them. I loaded up with kids and came down. The de-misters work well as all the kids were snowy and cold and the windscreen stayed clear. Another plus are the sidelights that light up on corners, these can be a real boon on unlit roads in bad visibility. Realised that I was sweating buckets when I got home - I?d left the seat heaters on for the whole journey!!
All in all this has been a good buy for us. I?m not at all qualified to say if this drives better than any other 2008 model 4WD as I?ve not driven all of the modern ones, but for us - it?s the business. Car when you need it along with the associated comfort and fuel economy and capable 4WD should you require one.
I live at 800 metres and the snow whilst not constant can be miserable when you?re trying to get home, it?s snowing huge flakes which find a way down your neck and you have to get out and fit chains for the last 5000 yards. With the Koleos that?s just a memory - you don?t even have to worry about engaging the 4WD - just let the car do it!
I have owned one other Renault before - well, well not owned exactly - it was a company car when I lived in UK - a Renault 25 Monaco which had quite a high spec and loads of gadgets - always had it serviced on time, the dealership was friendly and competent and it didn?t have a single fault in 54?000 miles - similar to the Koleos, this also had a superb sound system.
I think it?s easy to think that a foreign manufacturer might make an inferior electrical or mechanical system, but I think browsing the reports on here for many cars we would think of as ?home grown? might change your mind. Perhaps read the Land Rover Freelander report for one! It?s a competitor so it?s a fair test.
Hope this helps.
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Quite tempted just because they are cheap. Ling has them on lease for a little over 200 a month which looks good value to me, although they are a little bland
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Thanks for the feedback.
Apparently, the only proprietry Renault items are the sat nav and radio (and even the top spec has a Bose system) and I've seen the top spec with 33% discount and was thinking of a 3 year PCP, so leaving options open. It's that or lightly discounted Skoda Octavia Scout/4x4 but the Koleos is very well specced for the money and ticks all the boxes.
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In terms of Renault in general, we have a 2004 Grand Scenic diesel which has been a good, reliable car in the two years we've had it. A few minor issues, but we've had over 30k with no breakdowns and a total maintenance/repair spend, including all scheduled servicing and tyres, of about £700.
They are not as bad as their reputation suggests. The only real issue with ours is the odd interior creak at 64,000 miles, particularly in hot weather. Oh, and major services are extortionately expensive.
Edited by DP on 14/02/2009 at 18:05
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I'd be interested to know if you bought one and your experiences. I bought a 4x4 Privilege on 3yr PCH in March. Got over 30% from the dealer, plus a roof box thrown in. Dealer (Renault Leicester) has been excellent. It's only been back for a rattling sunroof, and I've taken it off road a fair bit to shake it about.
I've never bought French before - last car was an Audi A6 Avant, but the spec on this is superb and driving position excellent. I'm very happy.
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Just been updated - models reduced to 1 spec -
Did not sell well at all but with big discounts/keen leasing prices it might be worth a punt especially if it is a Company car and not real £££s
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Evans Halshaw are doing 2 ltr diesels with 10 miles on the clock for under £14K and that is before haggling!
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In the end I went and tried one and didn't like it at all. I went completely off route and bought a used Outback for me and for the other half a Forester. Very happy I did too.
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good man Mercian
i wonder what part of the sales team one post MotJuste works for
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Coincidentally I saw my first Koleos this morning. It was on the M25 near Heathrow. On the hard shoulder. Empty. Not for me to say if it was actually en panne, of course.
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I certainly do not work for Renault, just giving an honest opinion on something that I had purchased. They haven't sold well in France either, in fact I just took mine in for it's first service and had to go back a week later as being the very first one they'd serviced they didn't have an air filter for it.
Apart from a factory recall in March, to do with the seat heaters, I remain happy. It's good off road and also drives well on road. You can get a 4x4 with pretty decent MPG and now it seems at a really good price, if the 14k is still available. The only minor point that I would make to Renault is that it's a bit soft in the corners on road, but then as I have mentioned my other car is a Saab so perhaps I'm being picky.
And to repeat, I do not, and have never worked for any car manufacturer, let alone Renault.
As for seeing one on the side of the M25 - the replacement for the R25 in my last post was a company BMW 316i which suddenly stopped in the rush hour in Beaconsfield Bucks the day I collected it NEW and had to be transported back to Reading with metal filings blocking some part of the fuel system. It happens to the best of them.
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Renault came late to the party in the SUV market, and according to road tests the Koleos doesn't do anything special that other, better-established SUVs don't do. The Scenic has always sold better because it was (I think) the first of its kind.
So was the Espace - when we first had ours in 1988 there was very little else that would take four children, parents AND luggage - Renault's own Savanna estate beinbg one of them. Ours did 120,000 miles without trouble.
Renault had a quality problem between about 2000 and 2004 but I think new ones are a lot better - but they still don't hold their value well enough.
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My Renault Master van has, in the main, been good and I would have another tomorrow.
MD
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G'day (obligatory greeting from the other side of the planet),
I have just bought a Koleos 4WD diesel after a lot of research. It is a joint Renault Nissan development, with a bit of Aussie experience feeding the suspension, the rest was pretty much a case of who does what best: Nissan electrics, renault diesel, Nissan drivetrain, assembly in Korea with great quality control, etc etc. It just won the Best 4WD under $40k here, beating its twin, the Nissan X-Trail, and several others.
I have done only 8,000km (5,000 miles), so it's still early days, but so far so good. Very good in fact. It's a clear leader for fuel economy in its size class. Yes the Tiguan is a bit more miserly, but it's smaller. The X-Trail is a wee bit worse, but its boxy shape is probably to blame for that. Koleos is rated at 7.9 litres/100km combined city/highway cycle, but in fact we get 7.7, which is nice.
We have done a few short trips, and it handles everything we've thrown at it so far, including steep slippery stuff, rough pot-holey tarmac (most Australian roads fit this description - a bit 3rd world!), but so far only 100km of corrugated dirt, and importantly no dust came in the tailgate. Freeway and handling are fine for vehicle of this type - it's no Lotus, but so what.
We are planning a trip to the Kimberley - north-west of WA, very remote, rugged, with eye-watering corrugations caused by the road trains. I know - I've been there). We will be going diagonally across the continent (crack open Google earth to check it out): Sydney to Nyngan, then up to Bourke and across the Wanaaring Rd to Cameron's Corner at the top left corner of New South Wales. Then across the southern Simpson Desert to Chambers Pillar, up to Alice (missing Uluru), and NW up the Tanami Highway (!) for 1100km of man-eating corrugations, with only one fuel stop at the halfway mark, Rabbit Flat. Halls Creek is at the top of the Tanami, and the gateway to the Kimberley: Bungle Bungles, Gibb River Rd, Mitchell Falls, Cape Leveque, Broome - aahhh, it's worth the pain. The journey itself is so good.
I hope the Koleos agrees! I have done it before in an 1984 MQ Nissan Patrol, first in 1988, then again in 97. We'll see if the Koleos is made of the same stuff. It's much lighter - the Patrol carried a compact motorhome, but fully laden and tanked up weighed in at 3.4 tonnes. The Koleos will be about half that, so should be much easier on tyres etc. It will be interesting to see how many rattles it comes home with.
The point is - I will come home with many less rattles! Wilderness is such a regenerating place to be. Who cares about the vehicle!
Anyway - I like the Koleos, and can see nothing to worry about in it yet.
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G'day george. Fair go thats a hell of a good road trip. The olds that started the aussie branch of the family emigrated to work in the Kimberly.
You really must let us know how this trip goes. Keep a diary for us. Dont forget to pack the esky full of stubbies.
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I hardly see a Koleos on Perth road but I like the look of the car when we went to the only dealer here in WA. Would you be kind enough to update us on what happened to your trip up North? I'm keen to know how your Koleos handle the rugged terrain and heat of the Kimberley.
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I do hope the Koleos didnt let him down big time, and george is not now a pile of bleached bones or dingo food.
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Had a Laguna estate 1.9dci some 7 years ago. Put about 90k miles on it in 3 years. The only problems were niggling electrical faults and censors. My local dealer, Priory(now since gone) was dreadful and made the whole servicing and repair experience a real chore. However Benfield in Carlisle(100miles away) were always excellent and I used to go there whenever possible. Renault mechanicals etc are very sound. All you can do is poll a few locals about the Renault dealers performance or find a good one like I did. My neighbour has a Kaleos and is pleased so far and it looks good too. Best of luck. Concrete
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My Renault was great (as my post above says) until it hit 60,000 miles (96,000 km) when far too much of it started playing up. What annoyed me was not so much the faults, as the exorbitant cost of repairs due to either incompetent/thoughtless mechanical design or Renault's ridiculous policy of selling you a complete, expensive assembly when all you need is one small part.
Examples: 9hrs / £950 with the parts for a clutch change at a Renault specialist indie, £400 to fix an intermittent loss of PAS because Renault would only sell you a complete steering column instead of the individual components, CV joint gaiters unavailable - you need to replace the COMPLETE driveshaft etc etc, £200 (in fairness paid for by Renault UK) for a complete window regulator when all you really need to replace is plastic clip which would be about three quid even with a hefty markup, but which you can't buy individually.
Renault diesel engines are ace though. We had the later type (with issues fixed) 1.9 F9Q and it put even the 2.0 BMW diesel in my brother in law's E90 320d to shame for refinement. Super smooth, super quiet, gutsy and utterly, unfailingly reliable.
If Renault designed a car and put the diesel under the bonnet, but let someone else build it, it's probably a very nice car.
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