I agree, I Loved my renault Laguna, it was almost perfect it drove well, and it looked great - the only thing was silly things would go wrong with it,
sometimes Dangerous, at one point i would press the brake pedal, and brake fluid would come squirting out of the back brake drums
and for that reason it has really put me off buying another but of renault could prove that quality issues where a thing of past i would be buying another.
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years ago my uncle had a Renault 20, and myself a R5 TS, shortly followed by a Gordini. We both loved the cars when they were going, and forgave them a lot. Sadly, too many quality issues put us off Renaults, but that was years ago, and doubtless things have improved. Nevertheless, i would never consider another...totally irrational I know.
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Datsuns used to rot even quicker than Fords in the 70's yet it never put people off buying Nissans. So yes it is silly.
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redviper - one evening I turned the ignition key in the 19 and all the dashboard lights came on intermittently. Then water started to spray out of the air vents. Could have been a blocked drainage hole. I waited five minutes, tried again, and all was well. From then on I was anticipating a cataclysmic failure. I sold it on before that happened...
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I always get the feeling after owning my Megane that it could have been such a good car to own. Sort out the ropey build quality and give the Renault dealers a good kick up the back alley and I might have learned to like my Renault
Alas, I wouldn't buy another one based on my experiences so matter how glossy the adverts are.
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Bristol01 - thats very odd, but I agree sometimes the electrics would fix them selves.
The heated in mirror on the passanger side stopped working, the one on the drivers side still worked i would not have minded if it was the other way round, but one day after 12 months or so of it been like that it fixed itself ????
Then when you selected sidelights on the stalk the car would just default to dipped anyway, selcting dipped worked as nomal - this again "repaired its self" after a period of weeks/months.
But then i constatly drove around thinking what else was going to go wrong until i had endless trouble with the ABS system, i gave the car up when I was told the whole system needed re-wiring.
Still dispite that they where excellent cars, light roomy entriors, armchairs for seats loads of room lovely soft supsension that smoothed out the roads!
To Renault: they would have been excellent cars, if you built them properly! -
Edited by redviper on 11/03/2009 at 15:07
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Hi,
I recently traded a mk1 Laguna in for a supposedly "bulletproof" Toyota Avensis.I do miss it,its like driving round in your settee!...very quiet,comfortable and went very well for an 1800.It did have quite a few mechanical repairs whilst I had it including a gearbox repair which wasn,t completely succesfull.
As for the Avensis,uuuum,not impressed so far!
Its currently back at the supplying garage having a serious fault fixed despite having only done 14,000mls.
Cheers,Phil.
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Our Renault was an excellent car in many ways (diesel engine performance, economy and refinement, good gearbox, brakes, seats, safety, practicality) but ruined by poor build quality (poor panel alignment, rattles, creaks, squeaks, buzzes) and problematic electrics. At three years old it was really feeling second-hand. A Volvo we had with about five times the mileage felt like new in comparison.
We are looking at the New Megane at the moment for the missus so it will be interesting to see whether things have improved. The initial build quality is light years ahead but as for reliability we shall have to see...
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Thanks all. If Renault designed a car, let BMW do the component supplier quality control, and shipped the bits off to the Japanese for assembly, it would be a world beater.
Going to look at a Golf on Saturday morning - a mint looking (from the pics) 52 plate GT TDI PD 130 5dr in Reflex Silver, 85k, FSH, Climatronic and electric sunroof, up for £4200 ono. Parkers suggests 'retail good' is £4150 at 70,000 miles, so it should be an easy haggle to get it for a fair price if it's any good. I know it's older than the Scenic, but I bet it feels tighter, based on the 130k example we're using now.
Seller seems genuine enough and the history sounds good, so we'll go take a look. Good thing is, I've driven enough of these now to know what they should go and feel like.
As a tongue-in-cheek point, don't new Golf buyers have any imagination re colour? 90% of them are in blinking silver! Nothing wrong with silver of course, but it's a bit samey. Found a couple of black ones, the odd blue one, a very cheap looking one (53 plate. 55k @ £3900) which turned out to be a hideous metallic beige colour (think metal flake embedded in hearing aid plastic!) ;-)
Will let you know how it goes.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 12/03/2009 at 12:57
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New owners picked up the Scenic this afternoon. She's gone for good.
I know we did the right thing, but I feel kind of sad. I can already see the rose tints creeping in, where I'll forget the problems or play them down. Whatever, putting build quality and reliability to one side, it was a lovely car in pretty much every other respect.
But of course in the real world, repair expenses and faults can't be put to one side.
Going to see the Golf at 9:00 tomorrow morning.
Edited by DP on 14/03/2009 at 00:17
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You had some bad luck with the vandal damage and breakdown, but have done well to move the Scenic on.
It looked like a good, honest car which the buyers maybe picked up on.
Not sure about buying an older Golf with more miles.
So if I may exercise my backroom licence to interfere, how about a Kia Ceed?
More room - I think - and 2008 petrols from a Kia dealer are under £7k and would still have nearly six years warranty.
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I'll second IIH here, if i bought normal cars the Ceed would be on my driveway now.
I go to many PDI/refurb centres and in conversations with chaps doing the biz as against selling, Korean cars are spoken about in admiring terms re quality and reliability, similar to how Japanese cars/bikes were when they wiped the floor with nearly everything else years ago.
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Hi all,
Sorry, I was out the door at 8:30 this morning and the upshot is we bought the Golf. Nice, straight, genuine car from a nice, straight, genuine seller. Some marks and minor scratches, but generally in lovely condition. Drives nicely too, plus its had its cambelt, plus a recent alternator pulley and front discs and pads. Doesn't need anything doing to it, and not found anything else prodding and poking (and driving) this afternoon.
It's a 2003 model year, so comes with the Climatronic, ESP and the more heavily bolstered seats which are supremely comfy. After the Renault, the ride is rubbish, and the engine gruff, but the performance and grunt from little more than tickover is absolutely spectacular. It also feels very taut and squeak free.
I'm giving it a proper shakedown tomorrow taking it up to the folks in Oxford, but first impressions are very positive. Will post a proper review when we've put some miles on it. I'm also keen for our friendly VW tech to get it up on the ramps and pull it to bits in his own inimitable way.
Thanks all!
DP
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