2001 Renault Thalia RT 1.4 16v
Summary:
Excellent budget family car, if you are willing to make sacrifices on reliability
Faults:
Trunk lock got stuck several times, due to improper plastic molding. Dealer could not fix it on several attempts, even with replacing a new lock. A little carving of plastic finally helped.
Rubber covering around the windshield installed incorrectly, it became loose in one of the corners, no leaking though, just looks ugly.
One of the keys' immobilizer chip got broken, had to request another key, that took ages to arrive. Dealer was totally incompetent, when programming the new key into the immobilizer system.
Alarm system locked my family out of the car for 2 hours in a shopping mall parking lot. Had to call Renault Assistance. I ordered a Renault alarm system, when bought the car, and during this incident it turned out, that it was one installed by the dealer.
Behaves a bit unstable on the motorway in light bends over speeds of 130 km/h. Feels like it wants to spin around its rear, especially on wet roads (changing tires doesn't help). This might be due to the large trunk, that shifted the car's balance to the rear.
Very poor warranty period of 1 year.
General Comments:
Basically this model is a Clio with a 510 liter (!) trunk. It was designed in Turkey (where most of the Clio's are assembled), especially for the Central and Eastern European markets.
The engine is very powerful, easily moves the car on the motorway, even with 4 persons, and a full trunk.
The (cherry red metallic) shine is hard, no sign of peeling at all.
Apart from the bonnet, the most of the front is made of plastic, which is a plus when parking and it's also rust-proof.
10 years Renault Assistance (owner needs to register servicing data every year).
Very good price/performance. Keeps its value on the second-hand car market.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 26th March, 2003
16th Apr 2004, 00:01
Hello from Zagreb, Croatia.I have a Renault Thalia. I am very satisfied. Engine is very good (1400 cc with 75ph consumption 9 liter petrol in city and 6,5 liter on way).Renault is first on Croatian market. I choose Thalia because need a family car with lot of place and big bagger room. For that money (10000$) we can't buy better car with famous brand (Renault)