Faults:

The tyre sensors showing pressure fault every time road conditions were wet. Sensor housing was found to be cracked. Also had 2 sensors fail completely.

Rear brake disks and pads had to be replaced at 13000 miles. The problem was only noticed when I had to replace all four tyre and the garage fitting them noticed very bad corrosion on the disk surface.

The car went in for its 18000 mile service and I reported to the dealer that the air conditioning was not working.

When I went to collect the car they said that they had topped up the gas in the air conditioning system. The next day was very warm so I switched on the air conditioning and was blasted by warm air! I contacted the dealer and they booked the car in some days later. After another inspection they said that all the gas had gone and that there must be a leak. They needed a dye to pass through the system to highlight the area of the leak.

The car was booked in again a week later. The dealership then phoned me to say that the dye had shown that there was damage to the condenser unit at the front of the radiator. They said that it had been hit by a stone or similar object and that because it was damage it would not be covered by the warranty. They estimated that the total cost to repair the system would be £700.

Unhappy with the result I contacted Renault customer services and explained the problem. They took my details and were pretty unhelpful. I was told that a decision would be made by a manager later in the day. I asked to speak with the manager, but was told that I could not.

The following day I received a call from the dealership saying that a decision had been made not to repair the system under warranty. I was also told that if I got the unit repaired no modifications would be done to stop objects hitting the condenser again. So I could drive 500 yards and get another stone in the condenser and would have to pay for the repair again!

General Comments:

I have owned several Renault cars, which I have been very happy to drive.

The Laguna looks a stunning car with lots of advanced features with have been poorly implemented. If a simple piece of mesh could stop a very expensive repair it makes you wonder what other poor design features are going to come to light as the cars become older.

Faults:

I have "pot holed" the car on three occasions. One incident was at high speed. The other two were at urban speed.

The first occasion, at high speed distorted/effectively destroyed the near side front wheel.

The second time caused suspension damage as did the third.

Getting dealers to deal with wheel problems is a nightmare. Most do not have wheel machines of a sufficient size to deal with replacing tyres. You end up buying the wheel, taking the wheel to a tyre place to fit the tyre and the wheel. Most non renault places then fit the wrong sort of valve.

The sat nav system was non functioning on purchase.

The power steering has failed.

The spring to the fuel cap flap has gone.

Trim has started to fall to pieces.

The safety sensors repeatedly detect problems with the airbags seemingly randomly.

General Comments:

The car is reasonably fast, when it is working.

It is comfortable and well equipped.

It is a good car to own if you like driving courtesy cars instead.