Faults:

Interior light poorly fitted.

Rear roof lining falling down.

Strange gear selections from automatic gear box including not changing into 5th on the odd occasion and heavy down shifts.

Cruise control automatically disengaging.

Temperature gauge reading too low.

General Comments:

The car is full of features, most not gimmicky, but of genuine use.

The car returns good fuel consumption figures for a 210 brake horse power 3 litre V6, I've had 40 to the gallon at 70 miles per hour.

The car has started to disapoint with the catalogue of niggling faults.

Dealer can't fault the gearbox or the cruise control and says that operation is normal.

My 1994 Toyota Camry 3.0 V6 had a much smoother gearbox and gear changes were nearly un-noticed, maybe I am expecting too much of the lower class Laguna II, but not always changing into 5th is definitely a fault.

I have noticed that trim is not covered in the year 2 and 3 warranty so my roof lining problems will soon not be the problem of Renault UK it seems.

It's a shame that the faults are changing my opinion of the car because it looks good and is well designed.

It does seem that all the reports of a better put together Laguna II from the model it replaces may not be justified.

Faults:

November 2002 (5 months old) Fuel injection computer causing various problems such as revving into the red line with no depression on the accelerator, lack of power when trying to accelerate and juddering during normal running. Reprogrammed twice with no resolution to the problem. Off the road with this problem for 10 days in total.

March 2003 (9 months old) Climate control heater matrix leaking fluid all inside the car. AA recovered to Renault main dealer where it remained for 4 weeks as they were to busy to repair it.

April 2003 (10 months old) CD player started skipping and missing, I asked for this to be resolved during 36,000 miles service. The dealer claimed there was no fault found and so nothing was done. Unit continues to play up.

August 2003 (14 months old) Finally prove to the main dealer that the CD player is faulty, it has now been removed and sent away for repair not replaced. The car was fitted with an old unit with only the radio working as a courtesy to me!! At the same time they are far to busy to replace the faulty front offside pressure sensor that the car now has. The dealer has said they will resolve this when the CD unit is returned.

Among all these problems, getting the car serviced has required a minimum of 4 weeks advance booking to get a service without a courtesy car, and at least 6 weeks notice if a courtesy car was required. Not helpful if your work comes up on a daily basis and you have to cancel the service at short notice.

General Comments:

What a shame, this is a very comfortable car that is a pleasure to drive when it's working.

Unfortunately it's let down by the support from the main dealer, and their total lack of provision to deal with spur of the moment emergencies, or any minor task that should take no more than 10 minutes to resolve. Such as pressure sensors that only the main dealer can rectify.

The other disappointment of course is the general reliability of the car, especially after 3 years of complete trouble free motoring in the old model of Laguna, such a shame as this is another customer lost.

Faults:

4,000 miles, loud rattle, caused by loose exhaust bracket. Time off the road 1 day.

31,000 miles, gears crunching, new gearbox fitted. Time off the road 27 days.

42,000 miles, clutch slipping, new clutch fitted (following 3 visits to the garage. Time off the road 3 days;

52,000 miles, brakes grating, new pads fitted. Time off the road 1 day.

55,000 miles, loss of engine power, engine only reaching 2,000 revs max. Time off the road 6 days so far (not fixed yet!!!) The courtesy car developed the same problem today.

Days off the road does not include the scheduled service intervals at 18, 36 and 54,000 miles.

General Comments:

Would I have one again - no chance.

If my car is anything to go by, Laguna II's are unreliable piles of junk and the renault dealers are a total waste of space.

Sadly I have got to keep it another 18 months so I expect many more problems yet.

This is a great shame, as it's a great car to drive when it works.