Faults:

Dash bulbs.

Exhaust section (leak).

Replaced all headlight and front bulbs.

Slightly tired leather drivers seat and center console (easily solved).

General Comments:

Considering the car is 15 years old, it's in good condition, drives well and hasn't let me down (except as a result of my own absent mindedness). Very comfortable, although more designed to be a motorway cruiser than a 'potter around' car. The car is surprisingly quick, even in the automatic version (sport mode has its uses).

Safranes are rare cars and well worth the finding. They're comfortable par excellence, and because they're so little known, they are cheap to buy. However, they aren't the cheapest to run, and pattern parts are definitely your friend. For example - a middle silencer and exhaust section from Renault is £140 - a pattern part can be had for less than £40 delivered. A external temperature sensor is £50 alone!

The car has a voice synthesizer warning system for general warnings such as doors/boot/bonnet - oil pressure/level/temperature - fuel level and engine temperature.

It's also worth finding out what parts are shared with other more common Renault cars, since these parts will be available in scrapyards.

It's best to go for a manual car, automatics have a bit of a reputation.. and the 2.2 and 2.5 engines give the best balance of power and economy... most powerful is the 170hp 3.0 litre.

My family have had four of these cars now, and for £525 for a 2.2i 12v executive car with electric everything, and less than 100,000 on the clock, is a good price.

All things considered, if you need a large comfortable family car for a reasonable price - then the Safrane is most definitely worth a look.

Faults:

Previous owner told me the head gasket cracked a few weeks before I bought it (at about 100,000 miles), he had a new engine fitted for £1000.

Driver's sidelight bulb went, which I can't get to to change.

Reverse lights and rear wiper cease functioning occasionally.

Locks occasionally get stuck, usually in the unlock position, a bit of WD40 works with these.

Indicator sticks when signaling left, requires a light tap to turn it off.

Automatic Gearbox locks itself into safety mode whenever the engine is started from cold, a restart after a couple of minutes driving resolve this.

When not in safety mode, the downward gear changes are somewhat jerky, particularly with dropping from 4th to 3rd.

When the engine's cold, the accelerator must be constantly pressed to keep the revs up and prevent the car from stalling. Problem stops after the engine warms.

Air conditioning faulty, occasionally displays 'service', but works most of the time.

Bonnet release mechanism faulting, requires 2 people to open the bonnet, one to push down on the bonnet, one to pull the lever under the steering wheel.

Handbrake needed repairing at 110,000 miles.

General Comments:

There are a fair few faults in my car, but the majority of these are minor inconveniences.

The car is great to drive, the steering is really light, to the extent that it's possible the steer using a single finger.

The car is fairly fast in comparison to other automatics, however, being an automatic, it's not gonna win many races against manuals of similar engine size.

I get a fairly reasonable 23 miles per gallon, according to the display on the dashboard, which also tells me approximately how many miles the petrol I have in the tank will last, by comparing my average petrol usage, with the amount of petrol in the tank, which I find to be very useful.

The car's very comfortable to drive, the Ride's very smooth.

Parts for the car seem particularly hard to come by, given the rarity of it, at least in the UK. All the parts and service I get usually have to come straight from Renault, who charge a lot, to find out what's wrong with my gearbox is gonna cost me £119, compared to the £40 other garages charge.

In terms of security, I've never seen anything like it, I left my car, and keys, with a garage while they tried to find the problem with the gearbox, and they couldn't start the car without my help, they kept tripping the steering lock and the immobilizer. The immobilizer kicks in whenever the doors are left unlocked for a while, or if the doors are unlocked without using the remote central locking.