Faults:

Lot of things.

First, I had some minor issues with the car, like the driver's window stopped working. It couldn't be pushed up or down, so I took it to the service place and they found out that the metal window holder just broke. After I got that fixed up, I had some minor issues with the electronics, like the windshield wipers stopped working etc.

Until one time, the car suddenly just shut down in the middle of driving. It was winter and raining, probably the electronics got somehow messed up. Fortunately, I could start the car shortly after that and parked the car somewhere safely, but I wasn't confident to drive it.

A car electrician changed few parts from the car electronics (something connected with the alternator) and the car was fixed.

Next winter, the car couldn't be started one time, but fortunately only the battery was dead, so I bought a new one.

After couple of weeks the car stopped again in the middle of driving. It was again some problem with electronics, somewhere in between the battery and the lock a short circuit appeared and burned a lot of parts in between. I had to change the complete lock which was a bit expensive.

Later, the sensor lamps on the display were sometimes showing false alarms like the baby security lamp (which was disabled by the lock, but still showing like it's not available).

The signal lights suddenly stopped working for few kilometers and then they started working again. When I went to my electrician, they were working, then the next day they were behaving the same. After 20 days of spinning around like that, the signal lights started to work normally? I never figured out what the problem was.

The clutch was very hard to press, so after I went to the mechanic he told me that it should be changed permanently, which he did. He also said that something was wrong with the gear shift, so he repaired that as well. The left spring was changed as well.

Oil started to leak somewhere on the left side of the engine, but never found out where, because I sold the car in the meantime.

General Comments:

The consumption is small, because it is a small car, but it is also powerless when driving up a hill (especially when the air conditioning is on).

It is a good city car, because it is small and easy to park. It's good for 1-2 people, but not for more. The space in the back is very small, so it's good to drive with more people only for short distances.

The seats in the front are comfortable, and it's easy to drive.

The car is generally cheap to service, but a lot of things went wrong in the 3 years that I owned it, so the running costs were generally high.

Faults:

Less than 1 month after purchase - started to have an issue where a warning light would come on and there was a lack of power. They checked for idle fault, connected diagnostic clip and scanned for faults, pedal potentiometer circuit clean connection and road test - $151.88NZD.

3 years after purchase - radiator started leaking profusely. I was able to drive the car around for another day or two by checking the water and topping it up each time before driving it. The radiator was replaced with a used one, which was refurbed and pressure tested. $585.72NZD.

Eventually it struggled to start on cold mornings.

General Comments:

As soon as I got this car, I had the wheel alignment done, engine oil & filter etc as I wanted to really look after it.

The car was a massive amount of fun to drive. Small, light and powerful, you could take on anyone and best them almost every time. Even Turbo Subaru Impreza WRX's could not best me on the race up the motorway on ramp.

Petrol consumption is very impressive. On a holiday to Rotorua (300km or so) I averaged 5.9L/100km. Around town and in traffic, day-to-day driving I was averaging 7.2L/100km. Downhill in fifth gear the car's computer's readout would often output 0.0L/100km - it uses no petrol on the engine overrun!

Parking was always easy due to the small size. It could carry a generous amount of cargo. 3-point turns are a pain in the bottom though, and I am unsure if I was ever able to perform a U-turn on anything smaller than a 4-lane road.

The stereo was good, the seats were very comfortable and the side supports in the seats were great. I didn't think it was noisy in the cabin at all, my Nissan Bluebird 1994 is much noisier inside. The climate control works well, and the Renault's cabin is a nice place to be. There is no centre console for storing things, and there aren't many cubbyholes inside the car.

In my opinion, this car was not the most reliable, and every time it did stuff up or hiccup, it was costly - especially compared to Japanese cars. When it was working perfectly, it was the greatest car I've ever owned by miles.

I would buy another one in the future when I felt I had the time, money and resource to properly manage such a car. For a 'normal' person like this, this would be like a second car. It is not sufficiently bulletproof to be a household's only car.