1st Feb 2011, 04:33
WARNING!
I bought 04 Grand Scenic 10 months ago. And since then I have done is spend, spend, spend... from window regulator, steering wheel lock sensors, wipers and now injection fault.
I agree with the previous comment. If you are lucky enough to read this comment, please do not buy Renault. Unless you have time and money to spend.
25th Mar 2011, 17:44
I've had my 2.0 ltr automatic from new. Only had a window drop once, which rectified itself, but with no other problems until now.
Car has 54k on it, and I'm being told that the power steering is kaput, and will cost £1400 just for the pump/steering column.
Just read above, that in Jan it cost someone £1200 - is this inflation or what?
Does anyone know just what it is that has gone wrong?
11th Apr 2011, 07:08
I purchased a 06 Grand Scenic 1.5DCI in May 2010, it had 100K on the clock but I was not too concerned about this as it had a full service history.
It ran without fault until November 2010, when it left me stranded at a motorway junction due to clutch failure. I had to have the clutch, clutch hydraulics, and flywheel replaced at a cost of £1500.
The car then ran OK for about a month and then a week before Christmas the engine died due to a faulty oil pump. I had to have a new engine fitted at a further cost of £3500.
So that’s £5000 paid out in repairs in 7 months, that’s the same as I paid for the car in the first place. So do not buy a second hand one, even if it has a full service history.
24th Apr 2011, 04:33
I've got this car as well. Don't buy one, you will be sorry with the bill you will get from the garage.
28th Apr 2011, 11:06
I have an 05 1.9 dCi Scenic that we bought in March last year. I loved it, it is the nicest car I have ever driven.
We then had a recall notice for the electronic parking brake that was replaced by Renault, then 4 months ago with only 62000 on the clock, there was smoke pouring from the exhaust, so my other half pulled over and stopped immediately. The AA said it sounded like fuel contamination (he'd just filled up), so drained the tank (£40!!!) then proceeded to put diesel back in. This had no effect, so he diagnosed turbo failure and towed him home. The next day it was towed to the garage we had bought it from, to be told the turbo had indeed gone, but we were 600 miles over our warranty period so the car was towed home again (£90!!) where it has sat for 4 months whilst we saved the £1000 bill to repair it. The car was then towed to a 2nd garage (£40!!!)
It was running fine on Tuesday after the turbo was replaced, but when the garage started it on Wednesday, ready for us picking it up, it started to over rev again, so was stalled immediately! The engine has been back in bits and rebuilt again, but now it refuses to start!
Unless you're a rich mechanic, then run the other way from these cars!!
15th Jan 2011, 09:56
During its 3 yr warranty, our 54 reg Grand Scenic 1.9dCi was a good car. We had to get a guide replaced to cure wind noise from the panoramic sunroof, and the tyre pressure monitors became such a pain in the backside that we had the Renault dealer disable them. Otherwise, aside from a few interior rattles, it performed solidly.
The problems started a fortnight after the warranty ran out at 3yrs / 56,000 miles, and continued for 11 months until we admitted defeat and sold it on, not prepared to see our already depleted savings being wiped out completely by this basket case of a car. Within 11 months of the warranty expiring:
The passenger window dropped into the door and wouldn't come up again. Caused by a failed plastic clip in the window mechanism. In fairness, Renault UK paid up, but I had to argue the case, and be told umpteen times "this is an unusual failure that we've never heard of". When I told the customer services guy to put 'Renault electric window fault' into Google, and tell me with any degree of seriousness that none of the 2 million hits found had ever been reported to him, he went very quiet.
The power steering started intermittently cutting out, then failed completely a few weeks later with "STEERING FAULT" on the dash. This required replacement of the complete steering column at £1250, as the power steering motor (the actual cause of the fault) isn't available as a separate part.
The car went into limp mode with "CHECK INJECTION" on the dash. We limped it to the dealer who quickly diagnosed a split wastegate pipe. £100 inc the diagnosis and fitting.
Dash display kept beeping with a STOP message, before flickering and going out. New instrument panel required at £500. I note this has since been featured on Watchdog, and Renault will now fix this for £100!
"CHECK INJECTION" up again on the dash, although the car seemed to perform OK. A bit of Googling suggested glowplugs. Bought a set of decent (Beru) plugs for £50 and fitted them myself (easy job) which cured it. This would have been another £150 or so if I'd paid the dealer to do it.
Both rear sunblinds broke within a week of each other and became useless.
The final straw - sudden and catastrophic failure of the clutch slave cylinder, leaving us all at the side of a busy dual carriageway, and a £1,000 bill for a new clutch assembly (9 hours labour due to incompetent mechanical design) the following day. This was at an independent Renault specialist. The dealer wanted £1250!
At that point, I decided I wanted nothing more to do with the heap, and sold it on while everything was working correctly. Also noticed around this time (on a less than 4yr old car with 63,000 miles on it) that the front seatbelts had worn big threadbare patches in the B pillar trim, and the silver coating was flaking off the gearknob.
This car cost us £2900 in repairs in 11 months. I could have kept a Ferrari on the road for less. There is something intensely frustrating about the way Renault, and their dealers, don't even blink about handing out four figure bills, like it's part and parcel of car ownership. The costs associated with running an out of warranty Renault are a disgrace by any standards, and Renault need to understand that families just don't have that sort of cash to throw at a car just to keep it working properly. If you buy almost any other make, it simply doesn't happen.
Despite all these faults it was a nice car. Ticked every family car box that you could reasonably expect, and was one of the most comfortable long distance cruisers I've ever owned. But it got to a point where we were just waiting for the next fault and its resulting bill, and neither of us felt comfortable driving it any more. Plus, if it's costing 3k a year to run at 4 yrs old, what's it going to be like with two more years and another 30k on the clock? It doesn't bear thinking about.
Renault need to take a very long, hard look at the way they design and build their cars, and also the cost of repairs, which just bear no resemblance to either reality, or the market segment of the car. Nearly three grand's worth of upkeep costs in 11 months are in supercar territory, not family runabout costs.