2005 Renault Megane Dynamique 3dr 1.9dci from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Not as cheap to run as it should be
Faults:
Nothing has gone wrong yet (touch wood!), but reading the other reviews it sounds like there are good cars and bad ones. Hopefully mine is the former!
General Comments:
Generally happy with the car, haven't had any problems.
The performance is good for a diesel, no complaints there. If I stick to 70ish then I get just over 50mpg. Keeping up with the traffic doing 80-85 the fuel consumption drops to around 47mpg which isn't too bad.
Handling is miles better than my old Volvo S60, although that's probably down to the Volvo being terrible as much as anything. Cornering is fairly neat, understeering if you overdo things. I do worry that the brakes might not be up to the job, fading quite quickly under moderate braking. Maybe some different pads will resolve that.
The seat would be better for long journeys if it had a bit more support and adjustment. The stereo sound quality is a bit lacking as well.
The headlights are also a bit of a let down. I was going to upgrade the bulbs, but have read reports of the headlight lenses melting when other people have done this! There is also the issue of changing the bulbs, which requires removal of the front bumper unless you're a gynaecologist.
I was also shocked to find that the service intervals are every 9k miles, and most dealers charge around 250-300 pounds a go!!!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 30th October, 2006
19th Aug 2007, 14:10
Original Poster here with an update:
Well, after 42k miles I thought I had a (rare) good'un. Unfortunately the other day whilst driving down the M4 there was a terrible stink of diesel every time I slowed down.
Turns out that the high pressure feed line from the fuel pump to the injectors had a fracture and was peeing diesel everywhere. This part has an advisory recommending an updated bracket and bolt. It would have been a five minute fix to replace, but nowhere had the part in stock and it had to be ordered from France. Luckily the Renault Assist service from the AA was able to organise a hire car for the 3 days it took to sort out.
I was a bit disappointed that a part which has an obvious design fault (hence the advisory) had to be ordered from France. Oh, and the car now stinks of diesel, but hopefully this will go away.
1st Nov 2006, 06:06
You don't need to remove the bumper, although it is quite tricky to replace the bulbs. Details on Meganeownersclub.co.uk.