Gorgeous (Renault 5)

Member Name: LouisaNott

Product:	Renault 5
Date:	09/06/01 (316 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good looking, nice to drive, cheap to run and insure

Disadvantages: Can have rust problems, "expensive parts"

I love my Renault 5, it's simply great. It looks cute and friendly, drives well, is cheap to run and insure, and will go on for ever.

I bought my 5 in the summer of 1999. It's caused me no major problems really, I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap way of motoring.

For starters, the fuel consumption is great. I've got a 1.1 campus, and she does about 40-50 mpg, which I can't complain about. Drive-wise, french cars tend to have soft suspension, giving you that "sailing in a boat" sensation. I love it, but some people don't, and the Renault 5 is one of the softest cars I've driven, you've been warned! It's like driving a go-kart at times, and going into corners at even quite slow speeds can be great fun, which is what I like about it. They don't make them like that these days. Visibility is fantastic, you sit very high in the car, and stearing is surprisingly light for no power assisted stearing (I'm comparing to the Peugeot 205 which is really hard work in multistorey car parks!). It's great on the motorway, easily getting to 90-100 (naughty me), and is fine around town, of course. Needless to say the turning circle is great. One thing I would say is that accelleration isn't too hot, but for me that's fantastic, because the insurance is relatively cheap (about 350 quid a year fully comp for a 19 year old female isn't too bad!).

Look around you when you're next out and about. There are loads of Renault 5s out there. If they are looked after well, they live for many miles, although rust is a common problem with these little beauties, especially on the sills under the doors. On thing to add here is that my battery died last winter, which was a bit of a pain. When I changed it I realised it was the original, which was 11 years old! Not too bad really.

Looking inside the car, the interior is actually quite funky and forward looking with lots of little cu
bby holes in which to bung tapes and general "stuff". My 5 was made 12 years ago in 1989, and the styling is very modern thinking about it. I like it becaue it's fairly simple and sparse, and the buttons for the rear washers and heaters etc are cool. It's very "square", the indicators and wiper levers are square, and so is the gear knob, which I love as it's sort of sporty and chunky, again, forward looking again from Renault. I've been told that the ride in the back is comfortable. A couple of little touches which I find interesting are the fact that the rear wiper only works on intermittent (which is all you really need), and if you leave the windscreen wipers on when you turn off the ignition, and then cancel the lever after it's all switched off, the wiper blades return to horizontal. I think that's cool.

I'm impressed with the load space too. I can easily get a suitcase, television, hifi, full desktop pc, 4 large boxes of books and loads of other things in there to get to University. Again, comparing to the 205, the load space is deeper (as the spare wheel is underneath the car rather than in the boot), and so the space available is probably more useful as a result. The car drives absolutely fine when fully loaded.

Parts-wise, I've been told that there can be difficulties in getting some parts from Renault, although I've never experienced this as I've never really needed any, which is good! I've also been told that parts are expensive, but again, there are ways and means of not spending too much, and I haven't had to.

As for security, another thing that Renault have done which is good is to have a separate ignition key from the door keys. Seems silly, but from a security point of view, it's a good idea.

All in all, it's a lovely, tight little car, and I love them.

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