Fabulous car, terrible Renault Service (Renault Megane in general)

Member Name: Codfish

Product:	Renault Megane in general
Date:	13/09/08 (580 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Equipment levels, Speed, Ride, Comfort

Disadvantages: Fuel Consumption, Renaults Customer Service

I bought my 2.0l megane dynamique (2004) in 2006 and still miss it now. There were plenty of good and bad things about the car but overall it gave me a very happy year of motoring.

Firstly the looks. They are not to everyones taste I agree but I liked them very much and it made a nice change on the roads from the run of the mill Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and VW Golf that everyone else seems to drive.

Inside, the car is very well designed. It feels an expensive car and is extremely comfortable on a long drive and the seat patterns were very stylish. The leather steering wheel and gear knob were soft to touch and made for a relaxed driving experience.

The handling itself wasn't bad but was not as good as a Ford Focus but it gripped very well and most people would not have any issue with this at all. It was very quiet even at fast motorway speeds and very relaxed and felt glued to the road even when faced with strong cross winds.

The engine was the 138bhp 2.0 16v unit and was a very quick engine in a smallish car. It would do 0-60 in under 9 seconds and i've been told was on you-tube doing 138mph as well although i've not seen this for myself. It was quite a lazy engine which was great for quick driving without reving the nuts off of it although it would rev highly if you asked it to. The big disapointment for me was the fuel consumption. Generally I got around 29mpg, well below the combined figure of 34mpg Renault quotes. The best I ever got was 33mpg in the year I had the car! This was the main reason I sold the car after a year!

The equipment the car came with was fantastic. It had alloy wheels, front fog lights, full electrics, alarm, aircon, auto lights and wipers, auto dipping rear view mirror, cdplayer, heated mirrors and disc brakes all round to name a few things. It also came with Renaults keycard instead of a key and starter button although once the novelty wears off I think you are much better off with a key!

Generally the car was extremely reliable. I never had a major problem with the car until just before I sold it when it developed a grinding noise from the brakes, which was still not fixed after 2 dealer visits and I was told it was just a charactoristic of the car! Strangely though it sounded like the wheels were going to come off and had only just started doing it at this time so I would dispute that strongly! Which brings me onto Renaults customer service and care.

My experience of them is unhelpful and they just don't seem to be bothered about any problems you have with them. I've heard horror stories of faults not being covered by warranties, my own experience of them not being able to sort out a relatively minor problem not to mention the stupidist thing of all. You can't change your headlamp bulbs without taking off either the bumper or a wheel, the second of which you will need mouses hands to get in there to get to the bulb which means you will have to pay renault around £60 to have a headlight bulb changed which is a scandle in my opinion. The customer service is fabulous when you want to buy but aftersales is dire!

Overall, I loved this car but a combination of the fuel consumption and the typically renault customer service would make me think a lot harder about buying a renault again!

Summary: Great car if you can cope with the dealers

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