Espace MkIV mini-review.

[Pete-M]

Because, well, I've ended up fixing the bloody thing.

 

Poor old thing appears to have had an insane amount of 'repair by substitution and guesswork" by a garage that I'm not gonna name. A reconditioned engine followed by three or four replacement oil pumps!, a new set of injectors which were then replaced by the originals again and a load of other bits. To cure it smoking a bit occasionally and being slightly less economical than it was when it was new..

 

What was actually wrong with it? A dicky glow plug by the look of things. Oh, and a metric f**kload of codes in various ECUs that hadn't been interrogated or cleared for a long time by the look of it. The basic OBD codes had been cleared, but the stuff that makes it actually work properly was full of old codes. Nothing other than the glow plug code has returned so I'll check 'em at the weekend and do whatever needs doing.

 

I actually quite like it. It's a bit strange to drive as there aren't any buttons on the dashboard and everything is on the digi display thing, the dash is insanely huge and full of random glovebox spaces. I've found five big gloveboxes so far. Aircon controls on all the doors is a novel idea. Hazard light switch is on the roof. Panoramic roof is good fun, that has to be the daftest roof blind I've ever seen combined with probably the biggest sunroof panel.

 

To drive? Quite amusing really. Handles well for a huge people carrier barge, leans a bit but hangs on gamely for a fat one. Steering is pretty good, brakes are typical Renault over servoed jobs, gear change is pants. Ride quality isn't brilliant below about 30 mph but it sorts itself out well above that. It's quiet once that engine warms through. Digi speedo mounted somewhere near the Ukraine on the far side of Glovebox Sector 3 is a bloody liability - I don't know if it's the high seat and decent ride above 30 mph but I've found myself doing more mphs than I thought a few times in it. The tiny comedy lcd rev counter is pointless, miles away and quite probably unsafe to actually read whilst driving. Not having a proper speedo needle isn't a problem when the dash is in the normal position, but it's about three feet away, stranded in the middle of the dash miles from anywhere you'd glance normally when driving, ffs.

 

It's got the bloody key card. I've been told that's a UK market only thing imposed by the insurance companies. Rest of the world it's properly keyless in a keep it in your wallet stylee. I wonder how hard it'd be to re-instate that feature?

 

Xenon headlights are unfeasibly good.

 

Would I risk it as something to blurt about in for a year just to see what happens? Possibly, but only because I know how much of it is new.... the only thing putting me off it is the 2.2 dCi grenade, but then again it managed 90k before it blew up last time.

[panhard65]

Oh dear I looked at an espace 4 for my girlfriend when her galaxy died. I am a big fan of renaults but these are awful. They are also very small inside for a 7 seater. The 807 peugeot we picked up in the end was a much much better car. Just about every one you will find shows the glow plug code usually the extra plugs in the coolant housing to get the heater hot quicker and unlikely to be the fault. One possibility is if it had the engine work done due to a turbo failure there is a chance it has bent the con rods which will make it smoke and use more fuel.

[garycox]

Interesting - thanks Pete.

 

I quite like the look of these, I think the interior and exterior are pretty smart for a people carrier thing. Still think I'd opt for a Galaxy though as I'd constantly be expecting the Renault to go spectacularly wrong.

[Pete-M]

More fiddling today. Problem seems to be the air flow meter. Gave it a blast of the magic spray and all of a sudden the MPG improved from 27ish to 35ish...

 

So, it looks like it'll be getting replaced on Monday.