The Baz family goes 100% French....

[Baz]

....Yes, the time has come to let the Rover go....Frances and I both love it (Frances especially, which surprises me somewhat!), but it's proving to be a little pricey to run....I can probably afford to fork out £40 a week in petrol for my wife to travel to and from work (£80 if we visit my family in Sudbury) but the fact remains that I just don't like doing it....It just seems unecessary, so Saturday, we chop the Rover in for:

 

 

Not this actual car obviously, but it looks identical....It's a 2005 (55)Megane 1.5 DCi 80 5-Door, in Platinum Silver with factory 17" Nervasport alloys....I looked at lots, and settled on this one as it has the spec I want, and is a credit to it's first owner - It is totally perfect - Apart from the number plate, it could be new!....Aside from the improvement in fuel consumption, we have the added bonus of £35 a year road tax....Plus, I've wanted one of these since they came out, so I'm quite excited!

 

So as of Saturday we'll have:

 

2005 Megane 1.5 DCi 80 Dynamique (for the missus)

1997 Clio 1.2 RT (slowly being demolished by my stepdaughter)

1985 Nine Broadway (about to be passed to my stepson)

1983 Eleven GTL 3-door (still giving great service as my daily)

1979 Twenty TS 5-Speed (Or not....He's gone very quiet! )

[pogweasel]

Ahh, the J-Lo rumpmobile!Super to look at, nasty to drive & live with was my experience. I had one on an "03" brand new from work for a bit. 1.6 petrol jobbie, in that silver colour. The key-card thingy was a ball-ache, was forever losing it, & they don't jangle like keys. The start button was a constant irritation because you have to do all that faffing with clutch & brake before it will turn on. The boot was ridiculously proportioned and useless for what was supposed to be a family sized car, and the blind spots!!! trying to parallel park it was impossibly hateful.Plus the 1.6 was oddly low-geared so that 80mph was about 5000rpm. Oh and the air-con gave me flu.On the upside, nice handling, & neat design features on the inside.

[ashmicro]

Truly Shite, in the very real sense. My sister has one of these bolloxes, and it's trouble with a capital T.Get used to seeing "Check Injection" on the instrument display.All that farting around you have to do with the clutch pedal before it starts is a pain in the hole, and the wiring to the clucth pedal position sensor frequently goes wrong, meaning the heap won't start.They eat headlight bulbs too - bulb holders vibrate and do for the filaments.I wish you the best of luck with it, but fear there may be trouble ahead.

[wuvvum]

I have to say I have mixed feelings about those too - as I do with most modern Renaults to be fair. The 1.5 DCi is bloody good on diesel though (although alas it doesn't cope too well with veg oil) and the 1.5 seems to be less troublesome than some of the other DCi engines. And bits will be easier to get hold of long term than for the Rover. Let's just hope that all those French electronics hold together...Regarding the R20, if I'm ever heading north-west on a collection mission (bound to happen at some point soon) and you fancy tagging along and knocking on his door to find out what's going on, you're more than welcome. This whole saga is starting to drag on a bit, isn't it?

[Mr Lobster]

That should be ok, wouldn't want a petrol one though! I've driven the 1.6 Megane CC and its dreadful, the other thing I don't like is the electric power steering, I found it a bit fidgetty and felt somewhat remote. Other than that though they are decent enough cars.My dad bought a Laguna 2.0 petrol, when he retired a couple of years back and despite doing a fairly heavy mileage has been 100% reliable. We have a fair number of Renaults on fleet at work and they are no better or worse than most other marques in terms of reliability.1.5 dCi Kangoo car would be my choice though!

[retrogeezer]

My mum had a 1.5dci Scenic, drove o.k but very very harsh suspension.

[Baz]

The key-card thingy was a ball-ache, was forever losing it, & they don't jangle like keys.

I must admit, I've been wondering how we'll get on with those....Particularly as Frances has a talent for losing anything and everything!

 

I've seen a product on E-bay which enables You to attach the card to Your keys....Maybe I'll try that!

 

I remember Pog, that You've mentioned before about Your disappointing Megane ownership experience, and was mindful of this during the test drive....I took it for quite a lengthy run (about 45mins, on all kinds of road, from City queues, to A47 dual-carriageway....And my impressions were as follows:

 

Putting aside the looks of the car (which I love....Especially in the colour/spec of mine), the car FEELS very well built....The only items that feel naff are the numerous knobs/buttons/levers for adjusting the seats and steering wheel - They feel like a pull in the wrong direction would snap them right off!

 

On the move, the car feels very quiet and refined....With only a 1.5 diesel, it's no ball of fire, but I'm not that kind of driver anymore anyway, so it'll be adequate for my needs! The ride isn't what I've come to expect from a French car (but then, neither was the Peugeot 407 I drove a while back), but I put that down to the demands of the modern driver....The 17" alloys with low profile tyres don't help matters there either....It's livable-with though! Handling though, is very good, I should imagine that once we're familiar with the car, it should be fun in the twisties!

 

Visibilty is an issue I have with the Rover....I don't feel that I can see out of it as well as I'd like, and in this respect I found the Megane better....Was Your Megane a 3-door Pog? I can imagine that having quite a blind spot, but encountered no problems in the 5-door.

 

Frances and I discussed the boot, and decided that (whilst slightly smaller than the Rover's) it's fine for our needs....If I need to move a wardrobe, I'll hire a van!

 

All in all, I'm happy with my choice....I'd probably have preferred a Peugeot 406 Coupe, but Frances isn't keen, and I'm sure that even a 2-litre wouldn't have been THAT much cheaper to run than the Rover!

[Baz]

Regarding the R20, if I'm ever heading north-west on a collection mission (bound to happen at some point soon) and you fancy tagging along and knocking on his door to find out what's going on, you're more than welcome. This whole saga is starting to drag on a bit, isn't it?

Yes....I suppose it is....I have transport though, so I don't lose TOO much sleep over it!

 

My wife, on the other hand, is nearly ready to rip his head off!

 

I suppose it could be fun to pay a surprise visit though, so if You're up that way sometime collecting tat, I could certainly give You a lift!

[Baz]

Truly Shite, in the very real sense. My sister has one of these bolloxes, and it's trouble with a capital T.

I'm sorry about Your sister's experience, but for every troublesome car, there are several good ones, and (and the risk of sounding selfish!) hopefully mine will be one of the latter!

 

I used to work in a Land Rover dealership, and saw HUNDREDS of Freelanders (1800s in particular) come through the workshops with numerous problems....It's very tempting to brand them as "Shite" but I know that for every pissed-off customer, there were a lot of happy ones!

 

Besides....I'm buying "Approved Used" from a dealer, so it comes with a good warranty!

[Volksy]

I had a Scenic DCi as a rental for a month or so last year, The keycard wasn't that much of a ball ache, as the car senses it in your wallet and opens up with a pull of the door handle, and even starts without getting it out of your pocket!I much prefered it to the Fucus C-max i got on the next trip, which was dire, with horrid plastics used throughout the interior giving it a cheap and nasty feel.

[mouseflakes]

Good on yer Baz. Wouldn't feel like a Renault if it didn't have at least one annoying 'feature'. Looks better than most moderns - shame it's not a Vel Satis though! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Baz]

shame it's not a Vel Satis though!

You have no idea how close I came to buying a Vel Satis....Lots of nice looking diesel jobbies out there for not much money, and the thought of how impressed You'd all be!

 

I have to admit....I even looked longingly at a couple of Avantimes, but that defeated the point of trading the Rover altogether!

 

In the end though, as this was a "long term" purchase, common sense had to prevail....The Megane is a much sounder prospect financially, and bearing in mind that my small, independant, Renault specialist in Great Yarmouth has never even SEEN a Vel Satis, I feel the Megane was the safer choice!

[r.welfare]

Fair dos Baz, you've got a car you like and it sounds like you have a trustworthy and competent independent garage to do fettling. Half the battle won.Never experienced one of these Meganes, although a former colleague had a Sport Wagon which seemed OK.It's not just French cars that have electrical problems these days in fairness...I'll stick with my luddite 405s as long as I can, having said that the starter motor in the estate has gone on strike, hmm guess that's this afternoon's job to investigate then. I bloody hate electrics.

[Betaphile]

I bloody hate electrics.

Amen to that...