Dull post about Renaults

I've heard the same from a family friend, who also said the depreciation was really bad and that he'd never buy another.

What's your price range? Maybe someone can recommend something.

Meh, thank you. Between 3-5k is budget - absolutely can't go over £5000. What we need is three full sized seats across the back, so can fit toddler seat, baby seat and an adult.

Not a scenic, but i've just bought a new Clio which is great. I bought it after reading loads of reviews - I found that I got a lot more extras (a/c, automatic headlights) than I would with most other super minis. I also know that Clios have a good selling rating.

We love our Renault Scenic. Has broken down once and that was toddler interferance rather than anything mechanically wrong (she managed to turn the back seat light on and the battery drained). It is huge and easily takes all our crap (currently has a stairgate, a handysitt, 1 bag of photographic lights, 1 bag of background supports, 2 huge throws [backgrounds], tripod, reflector and the pushchair... and that is just in the boot!).

Look at the user reviews on Parkers - https://www.parkers.co.uk:443/cars/owners-reviews/search.aspx?range=100177

We have a 05 Megane and have never had any problems with it and it's done nearly 65,000miles.

FiL has a Laguna and had a megane Scienic before that and never had any problems either.

Damn it, Hitched ate my post.

In a nutshell - I wish I could recommend them because I know how few large cars there are. But I really can't.

Couple of years ago we had a Laguna and a Megane at the same time and they were a nightmare! Electrics, computer, alternator.... they were always breaking down. I'd never, ever have one again.

Have you looked at the Chrysler grand voyager?

I said never again to Renaults after a Clio I had. The car was fine but the customer service was unbelievably appalling.

Old style Ford Galaxies fit three across I think. Seat Alhambras do as well but they might be too new to get much second hand?

We had a Renault Megane (52 plate) and it was utter fucking shyte.

It completely conked out and died on us 3 days after I had our first baby meaning that 3 days post childbirth I had to steer a car with no power steering out of the driveway into the road (while Mr R pushed it) so we could get our other car out. It was a problem with the keyless ignition that even after it was fixed still happened sometimes.

It then had a series of electrical faults that were never able to be diagnosed, despite us spending over £300 in trying to get it sorted.

Final straw was when it went for its MOT last year - after another £300 of work it passed, but the garage told us it was going to need a new steering rack - it was 5 years old and had done 30k miles.

We traded it in for an Avensis.

It will be a long time before I consider touching another Renault I'm afraid. Prior to the Megane I also had a Clio which wasn't as bad as the Megane, but again had random electronic problems that could never be diagnosed.

ETA - they have great safety, NCAP etc ratings and are very well specced but the reliability left a helluva lot to be desired.

I think the biggest problem will be depreciation but the way I look it is that you're buying a car to use not to make money. I've had 3 clios and H has had 2 clios and 2 meganes. We currently have a clio each. They were all (with the exception of 1 clio) from the Renaultsport range. In all the years and with all the cars that we've owned we've had very very few problems and if anything has gone wrong our local renault dealership have done their best to get it resolved, usually under warranty.

In my opinion they are great cars and i'd recommend them to anyone, i know they maybe haven't got the best reputation but many years experience (my mum and dad have had renaults for years also) the pros generally outweigh the cons.

The airbag warning light came on in my Clio so I rang the garage. They said they couldn't see it for 2 weeks, so I pointed out that as it was the airbag light it was potentially quite important.

The chap on the phone told me not to worry because "it's not that it'll go off at the wrong time, it just might not go off in the event of an accident" ?

Kia do a really good sized vehicle for a reasonable price. My brother has a Kia and has had no problems at all. He has a 7 seater and when they've visited us it's easily taken brother and SIL, three nephews, H and me.

Yes I had problems with the airbag light on mine too. It never ever got sorted though. I have a sneaking suspicion they just deactivated the airbag to get rid of me in the hope that if I had an accident and it didn't deploy I'd be too dead to be able to complain about it again.

Thinking about it, they might have done the same to mine ?

They charged me an arm and a leg for a sensor under the driver's seat that went as soon as they'd done it then the next time it was fine. Gosh that's scary.

Thank you all. I'll go back to Parkers.co.uk and read some more reviews. We thought about Galaxys (Galaxies?) but they're insanely expensive to run and a much higher insurance group - 11 as opposed to 7 ?

Still don't know what to do. Our friends have a Grand Scenic which has been great. However, mum's Clios have been arch bastards and are impossible to maintain yourself (according to my brother, who trained as a mechanic) so she has to do things like forking out £180 for a change of headlamp bulb. Bro had one of those Williams Clio things and it was forever in bits on the garage floor ?

Bah. Hate buying cars.

Actually, I'd happily have another Renault. Due to it being one of only a few cars that we could get two wheelchairs and a pushchair in we've had lots of Scenics/Grand Scenics in the family. My parents have had 3 each over the last few years (they only change them because they get Motability and can have a new car every 3 years) and I had 2 Scenics (only changed my first one because I couldn't turn the front passenger air bag off on the older style). Between us we've not had one thing go wrong (unless you count needing a new wiper blade or light bulb) and we do a LOT of miles between us.

I don't like much of the Renault range looks/style wise but I'd happily have another Scenic for a family car.

My IL's have one and although I haven't driven it obviously, I hate it! There is very little legroom in the second and third row of seats, particularly the 3rd. If you have a child in a car seat (my DD is currently in a Britax one, Eclipse I think) on the third row, there is literally a couple of inches for their feet. My DD gets very upset if you have to put the 2nd row seat up in front of her. If you didn't need the third row of seats, you'd probably be OK by moving the second row back as far as possible, but if you need the 3rd row, the children will have hardly any room and you will also have a ridiculously small amount of boot space. You can just about fit an umbrella-folding stroller in there.

Mr Mal worked for Renault (he's a mechanic) and he said they used to be good, but now they are ***. He got one for my Dad about 6 years ago, a T reg Laguna, that thing is like a tank. And I have seen loads of those older ones on the road, I think they are indestructable. But the newer ones are rubbish.

PS the guy accross the road has a Toyota Corolla Verso, it looks nice and Toyotas always had good reviews. Also try Seat Altea. There are different types. Or a Nissan Almera Tino. Go onto Autotrader. Can you tell Ive been looking at cars recently ?

We have to buy cars with the same spec in mind - i know nothing of renaults

can i recommend a multipla - even though people hate them i have to say it is fantastic and i am sure you would get a good one for your budget - you may not like them either - but if you can try one at least

we also have a citroen grand picasso which should be better but is actually not as good in terms of space for passengers - but the boot is bigger

I absolutely love our Scenic, so much so that I replaced our last one with another almost identical one ?. Bags of space, ideal for multiple children, massive boot but not too long so easily parkable in town.

If you do go for one (and I think you should ?) I can recommend a decent dealer with a huge range- Scenicworld on the A4 between Reading and Newbury. It's where I bought our new one and he had lots- about 15 secondhand Scenics and 15 Grand Scenics. He was also good to deal with and seemed genuine and trustworthy (well, for a secondhand car salesman ?).

Can't comment on Renaults but we have a citroen picasso. we bought it as like you needed 3 full seats without paying out for the bigger 7 seaters. Currently I have 2 high back boosters and a stage 2 but have also had 2 stage 2 & 1 booster, 2 stage 2 & 1 infant carrier and when child 1 insists on seating in front we've had 1 stage 2, 1 high back & me (even when my arse was huuuuugge).

All the citroen range tend to be lower emmissions so lower tax too

I've had 2 clios and tbh i've never really had any problems. I had the old shaped one with a bubble back for about 18 months before i swapped it for something a bit bigger and faster, then when H passed his test we moved back down to a smaller car and went for the new shape clio because i think that they look really nice and again we've not really had any problems with it and we've had it for coming up to 18 months. The only thing that has happened twice is that there's been a build up of fuel and the car wouldn't start if i've only moved the car from one parking space to another. The first time it happened i called out the RAC and they explained the problem and so when it happened again i knew what to do.

I love the clios, would definately have another.

However if you're looking for a bigger family car how about the Citeron Zara Picasso, my dad has had 3 of these and not had problems with them. He's currently got the new shape one and it's lovely.

We have a Citroen Picasso, we can fit 2 child seats and an adult (chunky adult) in the back and not be squashed.