HRML - VW or Renualt Megane New Shape

I've never had a Renault, but a good friend had one. He had endless problems, the depreciation was enormous and he said he'd never, ever buy one again.

Sorry.

I bought a Golf in March (an older one though, a mk iv) after my Clio caught fire on the drive. It was caused by a wiring fault which is apparently quite common in Renaults. It certainly put me off ever having one again.

Having said that, in my experience VW dealers are rip-off merchants so servicing cost etc are worth looking into, but out of the two you've narrowed it down to I'd go for the Golf (well actually I'd go for a Scirocco!)

VW without a doubt.

My mum has a megane and it's utterly utterly crap. No end of problems and that's with her having a mechanic in the family.

BTW you can use a local independent mechanic for servicing. As long as they use genuine VW parts for replacement your car it's no different to using a VW dealership. They charge twice the price too. A lot of my H's work recently has been due to people not being able to afford the labour costs for dealerships.