USED Renault Megane Hatchback (02 - 09)

My car

The car itself is very nice to drive. The 80bhp diesel is plenty quick enough for round town and reasonable on the motorway. The ride is good and the steering is fine once you get used to it - it's just very light at low speed. The interior is attractive but short on space in the back.

My reason for giving this car such a low rating is the poor build quality my car suffered and the dealer's seeming inability to fix anything. The car was plagued with annoying rattles, especially in summer when the centre belt inside the rear seat rattles when it got warm and in the winter when the dashboard rattled!

The dealer was appaling - they really didn't seem to care what was wrong with it and their engineers seemed inept and unable to find anything wrong when it was blatantly obvious to anyone else!

After this experience, I sold the car after less than a year and will never buy another Renault.

My car

I purchased my Megane Sport Hatch as it stood out from the crowd - and 12 months and 9000 miles later it still does. The 1.6 engine has enough power to haul it along at a respectable pace, whilst still being refined. The ride is comfortable and the handling secure but the steering could do with a bit more feedback. The running costs are low as it's cheap to insure and fuel economy is better than I expected.

My main cause for concern is the seemingly 'we don't care' attitude of the dealer whenever I have a problem with the car.

The hands-free entry and ignition system packed up, and new front brake pads fitted for some reason (I don't know why!)

But my biggest concerns are that the passenger seat rattles as does the sunroof. The car will start and stall when it's cold outside and there's a knocking sound from the engine bay at low speeds!

These problems are still there after 11 months of trying to fix and they are still seem no nearer to finding a solution!

Don't get me wrong, it's a good car. But I've found the after-sales back up to be extremely poor.

My car

I have run this car for 18 months and I agree with Neil on what he wrote - particularly the dealer side of things.

I must have taken it in over 30 times but probably only for half a dozen faults (all electrical) they just don't seem to know how to fix problems and check the fault after.

The most common problem, which I now fix myself, is the airbag light on the dash, which means the connector under the seat has come loose (on average five times a month).

I was very pleased initially with the car (my first Renault) and with the features but I quickly realised they were more trouble than they were worth!

A little more quality and it would be a great car!

My car

I owned one for 20 months.

It had good seats, brakes, fuel economy, ride etc. The whole thing was let down by dreadful reliability - mostly from the key card, automatic lights and blowing of the front indicator bulbs.

So what's the big deal with that? You have to have them changed at the dealer unless your wrists are small and double jointed!!

This brings me on to the worst aspect of owning the Megane II - the dealer service and attitude. A very good car was spoiled by unproven electronics and a couldn't-care-less attitude to customer service. Shame.