1993 Renault Espace RT review from UK and Ireland

In over 2 years of ownership, very little up until last week, when my cam belt snapped & took out a couple of cam followers, & maybe more.

Absolutely fantastic & economical (average 35-40mpg) work horse.

With all 7 seats in you, have a mini-mini bus, and with all the seats out, you have a very useful sized van.

This is my third Espace & by far the best so far. My first one was a mk1 1.6 petrol; very reliable & useful, but starting to look a bit dated & tired, so I treated myself to a mk2 V6, which although good looking & fast, was a complete pain in the backside, as I spent all my spare time tinkering with it, trying to keep it going.

I finally gave up & moved onto a mk2 diesel, which is the best of all worlds; reliable, economical & very very useful. Maybe a bit sluggish, but if you floor the go pedal to overtake, it has plenty of power.

Sadly the cambelt snapped last week, & I have neither the time or ability to fix it or pay someone to do the work, so after reading the reports on this website, I am moving on to try a Peugeot 806 diesel (I like the idea of the sliding doors).

Summing up, if you are thinking of buying an Espace & you are on a budget, get a diesel (costs more to buy than a petrol but will soon pay for itself with the economy) & make sure the cambelt has been changed recently. Also if it gets difficult to start & smokes on start up, try a bottle of injector cleaner in the fuel, it made a world of difference to mine.