2001 Renault Grand Espace expression from UK and Ireland - Comments

Paint faults on the bonnet

Headlights not assembled

Drivers seat stitching coming undone

Electrical faults

Air con smell

Seat belt locking

Accelerator sticking

Warning lights on

Number plate fell off

Oil leak

Front wipers streaking worn out

Air ducting missing out of front door

Holes in front carpets

And so on and so on.

This Espace is not 1 year old yet it has only done 9200 miles and it is on the 19th fault

And as for the rear seat rattle when unoccupied just put the head rests down!

On the good side it is very quiet and very good on fuel. The new common rail engine seems to be good so far.

Yep Renault, Great cars with good safety, but lousy build quality.

All the components used are obviously cheap, if they were of better MUCH quality renault cars would not be plagued with faults.

I'm completely fed up with my Scenic, which incidentally is back to the dealer tomorrow 11/03/02 YET again, but I have a fight on my hands as they are not prepared to fix all of the faults, even though it is under it's warranty.

It is a good car, in fact it is one of the best cars i have owned, but it is literally falling to bits, I have known nothing like it.

We have a second car with 100k on the clock, ok it is no spring chicken and certainly not as fresh looking as it once was, but the rubber trims are not hanging off it, and all the electrics still work, and the suspension does not have a rattling noise on it.

My Scenic has only done 21k to date.

I know a few people who own a Renault and they too have experienced fault after fault.

Two Mark 3 Espaces owned.

Last one had on-going intermittent fault with the airbag sensors and warning light. Despite Renault advising that air bag not likely to expand when normal driving, never felt entirely safe.

Now the Mark 4 has just had a tail gate fault that resulted in the rear door flying open. Fortunately not at speed, but what about next time?

Update from original writer: the Espace now has a noise in the gearbox. It has worn away the left front tyre on the outside edge after looking at this and tracking it Renault say this is normal the AA say it needs 4 wheel laser alignment witch Renault say I must pay for £80. I went to a garage and had 2 new front tyres this time Pirellis 6ply 99grade at 18000 miles. The brakes are still very poor the pedal slowly goes to the floor when stood at traffic lights. The car has just done 18010 miles it goes for its first service 16/10/03 in 1 week it will be just 2 years old. Can I afford to keep after the warranty runs out?

Update of the Update from original writer: the Espace has now had a new gearbox (Ho sorry recon Renault only fit new engine or gearbox within the first 12months of the warranty) at 24000 miles and new front disks, but now it has very high fuel intake only 31mpg and before the gearbox change it was 43-45 mpg. Renault say it needs a set of glow plugs they come on at high engine speed to aid the combustion as well as a cold start system it is also having another new seat base cover and foam.

The car is great to drive, but I thought it would be OK after 40+ faults the car is now 34 months old.