2003 Renault Laguna Extreme review from UK and Ireland

I particularly want to draw attention to the keys supplied with Renault Mk.2. They are in the form of a metal card, which is very easily lost and at £145, very expensive to replace. There is a hole in the card, but it is impossible to put this card on a keyring since the card has to be inserted in the ignition hole side first.

After losing a card, I used the replacement on a day to day basis, and recently this failed when I was away from home. The card contains a manual key, and I looked in the instruction book to see how it worked. The book says remove a plastic cap from the drivers door to reveal a keyhole. In fact, the keyhole is on the passenger side.

When I tried to operate the manual system, I discovered that the key was a blank. My Renault garage demonstrated that replacements keys randomly come from the factory as blanks. What is more, I enquired of the garage as to why, when using a manual key, it is only possible to lock the passenger door. They said that the only way to secure the car with the manual key is to exit via the boot!! My garage tell me that a further two keys have arrived from the factory, but the manual key in each is a blank.

Unless you are very, very careful, expect high running costs on keys alone.