1996 Renault Laguna 2.2D review from Lithuania

Power steering belt and motor worn out.

Interior lights (computer, climatronic) not working.

Front suspension knuckles worn out and loose.

Interior materials unstuck.

I bought the car from France with a purpose to sell it. I am a car dealer. :)

Though I had a chance to use it just for a few days, I fell in love with it immediately.

First - the comfort. I've driven Mercs, Beemers, Audis, soft American Chryslers, but none of those impressed me as much as Laguna. Except for the Safrane, it's the most comfortable car of this size, year and price I have ever come across! The suspension, the sound insulation, the fat and soft velvet seats... it's just amazing. You could rest better driving this car than sleeping!

Secondly - the engine. It was a 2.2 litre diesel, no turbo. Power about 80-85bhp (don't remember exactly). It's a sweet engine. When I first got into the car, I thought it had turbo! The performance was almost equal, except the blowing sound. This Renault engine is great. The economy, the power, the torque, the reliability, when everything sums up, it doesn't end up anywhere, but great. Believe it or not, I did almost 120mph with it! (3 people inside)

The electrics of course is not a proper place to talk about French cars... But in this one, there was nothing serious, exept a few burned out interior console lights.

Performance is not worth talking either, because it was not built for this. You have to be an idiot to take it to the track, or the bad boy night street drags with Calibras, Beemers, Civics and Golfs. Though I out dragged a Mazda 323F with 1.5/1.6 engine. :) Talking more seriously, the car performs well. You can feel where it's going, it goes where you point it.

All in all, it's a quite reliable, comfortable, spacious, cheap to run, quite good looking car that can be used in various situations.