1997 Renault Laguna RN review from UK and Ireland

Airbag warning light on.

Nearside rear door lock inop on central locking.

Intermittent wipe inop.

Driver's door exterior handle wouldn't open door (twice)

Driver's door wouldn't latch closed (about 4-5 times)

I bought this car in the motor trade for £250 as I was giving up a co. car and it came in p/x cheap.

What a buy!!

It always started first turn of the key (quicker than my wife's '05 Saab!) and never let me down once.

Good points were that the ride was fantastic (it could teach newer cars on their 18" alloys and sport suspension a trick or two), handling was a lot better than I thought it would be (ie :it actually gripped and went round corners rather than tipping over and skidding off them--owning a Renault 11 once tainted my views I think!), and it has a lot of cabin space with a big boot (essential for my dog and wife's horse riding kit)

However, by todays standards the kit count was pretty crap, a 5 grand Kia probably has more as standard, although I was impressed by the fact it had remote audio controls!

Performance was in the "you'll get there in the end category", and overtaking required about a mile of road and lots of prayer!!

Overall though about as cheap as motoring gets (bearing in mind an X-box 360 costs more!)

It averaged 32 mpg and all I put on it were x4 new tyres when bought, at £32 a corner.

My wife has now annihalated it by crashing into a parked car round the corner from our house!!

Food for thought though--she crashed offset front into an '04 Laguna (a 5 star euro ncap car) at about 20 mph, my Laguna wouldn't start, the passenger front door was hard to open, the bumper was pushed into the wheel so you couldn't turn the steering wheel, it was generally trashed. The newer car had a smashed headlamp and minor bumper damage!! Had she been going faster and smacked into a new car I dread to think, maybe spending those pennies and buying something a bit newer is a good idea (this goes for all you older Mondeo, Vectra owners as well, they all score the same 2.5 stars on Euroncap!)