Avoid it
It has been making noises almost from the time I bought it. The doors cracks and the same with the interior. very bad service. avoid buying such car.
It has good handling, but disadvantages much more than advantages. Things began to break from the first month.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 17th May, 2006
Quirky Car with Mega Fuel Economy
Boot catch needed replacing at 35,000 miles.
Headlight bulbs needed replacing at 34,000 miles. These cost £29 each to have replaced at a Renault dealer.
Seat covers started to wear badly.
This car is nippy, reasonably comfortable and very, very economical!
Did I mention it was economical? Is does 55 to 60MPG, uses no oil or coolant and starts every time.
The cabin is a bit gloomy as most of the trim is black or dark grey, the rear legroom is average unless your children have long legs in which case you need a bigger car.
The headlight bulbs had to be replaced at a main dealer as I couldn't get my arm/hand into the space behind the headlight - I don't know how they change them at the dealers!
All in all it is a good little car with various quirks that the excellent economy makes worthwhile. I wouldn't have bought this car if it hadn't been so economical.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 31st January, 2006
I too had a 2003 1.5 dCi and miss it terribly, I could get nearly 70mpg at a steady 56mph and at 75-80mph it never ever dropped below 50mpg, even caning it, I had the comfort pack to and loved the glass roof and keyless start, I just wish the stereo had been better and that my headlights didn't need to be replaced, all in all I had no problems with mine at all, sold it with 30k miles on it and drives like new.
A very good car at a decent price that should never be bought privately due to abysmal workmanship
Water pouring in through the driver side speaker into the door pocket. Door panel replaced.
4 Coils blown. Replaced.
Grinding when starting from cold. Undiagnosed.
Using the steering wheel stalk to change the radio results in switching off all power to the radio (unplugged rather than repaired). Undiagnosed.
Warranty recall on electric windows. Fixed after 3rd visit.
Windscreen became loose after 3 months after foam and rubber inserts holding it in place expanded/contracted out of their positions due to weather. Inserts replaced and remounted screen.
Alarm sonics didn't work. Broken into without a whimper from them, apparently they are working after being tested at dealership, hard to test though!
Boot latch failure. Fixed.
Door handle loose (to the point you could just take it out). Repaired.
Plastic skirting on driver and passenger doors fell off independently. Replaced.
New plastic skirting on driver and passenger doors fell off independently fell off (again). Replaced again.
New new plastic skirting wrong colour, 2 week wait for other replacement skirting to "synchronise" it all. Repainted in the end.
Engine management computer failed. Replaced.
Injection system failed. Replaced.
Squealing sound when turning. Fixed.
Brakes grinding/squealing after 13k miles, advised that not covered under warranty, though "muffling kits" are available at a cost. Replaced with new after 24k miles.
Warning light for oil replacement still on after 18k service. Returned to dealer and computer was reset.
This is a good car to drive, its quite poky and gets from a-b in a minimum of fuss and handles well.
The steering is about as smooth and responsive as I can imagine, far better than any other car I have driven.
Fuel consumption while not great is acceptable. (about 31.5 MPG)
The cabin for driver and front passenger is comfortable and plenty of space for storage, rear passengers need to amputate their legs though.
Boot space suffers from the irregular shaped boot, though its still spacious, if you have irregularly shaped items.
Air conditioning takes a little while to get going, but is otherwise very good, the pollen filter seems to work exceptionally well also.
For everything that is good about the car it is let down horribly by poor workmanship resulting in far too many trips for warranty repairs.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 6th January, 2006
Since writing this review the following has now gone wrong...
Cam belt is broken and needs replacing.
The secondary timing belt (eh?) is broken and needs replacing.
The water pump has failed and needs 15 days for a replacement to arrive.
A defacer pulley (what on earth is one of these?) is broken and needs replacing.
Axle bushes are broken and need replacing.
The centre exhaust box is cracked along with the rear box and heat shield which all need replacing (plus some pins and clips which hold it all together).
Now had the alternator fail and had it replaced.
This morning the air-con failed.
After the air-con had failed, driving home the engine started overheating (accompanied by a very nice bright red stop light).
If it wasn't a company car this wouldn't be nearly as amusing.
23rd visit to the dealership since Oct 03, and 4th in just over a month! More worrying is the increasing severity of the failures (particularly seeing as they are all engine related).
Sounds like you have a friday afternoon car!
10th Oct 2007, 10:30
My car (2005 model) also needed new headlight bulbs at 63000 kms... why the hell? But otherwise the car is a treat; I drive at least 1100km on 60 litre tank, so it is very cheap to operate. Performance is adequate when you do not have passengers and luggage. Engine is actually pretty incredible if you take into account how efficient it is - this car has better fuel economy than an equivalently sized hybrid car. Build quality is also fine.
I couldn't be happier.