2005 Renault Megane Dymanique from UK and Ireland - Comments

Unfortunately quite a list!

First thing noticed was the squeaking brakes, presumed this would go - not so. Apparently this is a common fault with with the Meganes and a 'silence kit' needs to be fitted to rectify the problem.

Next mysteriously got a puncture front off-side. According to my handbook, my fabulous on-board computer would tell me any change in tyre pressure, not so! Good old driver intuition helped out here!!!

Next was gearbox, started off very smooth, however after 2000 miles became very jerky when the car was started (& as per dealers advice, I did leave it to warm up, but in the summer, don't think it being cold is a good enough excuse!). The car struggled in first gear and was over-revving a lot. Taken back to the dealer, who assured me that the 'computer settings had been readjusted'. Fine at first, then just got worse! Whenever I try to book the car in, they are unable to get me an automatic courtesy car so is often a 6-8 week wait and apparently could take some time to fix! So at 12500 the car showed it's true colours and doing 90mph (with 1 passenger) revved to over 6000rpm! Quite worrying on the motorway as it sounded as though it was going to explode! Not to mention it is costing me an absolute BOMB in petrol to run - driving around town (approx 30 miles per day) means I'm putting in £15 nearly every day!

Drivers side indicator went a while ago, at 14000 both headlight bulbs have almost gone, luckily the fog lights are keeping me going (illegal I know!).

The CD player is constantly over-heating (I have had the 6 disc changer fitted & that over heats as well!). On top of that now, its just treating every single CD as though I've dragged them through a gravel pit (even brand new ones!).

Clever little petrol gauge isn't so clever! On full tank, it doesn't change for about 1/4 of a tank, then drops remains constant, then surprise surprise it just drops again - which isn't very handy when it's guzzling petrol anyway!

Interior is wearing quickly, bit concerned!

Problems with the keyless locking, sometimes it doesn't want to lock, or has problems detecting the card to start up.

On speaking to someone at the dealership, it appears the above are common problems!

The automatic in particular is known to have gearbox problems and this has resulted in a ridiculous fuel consumption! I'm yet to experience the economical side of this car - my friend has a 2.6 V6 engine and spends a lot less in petrol then I do, which HURTS at 98.9p per litre! I've had a clio 1.4 1993 and that could live on £25 per week in petrol and was a LOT faster. The similarity, however, is gearbox failure tell-tale signs of banging when going into reverse, over-revving etc.

The handling on this car is poor round conrners and I live in London, I'm not exactly driving on winding roads in France! However on the straights i.e. motorway the car is great! It feels solid and passengers have noted how smooth it is (apart from the jerking when revving over 6000rpm!).

I've had a few extras put on: panoramic sunroof, 6 disc CD changer, keyless entry/start-up. All of these are great and agree with other reviews extra's like these are rare or expensive! So am extremely pleased with them.

I have a 3 door and getting in and out for passengers seems fairly difficult and must say leg-room is a little cramped - although its not exactly a Maebach, so can't really ask for much!

Owning a Megane, still attracts attention and the odd "I see you baby shaking that ____" which is amusing! It's distinct shape sets it apart from the rest and in black still looks very slick.

Boot space is very good, especially with the fold down rear seats, its amazing what you can fit in there!

The light into the cabin is great with the panoramic sun roofs, not to mention Renault have been smart enough to ensure the top half of the cabin is in a light colour!

I haven't been too impressed with the demisting functions in the winter, the angles of the window vents mean that only half the window remains steam free no matter what angles they are adjusted to!

Overall I do have a weakspot for Renaults, and do really like this car and would be looking to change to the Megane convertible as my next car! I just hope that I don't get any such problems in the first 6 months of owning one! Driving the car is smooth and relaxing, if pushed it does hit some good speeds - I won't say how fast, but I have pushed it past the top speed stated in the handbook and that was with 3 passengers and 2 weeks worth of luggage! I'm sure it has potential to do more, but won't be trying that until my washing-machine-sounding gearbox is sorted!

Watch this space!

With regard to the tyre pressure monitor system... your car being in Dynamique spec doesn't have this feature as standard. In fact, it was only ever an option on any Megane, so I wondered if you had it added as an option and thus it didn't work, or your vehicle has never had it installed.

Why were you doing 90mph on a motorway?

Or does the speedometer not work either on this car?

What's wrong with 90? Come on, I bet you have done 90 mph.

How easy is it to change a headlight bulb.

I bought mine Dynamique 1.6 only 4 weeks ago. It's a 21000 3 year old car.

The brakes squeak loudly and today it would not start (3 times) when the 1st gear was in. Odd. It is a bit loud on the morway at 90Mph or even 100 (hehe) but it feels robust and good to handle.

OK from my original review of this car, things have just gone from bad to worse!

The auto gearbox was FINISHED - jerking when changing from park to reverse BADLY! The diagnostics said nothing was wrong although it kept saying 'check gearbox'.

The 'STOP' & handbrake light kept coming on and going off after going down hill - again couldn't find it on the diagnostics.

The jerking on this car was insane! It's like being on a g-force roller coaster getting thrown back into the seats when trying to move the car off - now I'm not giving it much power and would love to say it's the sheer force of speed & power, but at 15mph I doubt it very much!

The stereo finally gave up the will to live and died completely.

The clicking on the steering wheel went from bad to worse and it appeared that it travelled down the steering column & it could be heard clunking and crunching inside the car!

Needless to say we stopped driving the car and parked it until it was due to go in, it simply wasn't safe.

The dealer (Renault London West) took 6 weeks to book the car in despite telling them it was practically un-drivable!

I took my life in my hands and drove it down to Renault very slowly and carefully. After 2 weeks with them (for a service and to rectify all problems) I finally got the car back! But guess what???

1.they forgot about the CD player so had to whip it out whilst I was waiting to collect it - 1 week to repair, has to be sent off apparently! Another trip back to re-fit it!

2. The solvent was applied to the 'bolt' in the steering column (as advised by Renault!) but after a couple of hours, it's back to clicking!

3. dephaser pulley fixed (accounting for the gearbox problems and fuel consumption)...I think not! It's still jerking madly

4. All other problems reported with the car couldn't be found even though they 'tested' them out!

5. No details in the service book to confirm the timing belt or any other shape or form of work had been carried out! Just a Renault stamp. Pathetick as they devote half their service booklet to this!

I was given the car back in a filthy condition (despite their promise of a car wash after service), they left me with the petrol on the red (despite me giving them the car with a 1/4 of a tank worth of petrol!) and the lingering stink of cheap aftershave!

I am actually disabled and have the car on the Motability scheme, needless to say I have rejected the car now and Renault HQ will be getting a rather strong letter from me about the pile of rubbish they expected me to put up with!

Changing the headlight on a megane -

It's not entirely easy, but worth a go rather than paying Renault £30 to 40...

Turn your wheel almost full lock to the other side to get access. Undo the outer cap in the wheel arch by turning it anti-clockwise. It pulls out.

For better access, open the bonnet and take off the plastic cover just above the headlight assembly - there are 2 plastic screws on it which need to be turned 90degrees to release them. You can actually get a bit more access by removing the battery cover if it's the nearside. There are 2 bolts to undo and another 90degree turn screw.

You need to be reasonably dextrous for the next bit. Put your arm up through the wheel arch access hole and undo the cap over the headlight by turning it anti-clockwise. Remove it through the hole. The wires connect to the bulb via a simple push-on assembly - remove this now by "wiggling it" loose, pulling until it comes off. It can hang free for now. There is now a metal clasp holding the bulb in place. It has a little u-shaped part sticking out above the bulb and is hinged below the bulb. Pull / push the upper u-shape piece down to allow it to unclip from the socket and swing down on the hinge releasing the bulb. Remove the bulb (there's nothing else holding it).

Insert the new bulb (don't touch the glass). To fit, the bulb needs to be orientated with the notched area on its base pointing upwards - if you can't see, just rotate it while trying to push it in - it'll slot into place when it's right. Now pull up the retaining clip in the reverse of removing it, clipping the bulb into place. Then attach the wires - the wire attachment has 2 slots corresponding to the two flat connectors on the base of the bulb. These need to be slotted into the fitting and the wire connector pushed on firmly. Check the headlight is now working.

If, so, re-attach the various covers in the reverse process of removing them. It's fiddly, but only takes about 10min.

Steve H of London.

I have just replaced both headlamp dip bulbs. I took the roadwheels off, the driver's side was the trickiest, but both can be done within 1 hour, and that was using the OE jack on each side at a time, no cheating using a trolley jack.

My right forearm has several welts where I had to reach through the opening on the driver's side, but no broken skin!

Oh dear - it seems that Renault have still not learned how to build a decent automatic after 30 years of trying. I've owned 4 Renaults, but I wouldn't touch an auto with a 40 foot pole.

I've just bought a 2005 2.0L Megane sedan (manual!). I've only had it for a few days so I'm waiting a bit before I do a review, but I'm very impressed with it so far. It has 21000 km on it and has not any of the niggles (or bigger problems) that unfortunately seem to be too common with new Renaults. I think this is what is holding them back (at least here in Australia), even though I like Renaults, there's always that thought in the back of your mind "Will this car's transmission/motor/other big bit blow up at 40000 kms?" All the more bizarre as Renaults are priced at a premium in Australia - the Megane is in the same price bracket as the Honda Accord Euro and the Mazda 6.

I purchased a Renault senic in 2004

Now after 36000 miles the car has gearbox troubles

I opted for a tip tronic auto. (wish I had known better)

Renault dealer does not seem bothered, cannot look at the car

for over a week, no courtesy cars, and had the cheek to inform

the sales person who phoned me trying to sell me a new car.

Bye the way there was a loud bang in the gear box, now it is just left

at the dealers.

I have just purchased a used 2003 Megane Dymanique 2.0l auto/tip tronic a week ago. It only has 17,000 on the clock. Up until today I have been impressed with the overall handling and comfort, even the gearbox was smooth in auto and the tip tronic mode. But this morning as I put the car into reverse there was a clonk, nothing to worry about so I thought. Drove less than 1 mile and the car lost all power with the service light illuminated with an accompanying 'check gearbox' message. I drove straight to the Renault dealer who ran a diagnostics check and it would appear an electronic component has failed in the box. They will have the car for 3-4 days to rectify the fault, thankfully it has a 6 month used car warranty on it so no expense to me. The only concern now is will it fail after the warranty has expired? Then I'm sure it will be an expensive fix.

Hi Bought a 55 plate 1.6 Vvt auto a few weeks ago and drive 236 miles from Liverpool to Southampton Sunday and return Friday. Every time I get 100 miles in and the SERVICE light comes on and the CHECK GEARBOX message appears. The car behaves normally, but when stopped (at the M6 toll booth) first gear takes 3000 rpm to get going and it just about accelerates. When the message is on the shift from automatic to manual will not work. Been into the Renault dealership twice now, but they say there are no faults.

Seems that, reviewing all the references to faults in the post that they MIGHT just be keeping quiet about it?

The only way to replicate the problem is to belt up and down the motorway for a couple of hours and then hope that they can check it before the light goes out and there's 'nothing wrong'.

I also get a horrible double-crunch when stopping---thought I had been hit by the car behind the first time it happened. Again, once the car cools down it all goes back to normal. ANY IDEAS?

Hi, I'm the original author of the post. It looks like my car wasn't just a 'one-off' then. I guessed that when the Renault mechanic said to the other renault mechanic "well it's a Megane gearbox, it's bleeped, can't do anything can I?". Lol, I was thinking, lazy mechanic, or BAD gearbox by Renault! Obviously the latter!

To the last post, I'm sorry to say, but I have had several diagnostic checks by both Renault and the RAC, and not ONCE had it come on up on the diagnostics. Like you said, the only way to prove to Renault that the car had a problem (because for some magical reason when taken for a test run, Renault couldn't see a problem at all and said it drove perfectly!) is to drive the car, don't turn off the ignition, stick it in neutral with the error lights on and dump it at their showroom. I went to the length of taking various pics of the error message as Renault would not accept any faults.

I did my research, and found that there is a common fault with the dephaser pulley - if you can get this 'fixed' under warranty, rush down to your dealer now, because that will defo be an expensive problem. Even better, get it sorted as best as possible, and get shot of the car before the warranty runs out, because it only gets worse!

I thoroughly believe that an 8 month old car's gearbox should not feel like I've hit a human when moving off from the traffic lights, making pedestrians heads turn for the same reason (again, this is not a sports car, and I could not get it to accelerate like one even if my life depended on it!)

If you have any sense, don't EVER buy a Megane auto, and if you have one, sell it fast, because the strain on the engine alone will end up expensive, even if you manage to find an auto gearbox that works!!!

My 03 Renault Megane is showing the fault steering lock on and will not start. The dealer have looked at the fault and are quoting a total repair bill of £1800. They believe the whole steering column will need replacing as well as the steering locking switch. I believe the dealer is intent on ripping me off big time. I am quickly lacking confidence in their ability to appropriately solve this problem.

Two months prior I spent approximately £700 repairing a flowery technical term thing their computer suggested was the fault, which entailed the replacement of parts including the changing of the cam belt only to find the same problem still existed. The fault was then put down to a faulty switch.

Does anyone have suggestions for the steering lock fault?

I recently bought my girlfriend a 2003 megane 1.6 dynamic with 40 k on the clock now I've had the fazer unit done which I heard is renowned for going in them and I also had the belt done so that was great, but now the car keeps knocking off completely after about ten seconds when started everyday, now if I keep the car revved up it won't knock off, but I shouldn't have to do that, has anybody else had the same problem, if so whats up with it??? thanks, Keith.