Had a track rod end worn when first had the car causing a creaking sound when turning. clutch pedal snapped at 110000miles (common fault) roof has a bit of paint peeling in places and a repair on the rear wing is starting to peel as well. had a strange fault in the fusebox which caused intermittent fault with the electric windows (replaced with new) rear wiper motor every now and then won't work (but touch the arm and it will work for many months)
Very comfortable to drive for long distance went all over europe last year (2005) and reasonably quick for a people carrier. take all the rear seats out and you have yourself a van..
Would buy another again, but maybe a later one.
The renault espace mk1 suffer from a heavy clutch problem which makes driving them very tiring on the left leg,
they are reliable though and cheap to keep.
The body suffers from lacquer peel which is probably due to to it being fibreglass, parts are dirt cheap I bought a pair of brand new track rod ends recently which cost all of eight pounds for the pair, I don`t know whether there is a hydraulic clutch conversion kit available for the espace, but if there is grab it!