The Renault advert, 120 years, forefront of innovation

[Brand X]

Can I politely ask what you are basing these assumptions on as they are different from mine. Mine are based on personal ownership of all the makes you mention and over 46 years of motor trade experience.

I've never been in the business but I know a couple of people who are and I've seen enough of people who have bought those three makes to steer clear.
If you buy any of those three brand new, sometimes they have problems but once they are fixed they are fine for a while. But once they're past their first MOT, they seem to be designed with in-built obsolescence. Everyone loves driving a new Mercedes or a new BMW, but once they are a few years old they start shedding bits and if you have to use an authorized repair centre it's wallet-raping time. If I were buying from a used car dealer I'd buy a Ford or Mazda, Honda, Nissan, or maybe a Peugeot. Not a Renault. I've never known anyone who bought a Renault and didn't regret it.

 

[roadrash]

As I said on the previous page ive owned 5 Renaults and never had a problem with them electrically or mechanicaly

 

[tyred]

I've never been in the business but I know a couple of people who are and I've seen enough of people who have bought those three makes to steer clear.
If you buy any of those three brand new, sometimes they have problems but once they are fixed they are fine for a while. But once they're past their first MOT, they seem to be designed with in-built obsolescence. Everyone loves driving a new Mercedes or a new BMW, but once they are a few years old they start shedding bits and if you have to use an authorized repair centre it's wallet-raping time. If I were buying from a used car dealer I'd buy a Ford or Mazda, Honda, Nissan, or maybe a Peugeot. Not a Renault. I've never known anyone who bought a Renault and didn't regret it.

It's true they went through a phase of building rust buckets in the late 1990s but generally Mercs are capable of astronomical mileage. There is a reason why a lot of taxi drivers and other high mileage business drivers the world over wouldn't have anything else. Mercs or BMWs aren't the sort of cars which appeal to me but I respect them as a well engineered and high quality product.

 

[screenman]

I've never been in the business but I know a couple of people who are and I've seen enough of people who have bought those three makes to steer clear.
If you buy any of those three brand new, sometimes they have problems but once they are fixed they are fine for a while. But once they're past their first MOT, they seem to be designed with in-built obsolescence. Everyone loves driving a new Mercedes or a new BMW, but once they are a few years old they start shedding bits and if you have to use an authorized repair centre it's wallet-raping time. If I were buying from a used car dealer I'd buy a Ford or Mazda, Honda, Nissan, or maybe a Peugeot. Not a Renault. I've never known anyone who bought a Renault and didn't regret it.

Have your mates told you what they think of cyclists? My Mazda is one of the worst cars I have owned. I think real experience trumps what mates told you, chances are they have not got a clue.

 

[Brand X]

It's true they went through a phase of building rust buckets in the late 1990s but generally Mercs are capable of astronomical mileage. There is a reason why a lot of taxi drivers and other high mileage business drivers the world over wouldn't have anything else. Mercs or BMWs aren't the sort of cars which appeal to me but I respect them as a well engineered and high quality product.

I think they're very sophisticated cars, but designed with a very finite lifespan, and IMO they're not a good choice for the economy-conscious driver. To repeat a hearsay story, a bloke wanted a tow hitch fitted to his car, but cutting into the electrics isn't possible except at a Mercedes specialist garage; he was quoted £3000 for the modification not including the tow hitch. Stuff that.

I know two people who bought the same car, used Mercedes A1 hatchbacks (this was about 12 years ago), both cars developed the same faults at the same time, had the same repairs and pretty much continued to shake themselves to bits once they were past 5 years old. Lovely car when new, but I wouldn't buy an old one, I'm not sure I'd want one if it was free. One got scrapped, I don't know what happened to the other.

At least with more ordinary cars if something fails the parts are (hopefully) affordable.

 

[Brand X]

Have your mates told you what they think of cyclists? My Mazda is one of the worst cars I have owned. I think real experience trumps what mates told you, chances are they have not got a clue.

I know there are some bad ones, but I've owned or driven three and I couldn't fault them.

 

[screenman]

I know there are some bad ones, but I've owned or driven three and I couldn't fault them.

I spend at least 8 hours a week working on them, I could list so many common faults.

 

[screenman]

I think they're very sophisticated cars, but designed with a very finite lifespan, and IMO they're not a good choice for the economy-conscious driver. To repeat a hearsay story, a bloke wanted a tow hitch fitted to his car, but cutting into the electrics isn't possible except at a Mercedes specialist garage; he was quoted £3000 for the modification not including the tow hitch. Stuff that.

I know two people who bought the same car, used Mercedes A1 hatchbacks (this was about 12 years ago), both cars developed the same faults at the same time, had the same repairs and pretty much continued to shake themselves to bits once they were past 5 years old. Lovely car when new, but I wouldn't buy an old one, I'm not sure I'd want one if it was free. One got scrapped, I don't know what happened to the other.

At least with more ordinary cars if something fails the parts are (hopefully) affordable.

You are so wrong, stop listening to hearsay, have you heard of Chinese whispers. I have had towbars fitted to Mercs, and it is no more expensive than a Ford.

 

[tyred]

I think they're very sophisticated cars, but designed with a very finite lifespan, and IMO they're not a good choice for the economy-conscious driver. To repeat a hearsay story, a bloke wanted a tow hitch fitted to his car, but cutting into the electrics isn't possible except at a Mercedes specialist garage; he was quoted £3000 for the modification not including the tow hitch. Stuff that.

I know two people who bought the same car, used Mercedes A1 hatchbacks (this was about 12 years ago), both cars developed the same faults at the same time, had the same repairs and pretty much continued to shake themselves to bits once they were past 5 years old. Lovely car when new, but I wouldn't buy an old one, I'm not sure I'd want one if it was free. One got scrapped, I don't know what happened to the other.

At least with more ordinary cars if something fails the parts are (hopefully) affordable.

If you know enough to not buy a lemon in the first place, service it properly and don't listen to "experts" who don't actually know anything, you will find that older Mercs and BMW can be run very cost-effectively because they are quality cars designed to cover high mileage and you will also find service parts are often just as cheap as they are for anything else (if you exclude the high performance variants).

A very quick search revels I could buy a set of front brake pads for a 318i for the ridiculously pricey sum of £19.80.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Fits...180269?hash=item3605e5cced:g:OKwAAOSwax5YyXu8

I only I had bought one of these cheap to run ordinary cars like a Mazada 6 which would save me so much money by having to pay £23.99 for a set of front brake pads!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRONT-BR...232396?hash=item5b40cd7c0c:g:i~kAAOSwHwZaEEd~

 

[Globalti]

You don't cut into the electrics to fit a tow bar, you buy the manufacturer's loom, which you plug into existing connectors in the main loom.

 

[Brand X]

You don't cut into the electrics to fit a tow bar, you buy the manufacturer's loom, which you plug into existing connectors in the main loom.

I don't know, I met the man once and he did indeed own a very shiny new Merc at the time, so I can only presume he wasn't lying. Whatever it was, he had a big problem trying to fit a working tow hitch.

 

[Globalti]

That must have been once....

 

[mustang1]

I would never buy a Renault. Renault are in the business of making bad cars.
I won't touch Renault, BMW or Mercedes. They're crap. Chances are that if you've ever owned a bad car that wasn't a Renault (and wasn't a BMW or Mercedes) it was actually made by Renault and sold another name.

I know someone who has had Audis, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover. He always buys the cheapest he can find "a great bargain, cant go wrong, he would say". Only that, all his cars have gone wrong. I have had various brands of car too and none of them have given any problems.

 

[mustang1]

I've never been in the business but I know a couple of people who are and I've seen enough of people who have bought those three makes to steer clear.
If you buy any of those three brand new, sometimes they have problems but once they are fixed they are fine for a while. But once they're past their first MOT, they seem to be designed with in-built obsolescence. Everyone loves driving a new Mercedes or a new BMW, but once they are a few years old they start shedding bits and if you have to use an authorized repair centre it's wallet-raping time. If I were buying from a used car dealer I'd buy a Ford or Mazda, Honda, Nissan, or maybe a Peugeot. Not a Renault. I've never known anyone who bought a Renault and didn't regret it.

I hear some of these stories but I've never had a problem in my experience for cars up to. I've had a few cars up to 12 years old and zero problems. (Just saying my experience).

 

[Slow But Determined]

Late to the party on this one but I had one of the 993 Renault Vel Satis that were registered in the UK and I wish I still had it.

What a car, 3.0 diesel ( Mitsubishi I think) and back in 2002 it had everything, cruise, built in sat nav and the best part of it was all parts of the seat were electric, not only move front and back, up and down etc but the top half of the seat back was independent so you could actually electrically adjust the headrest to meet the back of your head. Headrests I have found on every other car I have ever had have been largely redundant.

Travelled back from the Algarve to Calais in one hit (circa 1300 miles) and you got out of it as if you had just been round the shop. The comfort level was spectacular.

It didn't sell in my opinion because it was different (although all cars nowadays seem to have imitated the shape) and because people wanted a BMW badge on their drive not Renault.

They also did a 3.5 litre petrol version which had the running gear from the Nissan 350Z.