I know that a few years ago they had a bad rep on here

I’m looking at a 13, 14 or 15 plate 1.5 or 1.6 dCi Megane’s (mk3’s) and so far the reviews don’t look too bad. They get a reasonable reliability score on Which and Honest John review reads OK.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/renault/megane-2008/?section=good

It’s easy to read what you want to see though so anyone got experience of the mk3’s, good or bad? Cheers.

No, google UCH fault…

We’ve had a couple and found them ok in terms of reliability. I also have access to cars through work though and find the dashboards on the latest ones very confusing, think 80’s Aiwa Hi Fi.

I think they were ok before electronics were invented…..

Renault’s what? His brother Marcel?

Tesla Model S MkI 93.57
Renault ZOE MkI 93.42
Renault Kadjar MkI 93.17
Lexus IS MkIII 93.15

Top 4 cars in the 2016 Driver Power survey.

It’s a Renault. If it rains, you’ll have to take the light clusters out to drain them, which will be a mission involving removing wheels, bumpers and such. Once you’ve removed the wheels, you’ll need to reset the computer with a special code that will cost you £40 for no reason. Then it’ll rain again…

google UCH fault…

Indeed, that was a problem around the turn of the century. I think the OP is looking for something a bit more up to date than a 15 year old anecdote.

Had a Kadjar loaner for 2 months. Did 7,000 miles in it. It didn’t explode; nobody died.

My wife has a Grand Scenic. It’s done 80,000 miles without a problem, despite having electrical components.

The 1.6 dci is a good engine, the 1.5 is a wheezy old goat of a motor, but that doesn’t stop Mercedes putting it in the A-series. Go figure.

Have only driven a couple of Meganes as short term loan and holiday rentals, but have had two Kangoos for a total of 15 years and, apart from a couple of busted front springs from crummy roads around her, they were trouble free. One was 1.4 petrol, the other a 1.5dci and although serviced regularly neither of them was treated with kid gloves. The diesel had done over 70,000 mainly urban miles when I sold it and it was still on its original clutch, exhaust etc. At about 60k I had a bit of trouble with the EGR valve, but that was down to the engine sitting idling in traffic for ages – and it was a relatively cheap fix. TBH, I’m hoping the Transit I’ve just bought is a boringly reliable as the Renaults I’ve had.

My last 2 have been Megane 1.5dCi 5 door hatch back. Personally I think they are excellent cars. Never had any problems with the 12 plate and the current 15 plate is much improved over it’s predecessor.

Compare that with my <3 y/o 11 plate V50 that had it’s engine blow up in less tham 70K miles. The lease compamy wrote the car off.

Plenty sold in France (with caveat that only 1 of my many French inlaws own Renault – Espace, one Peugot and then mostly Japanese or German), I can understand the history bias but I think they make decent enough cars which I would put on an even footing with say Ford and Vauxhaul. Given my VAG bias I would buy a Skoda over a Renault fwiw.

You’ll get more for your money in terms of kit with a Renault than a VAG car. Also Renault actual style their cars which is something VAG seemingly can’t be bothered with in the majority of cases. Whether I bought a VAG or Renault would depend on the specific deal and also the reputation of the local dealer.

This stuff about French cars came up when we were looking a couple of months ago, and consequently we didn’t seriously look at any. That said, I suspect that reliability wise modern cars are all pretty much the same, and all this stuff is stereotypes and received wisdom from a previous generation. As someone pointed out above it’s not supported by reliability surveys etc. but it doesn’t seem to die. Interesting how some brands can keep themselves associated with quality and reliability in the face of evidence to the contrary while some can’t seem to shake off the old stories.

Sheepishly putting my hand up as a bit of a Renault fan.

Over the last few years have had a Laguna 2.0 turbo and a Renaultsport Megane 225 Cup. Currently running a Clio 1.5dci and an old Kangoo 1.5 van.

All but the Kangoo (needed a new rail) have been pretty much trouble free both electrically and mechanically. Lots of wear and tear expense on the Megane but then it wasn’t driven particularly gently…

I even like the little Clio we have now – totally gutless, but the suspension and handling are surprisingly sharp for a shopping trolley.

Next car is likely to be a quick Clio.

French cars… In the past I had two Lagunas, both of which made it to 80-odd k in three years without a single unscheduled trip to the dealer. We had a couple of Citroen ZXs which were fine.
But Mrs owg has a Citroen C3 (current model) which is falling apart at 36k.

I own a 2010 scenic, its had a rear brake caliper (electric, warranted) and a passenger front window (some type of regulator, non warranted), i cant remember how much it was but not a lot.
Other than that, regular service items in 70k miles.
1.5dci, yep its a wheezy old goat, but it takes me 30 miles to work and back easily, isnt too noisy, and doesn’t waste fuel.
Seats mega comfy, the stereo has to be heard to be believed, (my car is a special edition with an uprated stereo)
Handling is good, but you do need to remember its a high car.
All 3 rear seats slide fore and aft, recline, fold up, or lift out, individually.
If i fold up 1 of them, i can get my cx bike in, diagonally across the boot, with the saddle wedged against the roof.
If you’re gonna buy one of these, id say look for one of the nissan engined 2.0 versions, (dci 158bhp) as the 1.5 is a little underpowered

Had 09 reg megane sport, and 2007 scenic, no faults with any of them, great cars
Then got a golf gti, that was a different story

My 2005 Scenic 1.5 dCI replaced a 1999 Mazda 323. I can honestly say I’ve done more work on the Renault in the year I’ve owned it than the 8 years I had the Mazda (I changed the clutch and the cam belt on the Mazda). None of the Renault stuff could really have been put down as neglect, things like airbag clocksprings failing, various electronic issues, windows not working, etc.
Having said that most of the issues have been cured by disassembly and reassembly, but the electronic handbrake failure at £450 was a bit painful.
I had some reservations at the time of purchase, but its basically sound and im on top of it now. For £750 on 120,000 miles it was a bargain.

My 05 Scenic has been fairly terrible, New EGR, dash display and turbo. The 04 was much worse apparently. The stats on here agree with my experience

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/

But the new model is showing as way better. So I would consider another one

Also the repairs have cost less than the price difference to an older Touran with an extra 50,000 miles. So I’m not that unhappy

Another Renault fan here, have a Laguna sport tourer here with 110k on it, they’re great!

Dads Renault 18 way back, was an absolute lottery what lights came on the back in the rain , you’d indicate and the brake lights come on , brake and the reversing light came on , lad at work had a Megane only problem I ever remember was sun roof passing water which he fixed with works 2″ sellotape !!

Thanks for all the replies, seems they have got better 🙂

I had a Megane mk1 between ’99 and ’09. The first 5 years were OK,ish, but after that, well I was glad when it finally died. Swore I’d never have another.

A colleague has had company 1.5 dCi for the last two years and it seems remarkably refined quiet and smooth. I drove it from Sheffield to Wetherby and back today. It’s not the quickest but wasn’t slow either. It happily cruised at any speed I wanted. It’s only got 43k on the clock but good to hear of all the higher mileage examples.

Prefer a 1.6 but fewer of them around. Lots of choice with the 1.5’s.