'03 Megane Dci

Gel

Hi,
Looking at a 03 Megane 1.5Dci. sports saloon. Looks a bargin at 7K.
It's done 80,000mls. Apart from accident damage is their anything about these cars to be wary of?

colm_mcm

€7,000 is below average price for diesel. what sord of condition is it in. is it the basic spec without aircon. AFAIK the dynamique models had a more powerful version of the 1.5 DCI. (100 vs 80?)

E92

Gel wrote:

Hi,
Looking at a 03 Megane 1.5Dci. sports saloon. Looks a bargin at 7K.
It's done 80,000mls. Apart from accident damage is their anything about these cars to be wary of?

The rubbish reliability would be something to be very wary of.

Honestjohn.co.uk wrote:

Drivers have suffered parking brake and electrical problems within 6 weeks of the car going on sale. One reviewer suffered a mysterious serious engine vibration and the accelerator pedal falling off due to a misplaced circlip both the same week. Seems that water gets into fusebox of early cars and causes havoc. Renault has a sealing kit. Later cars not affected.

On 1.5 and 1.9DCIs EGR valve should open to allow carbon dioxide, which acts as a cooling gas) into the combustion chambers when the engine is under load (>30% boost). This allows the combustion chamber temperature to drop and thus the temperature of the exhaust gases. If it sticks in the closed position the exhaust gas temperature will rise causing a) the turbo bearings to fail and b) engine oil into the induction system. This will cause the engine to go on running until it has consumed all its oil and then it will go bang. Problems with EGR valves in Renault dCi engines are often the cause of rough running when the valve is stuck in the open position as well. In several cases turbos have blown but the EGR valve has not been replaced. Inevitably the new turbo unit will not last long. This seems to be confined to early 1.5DCIs as Renault modified the EGRs and no further reports of trouble in the 9 months to April 2007.

Keycard failsafe requires driver to press clutch before starting with card, but electrical cable for this can dangle into footwell and get snapped. Meganes with 17" wheels can suffer high rear tyre wear down to 8,000 miles (due to tyre compound and camber of rear suspension). Widespread ignition coils failures.

Only 88% of cars up to 2 years old breakdown-free over previous 12 months in 2004 Which? survey and only 80% in 2006 Which? survey.

Reader Jonathan Lamb's saga (received 11-5-2004):

"Over eleven months the car has had its winscreen replaced, front and back brakes replaced, steering column replaced, sun roof replaced twice, battery flattened over night for no apparent reason, remote sensors replaced at least twice, seatbelt mounting replaced, dashboard sound-proofed, gearstick replaced. This is on top of the sunroof fuse being faulty on collecting he vehicle, loud engine noise pulsing..."

colm_mcm

apparently renaults being rubbish is all made up, mostly by me.

Owen

And me!

Tipsy Mac

Ask if it's a UK import, when the seller tells you it is save yourself bothering with the HPI check as it's clocked or crashed.

Gel

The main reason I ask the question is that I already own a 05 Megane 1.5Dci with 55k on the clock and it has been an excellent car. No trouble at all except water gets into the door side pockets!
I'm now looking at this other 03 megane as a second car but it's got 90K on it and I'm wondering what can happen with these cars as the mileage increases. The car was originally bought from an Irish renault dealer and apparantly has been regularly serviced. I think the seller mentioned that the timing belt had been done.
My choice is down to this or a 99 Merc C180 automatic which roughly the same price.

jimmycrackcorm

Tipsy Mac wrote:

Ask if it's a UK import, when the seller tells you it is save yourself bothering with the HPI check as it's clocked or crashed.

And absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they're cheaper imported and with higher specs.

Tipsy Mac

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

And absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they're cheaper imported and with higher specs.

I was speaking more so from a cars being sold cheaper than they possibly can be if bought as straight genuine UK cars.