A truly bad car Megan 1.6 estate

[MeganeMike]

I was just unfortunate enough to take on a Megane 1.6 estate pool car as my Skoda Octavia 1.9tdi is too high on miles for our current lease deal 72k miles at 23 months old with no problems at all what so ever.
The car i have been given is on a 04 2004 with 58k miles with a full service history and the following is my opinion of this car!! first of all i cant get comfy in the seat im 5' 9" yet my legs are way off the seat bottom and my head rest for whatever reason adjusts from the bottom forwards only ???? the lumbar control is blocked by the huge centre rattle box and there is no storage in the centre because someone designed an aircraft throttle when they should of put in a hand brake!!!.
The steering not helped by a already worn out anti roll bar bush "at just 58k miles" feels totaly disconected from the road in a way i have never experianced before its too heavy at parking speeds then becomes too light at motorway speed and in a fast corner it loads up to a point where you feel like if you make a slight adjustment it will spit you off the road!!!
The suspension!!! Wow, how is it possible to get suspension so wrong?? The car crashes about like its a flipping F1 car on a street circuit and yet still rolls about like a wet jelly go over two bumps in a row and you will be feeling very green after a couple of miles of bounce!!!
The Engine ok i know this is a 1.6 and i should expect it to be guttless but OMG my wife has a Fiat Panda 1.1 which has far more go in it. You start this thing on a cold day and it sounds like a diesel for a good few seconds "a proper Death rattle" and when it settles down and you decide to take off the aircraft throttle so you can drive it, you find that when you want to pull away the Traction control "which you cant turn off for more than a couple of seconds at a time" kills the pull away completley resulting in angry mopeds beeping me as they pass me at 15mph!! you then go for second gear put the clutch in and take foot of the accelerator and watch the revs climb for no apparent reason making you wait for the revs to come back down so you can make a smooth change. Are all megans like this????
On top of all this we have a interior deigned by a GCSE student and made out of plastic cups which likes to fall apart should you look at it wrong and also the trip computer for miles left in the tank it slowly drops 1 mile at a time then when the yellow light comes on the reading dissapears leaving you none the wiser as to how many miles you have to find a garage.
And finally the key fob three buttons with no clear markings as to what they do and a start button which will only start the car if its in a good mood and you have pressed the brake pedal not the clutch whats wrong with a frigging key???
OH ps what the hell is the alarm clock noise every time i go into the boot????
I can honestly say there is nothing at all i like about this car i had a Maestro for a short time 15 years ago and that was a bad car but compared to the Megan i would take it back gladly.

Great Moan over all answers welcomed to any ot the problems above and if this has put you off buying a Renault then great my job is done, Go check out the new Octavia at Skoda a Better car by a million miles!!!

[Anthony]

What sort of reply do you expect? "Oh yeah, all our Megs are shite too".

If you don't like your particular car then fine, but alot of people on here are more than happy with theirs.

It just sounds as if your Megane has been driven very poorly/not looked after in it's lifetime. As for the suspension that doesn't sound right at all. Did you even think there might be a problem with it before just saying it is crap?

[Gav]

There are a few valid points that I'd agree with. The seats aren't as comfortable as some others I've had (ever had a Vauxhall though - they're worse), and compared to a Golf I borrowed last year the ride over bumps isn't as good (although a lot of that might be down to tyres - my current Goodyear Excellence's are anything but excellent). If you haven't driven a car with electric power steering before then you might not like it. Personally I preferred the setup in a Punto I had, but my '06 seems a lot better than your '04 - seems like the bush needs replacing ASAP.

I love the "aircraft throttle" handbrake - it certainly fits my hand/arm movement well, and means there's a cavernous storage bin under the arm rest (which itself is a bonus for me). I also like the fact that the sun visors stay in place (VW's don't for me).

The starting with brake not clutch is a known issue - the cable has become disconnected from the clutch pedal by a previous driver. Lack of engine performance could be down to components in need of a clean after prolonged use with substandard supermarket fuels. Some of the petrol owners might recomed checking out certain things. My dCi106 is no slouch, although it does take time to adjust between gettting the best from a petrol than a diesel.

As for the key fob (it may have changed as mine is newer), there would have been markings on it once - but a pool car key has probably seen more than a fair share of abuse being chucked around. I had a similar issue when borrowing a Golf -it took ages to lock as the buttons were round the "wrong" way to me. I grew to like the Golf despite its shortcomings (well built, but inferior design).

[Toosh]

I was just unfortunate Blah blah blah a million miles!!!

Unluckly. Mines great

[Anthony]

I was just unfortunate Blah blah blah a million miles!!!

Unluckly. Mines great

Ha nice.

[direstraits]

You made a wrong choice mate. You should have bought a Lexus or Maybach... I like mine, drives great, consumes little, comfortable, spacious... I've driven VW/Skoda too, but I don't like it. Too uncomfortable for me. And they sound like tractors, too.

[rjacko]

You made a wrong choice mate. You should have bought a Lexus or Maybach...

[MeganeMike]

You made a wrong choice mate. You should have bought a Lexus or Maybach...

First i did not buy this "PUP" of a car its a pool car untill i get my skoda back and really a posh Toyota "Lexus" or a very over priced Merc i dont think so i want to drive the car to a place of work and know its not going to get Nicked or spat on !!

[steve-t]

Stick with the megane then??
Being a pool car its probably been hammered by more than one muppet
Just like the fastest car in the world A HIRE CAR after all it aint theirs

[STEVIE]

Dude you come on a site for people who like there cars and start going on about about a FOOKED company car
why bother mate you just get peoples back up
with it being a pool car no one takes care of the it IE getting parts replaced when needed
as its been said above its like a hire car thrash it kill it hand it back
You need to be telling someone at work who looks after the fleet not a site set up for megane OWNERS
steve

[Bumpy macaroon]

yeah meganes are rubbish thats why i have two, ok i admit one is her indoors and the most exciting thing about it is its blue apparently. But both start fine, drive great in straight lines and, and i have to admit im amazed but they go round corners as well, the seats reach my arse and back and put me behind the wheel, the handbrake stops it from rolling down hills, the plastic is not falling apart like a tower of klix coffee cups and the key fobs well there are three buttons, doors open, doors lock, and unlock boot, even me an inbred renault megane driving ex southerner now living in suffolk has managed to remember which button does what without, and wait for it, without even having to look at the button.

so your choices are clear, leave your job for a company that has a policy to look after its pool cars, or a company that uses a lease company with a higher mileage allowance or put up with the fact that you are driving a pool motor which has been ill treated by both company and drivers alike. or just have a big bag of shut the hell up

back well up...........

[STEVIE]

yeah meganes are rubbish thats why i have two, ok i admit one is her indoors and the most exciting thing about it is its blue apparently. But both start fine, drive great in straight lines and, and i have to admit im amazed but they go round corners as well, the seats reach my arse and back and put me behind the wheel, the handbrake stops it from rolling down hills, the plastic is not falling apart like a tower of klix coffee cups and the key fobs well there are three buttons, doors open, doors lock, and unlock boot, even me an inbred renault megane driving ex southerner now living in suffolk has managed to remember which button does what without, and wait for it, without even having to look at the button.

so your choices are clear, leave your job for a company that has a policy to look after its pool cars, or a company that uses a lease company with a higher mileage allowance or put up with the fact that you are driving a pool motor which has been ill treated by both company and drivers alike. or just have a big bag of shut the hell up

back well up...........

AGREED

stevie

[MeganeMike]

Dude you come on a site for people who like there cars and start going on about about a FOOKED company car
why bother mate you just get peoples back up
with it being a pool car no one takes care of the it IE getting parts replaced when needed
as its been said above its like a hire car thrash it kill it hand it back
You need to be telling someone at work who looks after the fleet not a site set up for megane OWNERS
steve

Steve
This site is for people with "Megans" Good ones? Bad ones and well the Ugly ones!!
Its not my intention to "get peoples backs up" which would be difficult knowing that the lumber adjust is fowled by the centre Rattle box.
The car has come to our company as a used vehical and we are using it as a pool car no one else has used it in that way, we as a company have had the thing serviced inc belts ect and that will continue untill it dies!! , all of our Skodas are driven by the same drivers that will have the Megan and not one of the Skodas has developed a single fault!!!
Also as someone who drives 40k miles a year and pays for my fuel it is in my interest to drive it in an economic manner so as to cost as little as possible!!! hard to do with a guttless 1.6 doing 36mpg compared to the Skodas 56mpg.
Now as a consumer i often look at forums to get other peoples "Opinions" on what i wish to purchase car, tv, camera, ect and i will also leave my "Opinion" good or bad so that others can make an educated choice.
My point in general is why would anyone buy one of these plastic rattle cans when there is so much better out there ?
PS The faults have been reported and will be actioned asap heres hoping they will improve the car hell it cant get any worse!!!!!

[MeganeMike]

yeah meganes are rubbish thats why i have two, ok i admit one is her indoors and the most exciting thing about it is its blue apparently. But both start fine, drive great in straight lines and, and i have to admit im amazed but they go round corners as well, the seats reach my arse and back and put me behind the wheel, the handbrake stops it from rolling down hills, the plastic is not falling apart like a tower of klix coffee cups and the key fobs well there are three buttons, doors open, doors lock, and unlock boot, even me an inbred renault megane driving ex southerner now living in suffolk has managed to remember which button does what without, and wait for it, without even having to look at the button.

so your choices are clear, leave your job for a company that has a policy to look after its pool cars, or a company that uses a lease company with a higher mileage allowance or put up with the fact that you are driving a pool motor which has been ill treated by both company and drivers alike. or just have a big bag of shut the hell up

back well up...........

Er NO i will not "shut the hell up" and you drive two much newer versions of the Megan so i suspect your problems are yet to come how are they??
And if you only do a couple of miles a day and have no real interest in cars ie buying two the same then im sure that a car that drives straight and stops ect would be just great, all im saying is that many other cars do it better and cheaper!!

[MeganeMike]

There are a few valid points that I'd agree with. The seats aren't as comfortable as some others I've had (ever had a Vauxhall though - they're worse), and compared to a Golf I borrowed last year the ride over bumps isn't as good (although a lot of that might be down to tyres - my current Goodyear Excellence's are anything but excellent). If you haven't driven a car with electric power steering before then you might not like it. Personally I preferred the setup in a Punto I had, but my '06 seems a lot better than your '04 - seems like the bush needs replacing ASAP.

I love the "aircraft throttle" handbrake - it certainly fits my hand/arm movement well, and means there's a cavernous storage bin under the arm rest (which itself is a bonus for me). I also like the fact that the sun visors stay in place (VW's don't for me).

The starting with brake not clutch is a known issue - the cable has become disconnected from the clutch pedal by a previous driver. Lack of engine performance could be down to components in need of a clean after prolonged use with substandard supermarket fuels. Some of the petrol owners might recomed checking out certain things. My dCi106 is no slouch, although it does take time to adjust between gettting the best from a petrol than a diesel.

As for the key fob (it may have changed as mine is newer), there would have been markings on it once - but a pool car key has probably seen more than a fair share of abuse being chucked around. I had a similar issue when borrowing a Golf -it took ages to lock as the buttons were round the "wrong" way to me. I grew to like the Golf despite its shortcomings (well built, but inferior design).

Gav

Thanks for the constructive comments and yes i agree all Vauxhalls are inferior and have back ache as standard the Megan is going back soon for some investigation to the suspension/ Driveshaft and the cold start problems i will post the postmortem on its return