Megane Break

[Jackie]

Anyone have knowledge of, or comments about, the Megane Estate Fairway 1.5DCI 105 ECO2 as I rather like the looks of it but cannot find any reviews at WhatCar or Parkers. Any gen on reviews French or English would be welcome. Have looked at C4s and 308s but like the Renault. Mind you have just had the rear wheel bearings replaced on the current Megane at only 79,000 kms so maybe they are not so great!.........................John and not Jackie

[cooperlola]

Have a look HERE

for the current range of Megane estates in the UK.

[Will]

I have one of those (slightly older version). Try this site http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=122 - what else do you want to know?

[ChezShells]

We have a 1.5dci megane, not the estate would prefer one though, nearly 3 yr old, brilliant up to now, had to buy an addon box to up the power (80bhp to 100) and is still v slow, saying that I was used to 300bhp Mitsi in UK, the megane is well put together despite reports, everything works, no squeaks or rattles, I think ours maybe one of the few that leaves the factory spot on, 60 mpg as well, no regrets from us, its just done 120k klm so just had cambelt done 370 euros incl water pump from village Renault garage, thought a bit pricey

Lee

[sid]

We have a 1.9dci Megane estate (break). We've had it from new and it's 3 years old now with 62,000 kms on the clock. It's been great and has cost us only for routine servicing.

I don't think I'd be happy with a less powerful engine though; I tow a trailer quite a lot, often up to it's maximum payload (the usual sand, chaux etc). It's my first diesel-engined car and has completely changed my view of 'oil-burners'; it regularly does over 1000kms to a tankful of fuel.

We bought ours through an import company in Mulhouse and saved about 4000€.

Regards

Sid 

[raindog]

 I have a 1.4 petrol engined Megane and the performance is terrible and I think a 1.5 diesel would be even worse. Go for a 2 litre.

[Jackie]

Thanks for the replies folks. There are several things that puzzle me about the Megane range. At the moment we have a Megane Berline 5 door bought in 2001 which has given us good service until now. The engine is a 1.9 DCI rated at 6CV and the engine in the Fairway we have just been looking at is also rated at 6CV but only a 1.5 DCI. 105 is also included in the name which I assume is the brake HP. Does this mean that Renault now get more out of their engines? The Fairway technical spec does not seem to tie up with models seen on English sites. It is described as a limited edition and seems to be an amalgam of different models and add-ons. 

On another point we had both back wheel bearings replaced yesterday on the old Megane at a cost of 217 Euros, only 79 000 kms on the clock. The back brake shoes were found to be really worn down, I inspected them myself, and the Renault service agent did not have the parts in stock but gave me a Devis to replace them for a total of 308.39 Euros which seems rather high to me. On the detail shown on the Devis is listed the following:  Replacement des garnitures et des cylindres de roue arriere (I assume this means replacing linings and the rear wheel cylinders though not sure of this), purging brake circuit, road testing,  for which they want  90.80 + VAT, and I assume this is the labour cost which seems very reasonable, and then something else which I am not too sure I am translating properly.

It reads COLL. FREIN AR.PRE for which they want to charge 155 Euros +VAT . They have used abreviations on the Devis and I assume that COLL could be short for gluing and AR for rear, PRE? Sounds as if they are charging for gluing new linings on the shoes, can this be right? All seems a bit odd to me or am I being thick? I thought these were available off the shelf.  Other small charges are included for brake fluid and brake cleaning fluid. I was not able to query this at the time as they were very busy and the bloke was dealing with other customers at the time I got the Devis when I paid for the bearing work to the girl in the office. I am toying with the idea of keeping the old Renault, rather low trade-in value, as a work-horse for bags of cement etc and therefore my concern about the brakes. I should say that the Renault agent impressed me on many counts not the least of which was that they replaced the bearings while I waited, only took an hour and got the rendez-vous within 24 hours of needing it.....................John 

[ChezShells]

CV will go off model / spec as well as engine, your current megane could be low spec and the new one higher spec

Garage work won't be cheap, if your worried about them get a japanese car instead, work might cost a little more but should need less trips to the garage.

[Jackie]

Again thanks to all for opinions but have decided to go with a Scenic Latitude 8CV 130 BHP having test driven and found much more comfortable than the Fairway Break, any views?...................J