Well... It's coming up to my insurance renewal and I'm now earning a decent amount of money a week... My Punto is closing in on 121,000 miles and everything creaks, rattles etc... So I'm going to be getting rid of it soon. I've been out looking at cars today and I should be buying a 2002 Renault Megane DCi sometime very soon.

I'd buy another Fiat, but I don't like mk2 Puntos and with the mileage I do every week to work and back, I'm needing a proper mile muncher. The Megane has literally sold itself to me, lots of goodies, low price and 56mpg...

But I'll stick around... Assuming I buy the Megane anyway. My Punto IS going soon, there's no doubt about it but it may be sooner than I originally planned.

So within the next month... It's going to be me waving goodbye to italian car ownership... and hello to french car ownership (i'm not so sure it's a great idea... but it's a very nice car )

hehehe

Anything but French bruv... ANYTHING!

I think it was going to be a french car whatever happened... it was down to finding a Peugeot 306 HDi that hadn't been thrashed, or finding something else. and that something else is also french.

I duno, French bodywork is a work of art, also the ride & handling is everything that you'd want really... :devil:

StoneNewt said:

I duno, French bodywork is a work of art, also the ride & handling is everything that you'd want really... :devil:

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He's talking cars lol ...... you're talking woman :devil:

Aww someone had to spoil it

save your money you drive a forklift with no licence, been looking into that, if you injure some one they sue you not employer,

angel said:

He's talking cars lol ...... you're talking woman :devil:

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Shes right, French cars are really spontanious. Things happen to them suddenly and at random.

There are usually very few warning signs and from the time of a warning sign to the time when something stops working is not usually long enough for the owner to plan a fix.

My mates Fuel Pump on his Pug 306HDi gave him a few days warning before one night it refused to start.

My Fuel Pump gave me about a months warning.

The difference I can have the car diagnosed to pin point the issue in this time by letting experienced mechanics drive it about at tell me what the problem is likely to be.

With a French car you got 3 days and then its GAME OVER YEAH!

A mates BRAND NEW clio from the Show Room went back to Renault more times then people have seen the underneath of my 1992 Tipo. No Renault mechanic could diagnose it, took them 4 months to figure out why sometimes the car would cut off at random and sometimes fail to start. Similar Symtoms a failing Fuel pump but it was not the Fuel Pump. Was an ECU problem caused by some modification BUT the Diagnostic error did not point them any where near the right direction. Its only when my mate switched one day and threatened a few people and Renault were scared they took something to pieces and found the problem by accident.

Its not a guarantee but its more then likely you may regret it.

that's fair enough. the way i see it though, the car i plan to buy has done 80k miles (for a diesel that's bugger all), i looked through the service history and in that time, it's had very little work done on it. normal services etc... it's had a new alternator fitted a few days ago (it had seized on the forecourt) and the air con pump had to be reconditioned.

those things don't really ring any alarm bells to me.

what about a jtd bravo?

Do not go french i had a peugeot 306 hdi and everything that could go wrong did

wher to start

New starter motor

new exhaust

New hubs, ball joints brushes

new top suspension mounts

new alternator

New rear drums

new brakes cables

new hand brake

new clutch

new boot lock

and so on

I must agree with everyone's comments on here.

Just before my beautiful Punto, I had a Monaco Blue 2000 W Laguna Sport dCi with 109,000, full service history and one owner (it was a lease car, so everything that ever needed doing had to be done to it under the lease terms). Whilst it was a good car that started everytime, the things that went wrong on it cost me a fortune to repair. A clutch slave cylinder cost me just under £300 to sort out, a new clutch was over £500. The aircon needed sorting (the pump had packed up) and that was threatening to be another £400-500. And none of these were Main dealer prices, and was the cheapest I could get after ringing around various independants. All this had happened during the course of two years ownership. Not to mention the insurance was a little on the high side. In my opinion, a French diesel engine is one of the best, if not the best, in the world, just the rest of the car lets them down.

Heed our advice, my friend. Avoid the Megane, unless you want costly trouble.

My mother has been driving renaults for the last 20 years and she hasn't got a bad thing to say about them, last Laguna she had for 9 years and the only problem she had was the door leaking after a van crashed into the side of it, got a 2003 laguna now and its brillian, stunning to drive and no problems with it yet!

Our laguna used to eat driveshafts, had to have a new one every year and it only did maybe 10K a year.

TBH french cars are built just as well as italian cars.
But spares are a bit more pricey, but dealer labour is maybe less.

However, got to say the local renault sales team are the most useless idiots you could imagine!!!
It was like,
yeah, we're looking at a laguna or a laguna estate, or a bigger saloon if you hav one.

right, we have this this and this. Now lets have a look at a new megane,

no, used laguna please.

errr, we don't have any laguna's that are used.

whats thoughs cars out the front then

Oh them, their megane's

look like used laguna's to me.

Well we'll see shan't we.
(go outside to look at the line of 15used laguna's)
You see laguna's.

Oh, I didn't know, i though they were meganes. Talking of meganes, they are a really nice car you know! For the price of a used laguna estate 2.2hdi, or v6 saloon with 32k on it, you could have a BRAND NEW 1.4 megane, but a/c is extra.

No, we really don't want a megane, a diesel or v6 laguna sal or est is what we want.

Ok then, lets have a look at this lagune (walks to the most expensive one, a 1.6petrol saloon with 4k on it),

no we'd really be interested in a more powerful one with some more miles on it.

I really wouldn't reccomend anything more than 30k, they tend to look a bit drab and tired.

Oh your doing a good job of selling this car.

What car now? Do you want a test drive in said 1.6 laguna.

No thanks, we'd rather take that 2.2hdi estate out.

thats got 36k on its, its a bit well used, past its best you know.


We did take it out, and on the test run, asked im a few Q's like mpg, bhp, torque, and he was quoting figures for the 1.6 petrol, then he started banging on about how good the diesels were on fuel, and that we should test drive one of them. Er we are IN a diesel now you know.

Basically we went thru 3 salesman and all of them were completly clueless as to what they were selling!!!
Doesn't inspire confidence.

THe local audi crew however

faster4_tec said:

thats got 36k on its, its a bit well used, past its best you know.

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You reply "Well, I am looking for a used car not a new one. So something that's just about run in fits the bill."

lol that story seems the same about our local skoda dealer. Even though there isn't many models to learn lol.

SeicentoS said:

My mother has been driving renaults for the last 20 years and she hasn't got a bad thing to say about them, last Laguna she had for 9 years and the only problem she had was the door leaking after a van crashed into the side of it, got a 2003 laguna now and its brillian, stunning to drive and no problems with it yet!

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Says some one diving a.......ommigod......Toyota STARLET

I see you're trying to change my mind... Ok, here's something for you.

Find me a Fiat that has this spec for less than £3500 and I'll stay with Fiat...

Air con, 6cd changer, half leather, alloys, abs, ebd, power steering and an economical diesel engine. Must be a hatchback, big boot, room for 5 adults, driver, passenger and side airbags. Electric windows, mirrors and sunroof. It's gotta handle better than a mk1 Punto (which, IMO doesn't take much), the Megane far exceeds my Punto in EVERY way.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1999-FIAT-MAR...oryZ9843QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Marea-We...oryZ9843QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://attr-search.ebay.co.uk/searc...ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=3&fsoo=1