Megane GT 220 Estate

[woofy]

Renaults in the 70s were pretty rock solid, as were Pugs....its really only the 90s onwards where things went south. Ironically most of the issues with Nissan cars, eg oil getting all through the air intakes in X trails are all inherited from the Renault side.

The amount of inherent faults is what worries me about them. It's not uncommon for them to have major recalls or even worse, odd gremlin type problems that they ignore....eg the example above with the collapsed cat is a common type of story.

My friend has a RS Clio, it stopped on a few occasions for no reason and nothing was ever found. It also was part of a recall where if the front passenger pushed too hard in the footwell the car would actually brake due to redundant wiring they left in the RHD models.

I have very fond memories of my parents 78 14 Wagon, the paint is still immaculate and the car was bulletproof, but they are not even close to that anymore.

[brad]

Is this really so different to Skoda? Some of the most common concerns on this forum seem to be depreciation, parts and dealers.

reliability? Generally Skodas are more reliable & better built than VWs.

depreciation? So many mixed reports on this. Some owners appear to resell for good money. Others take a bath. I do wonder if it's the owner rather than the vehicle itself.

parts? Interchangeable VW parts don't seem to be an issue. There have been some instance of long waits for crash repair body panels but only a couple that I'm aware of. Skoda piggy-bag of VWs logistics capabilities so even though Skoda only sell 1/3 of what Renault are, VW are selling 500% of Renaults volumes & therefore getting a lot more deliveries from around the globe.

Dealers? hopeless oxygen thieves.

[zei20t]

They also effectively control Nissan. Nissans these days are just modified two generation old Renaults in a lot of details.

My 1982 Feugo Turbo drive car was one of the cars I enjoyed driving most during my time in the car industry but I would never have purchased one.

yup and that sucked. no more Silvia, the Skyline became a watered down model and the GTR is out of 95% of peoples price range. They pretty much make boring cars now.

The same can be said for anything out of Japan right now, the GT86 being the only exception.

[Dutch77]

yup and that sucked. no more Silvia, the Skyline became a watered down model and the GTR is out of 95% of peoples price range. They pretty much make boring cars now.

The same can be said for anything out of Japan right now, the GT86 being the only exception.

Not my sort of car, but you have to wonder what a current Silvia/200SX would be like going up against 86/BRZ.

[zei20t]

it would be better

[woofy]

A Silvia was good in a straight line, if they continued the evolution, it would be higher powered, but not as good handling. The 86/BRZ is designed as handling first, power second.

The Zs are still going well though. Honda and Mazda have pretty much dropped all new performance cars unless a new MPS 6 appears. With the larger body it would a very different beast to the older version.

[team_v]

A Silvia was good in a straight line, if they continued the evolution, it would be higher powered, but not as good handling. The 86/BRZ is designed as handling first, power second.

The Zs are still going well though. Honda and Mazda have pretty much dropped all new performance cars unless a new MPS 6 appears. With the larger body it would a very different beast to the older version.

The 86 isn't designed for handling, they put prius tyres on so you can break traction at 40km/h..........

[Dutch77]

If it didn't follow the path of some newer Nissans it might be a better looking unit too - the last 200SXs still look pretty clean today, I'm not sure the 86/BRZs will.. but that's more a subjective thing.

Handling can be tidied up, but so to can more power be extracted. Probably easier to tighten up the handling (assuming a good base) then to play with the engine though. A moot point nonetheless though..

I hadn't heard of any intention to do a new MPS6, as you say it would be a different car at least in sedan form - by all accounts the wagon is the pick there.

[brad]

The 86 isn't designed for handling, they put prius tyres on so you can break traction at 40km/h..........

I have the same tyres (Michelin Primacy HP) on my Octavia.
Yes they are a touring tyre & give very long life and they seem an odd choice for a vehicle with sporty pretentions (the Toybaru not my shopping trolley) but I can do 90kmh (comfortably) on the 45kmh advisory 270 degree cloverleaf coming from Narellan Rd westbound to Hume Hwy Northbound. I'm sure you could make them slide if you wanted to be a nob but driven smoothly they hang on quite well for a tyre that has now done 70,000km.

[dagget]

Is this really so different to Skoda? Some of the most common concerns on this forum seem to be depreciation, parts and dealers.

I guess it all depends where you are coming from, the main reason for buying a Skoda for us were - reliability, VW/audi mechanical and access to parts/dealers and an excellent value/price. As for depreciation, will worry about that later on but have always lost money on cars so no surprises there..

The Renault problems we had were all over the place from dealerships that could not diagnose problems on near new cars to unavailable and stupid expensive parts - get that from France in 6 weeks to non standard diagnosis ports so you had to go to a dealer in a car you couldn't drive just to get a code cleared from the ECU.

Maybe Renault have improved their QC over the recent years, the cars are free of electrical infidelity and the dealers are nicer but despite loving the products could not buy again.

Incidentally, big benefits for Renault were ride, apparent build quality, value for money, huge load space, the 'exclusiveness' factor pretty much the same reasons for buying a Skoda.

[K1W1]

The 86 isn't designed for handling, they put prius tyres on so you can break traction at 40km/h..........

You should at least acknowledge that you are quoting Jeremy Clarkson.

[dagget]

You should at least acknowledge that you are quoting Jeremy Clarkson.

Yeah but can he read a book and drift at the same time.

[bobski]

I think that looks pretty damn sweet. The lock for the Octavia for me though, as mentioned, is the boot space. But it is still nice seeing more small station wagons on the market. Choice is choice bro!

[pologti18t]

The 86 isn't designed for handling, they put prius tyres on so you can break traction at 40km/h..........

Don't confuse roadholding with handling.

[li21]

My 2c...
Fast wagons are great.. and the GT220 is a good looker (ugly interior and steering wheel though!)
But kinda seems slow with a 0-100km time of 7.6 when you compare to the Octvaia RS which is bigger and more practical (and faster)
Will will wait for the MK3 vRS Wagon