Is the Renault Megane 1.5 diesel a good car?
Is the Renault Megane 1.5 diesel a good car?
They seem to be cheaper than other similar makes. The version I'm looking at is a 2010 model.
Colm Nagle.
Colm Nagle (Kerry Ireland )Dec 2016 Filed under: choosing used car
Expert answer
Hi Colm,
They’re not bad, but there’s a reason that they’re cheap. Nonetheless, the Megane is a decent and solid car and reliability and quality are far, far better than was once the case with Renault.
I would be very wary of buying without a complete and full service history though, and with the 1.5 dCi diesel engine you need to keep an eye out for a blown turbo (symptoms include black or blue smoke, sluggish power delivery) or engine management system issues (surging or uneven running).
The real reason that they’re cheap though is because, in 2009-2010, Renault Ireland pursued an aggressive strategy of heavy discounting to try and grab as big a slice of the market as possible. It was the classic stack them high sell them cheap idea, and while it racked up some impressive sales figures, it did some terrible damage to residual values. At this stage, the worst of the depreciation will have been and gone, but remember if you’re buying it cheap today, you’ll be trading it in cheap when you’re finished with it.
READ: 2009 Renault Megane review
Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor@neilmbriscoe