Renault Megane 1.5dci Sports Tourer Dynamique Tom-tom

Given that the car was getting older and things were starting to go wrong with it, and with our increased mileage is likely to be more than 15,000 miles a year.  We decided with the low mpg that it was time to change the car.

Our initial concern in our search for a new car was to try to find one with a combined mpg of over 60 miles.  With this level of fuel economy, combined with the steeply rising fuel prices we calculate a potential saving of over £1,500 with the new car in fuel alone.  Additionally, the cars with higher mpg, seemed to have lower CO2 emissions, which would cut the cost of the road tax by at least 50%, given that the Nissan was over £200.00 and most the cars were either C or D rated (being £30 to £90 respectively).

As we have a two year old the next criteria (safety being a given!) was to have a lot of storage in the boot, as little ones seem to have a plethora of luggage.  What with prams, changing bags, spare clothes, food and milk, toys etc.  So we were looking for cars such as an MPV, SUV or reasonable sized Estate cars, with a minimum of 400 litres of space.

On an initial review one of the first cars we looked at was a Hyundai I30 Estate, which was a very nice car indeed, it drove well, had a lot of safety equipment and technical ‘toys’.  However, on further consideration the boot size of 415 litres, with its lack of depth, was considered to be insufficient for our needs.  If you are looking for a good mid-sized, cost effective and fully spec’d car then I would wholly recommend the Hyundai I30, particularly with its 5 year warranty.  The dealer on Bury Road in Bolton was also superb, easy to deal with, pleasant and professional.

The next car that we looked at was the Citreon C4 Picasso, a good looking car with lots of storage, both in the boot and in the cabin.  The windscreen was also unique as it fed into the roof, giving a fantastic light and with the moveable sun-visors (they can be moved out of the way for taller drivers) it is easy to get into a position with good visibility.  The cars road manners were also good, with a quiet, keen engine, warning lights when to change gear to get maximum fuel efficiency and a very smooth ride.  The negatives, for us, were the electronic hand-brake (which I imagine you could get used to) and the truly awful rear view mirror, which looked tiny and gave an atrocious sense of tunnel vision.  The dealer in Bolton was also poor, with no negotiation on price at all and no follow up after the test-drive.

After the first two test-drives we felt that we had a better understanding of what we were really after and started to look through the What Car? Magazine, including their online database at www.whatcar.com.  From looking through the magazine we were able to prepare a short list of vehicles, based on both mpg and boot size, including vehicles from Volkswagen, Volvo, Ford, Vauxhall, Seat and the next test drive……. Skoda.

We visited the dealership near Old Trafford in Manchester and the staff there were superb, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.  Our research indicated that the Fabia may be a reasonably sized car and with some of the models getting 80+mpg.  Unfortunately, the car was awful, it was a bit smaller than the statistics would imply, the drive was uninspiring, the engine weak and the internal plastics cheap and tacky.  We then looked at the Roomster, which was a substantially better car, an amazing panoramic sunroof.  It drove completely differently to the Fabia, i.e. pleasantly!  The negative of the car was that it was very narrow and whilst the boot size seemed good, the narrowness of the car made it impractical, particularly for a pram.  Both the Fabia and the Roomster had the ‘no Vat’ deal, which meant that a new car was available for used car money.  These good deals did mean that the waiting list for a new car was up to 6 months and coupled with the specific flaws of the cars they were removed from the list.  The Octavia Estate was a phenomenally large car, but without the ‘no Vat’ deal, it was not within our budget.

The last car on the initial list was the Kia Cee’d Station Wagon, in the ‘3’ type and with its 1.6 diesel engine it ticked every box on the list.  Coming with a seven year warranty, high end specification, reasonable price and if the Bolton dealership (near the Reebok Stadium at Middlebrook) is anything to go by, superbly trained and friendly staff.  They negotiated a very good deal (besting the What Car target price) and we had almost signed on the dotted line when our ultimate choice came to our attention.

Had we not discovered the Renault Megane 1.5dCi Sports Tourer Dynamique TomTom then we would now be driving the Kia.  We would have loved to have owned and driven the Kia, but we found a six month old, ex-demonstrator Megane for more than £2,000 less than the Kia, with a similar specification, slightly higher mpg and a lower CO2 rating, bringing it down to the £30 per year level.  It had under 7,000 miles on the clock and had other mod-cons that we had not found in other cars.

The drive of the Renault is wonderful, smooth, quiet and with its six speed gear box and cruise control it eats the miles and is a pleasure to drive.  With its keyless entry and start, the parking sensors, blue-tooth connectivity, superbly efficient engine and large well spaced boot, it appears to be an ideal car for us.

Having picked it up only last weekend (early May 2011), a month a head of the ETA of the Kia, the car has not disappointed, with the onboard computer indicating over 53mpg already, and that is with a full fuel tank and learning to get the best efficiency from the car.  It is likely that we will have this car for many years.

I will try to write an update in a couple of months to let you know how we are getting on…..

First update can now be found at:

http://athingforcars.com/autos/renault-megane-1-5-dci-sports-tourer-dynamique-tom-tom-first-update/

Second update can be found at :

http://athingforcars.com/autos/renault-megane-1-5dci-sports-tourer-dynamique-tom-tom-second-update-1st-september-2011/