Renault Megane hire car ...

Owen

So, what are the French good at? They can make some damn fine wine, some even finer ladies, and have an artistic touch, when it comes to architecture, culinary delights, and the arts themselves. I'll tell you what they can't do though, build a car!

While in Poland for the weekend, I had requested a Mondeo 1.8 purely as a run around on the Motorway, 1.8 being just about adequate for the speeds we'd be doing. The Hire car company though, decided that the Mondeo they'd promised to me wasn't promised after all, and sure, wouldn't a 1.6 Megane estate do. My initial reaction, was to curl up in a ball, suck my thumb, and wish this wasn't happening. I know first hand just how bad these things are from trying to trade them in at the Garage where I work, no one in the Motor trade wants them on their forecourts, except Renault dealers - and even they're not delighted about taking them back. They are a worthless, unreliable, and boring car, and the motoring public know it. The only exception was, and ever shall be, the Megane Coupe, which was a great little seller. Still, painfully unreliable. But let's give the car the benefit of the doubt. This couldn't possibly be like the dozens of Renaults I've refused in the past, could it?

Could it heck. The first 4 miles told me a lot. For a car with reasonable mileage, and that was reasonably new, I was appalled. The steering was unresponsive, and felt like it was connected to the front wheels via a complex rubber-band system designed by, and installed by, Leonardo DaVinci. The brakes were schizophrenic, they couldn't decide if they wanted to pull the car to the left, or two the right. The one thing they could all agree on though, was that under no circumstances would they stop the car in a straight line. The windscreen wiper motor revolted when electricity was passed through it, and let us know it's discomfort by sounding like a cat, in heat, getting jiggy in the wrong hole. The radio would turn up in volume, but not down. The alarm, being short sighted, decided that it would be as well off to let me know if it thought it could make out the shape of something passing, you know ... just in case. 10 times a night. The engine is asthmatic, soulless, and embarrassing. Interior plastics were cheap, and nasty, so cheap in fact, that Lidl wouldn't stock them in a Thursday special, and on top of all of this, the Air conditioning was relieving itself of fluid like a regular outside the an early house waiting for 7am to get the first pint in.

Bleurgh, rant off.

colm_mcm

on a happier note, the Lancia I had in Italy this week was faultless.

Owen

Showoff

colm_mcm

It was a bit of a comedown from the Alfa 147 Multijet I was assured of getting, but at least it had the same engine

crosstownk

Ned, you booked a Mondeo and ended up with a Megane - the Megane is a rental category down from a Mondeo - I hope you were charged accordingly.

crosstownk

colm_mcm wrote:

assured of getting

They might tell you this, but in reality, no rental company will guarantee the make/model. But if they don't have a car in the group you want, you should be upgraded. This always happens when I book a car with Avis. Enterprise have let me down more than once in this regard.

colm_mcm

I was with Sixt, the car was 90 mins late, and the staff on collection and return were unbelievably rude, a stinker of a complaint is under construction. Don't know how successful thatr will be.