Renault Laguna's

barura

Howdy all, I'm just wondering about renault lagunas. I remember my old man having one and it being extremely comfy. I checked out insurance on it and it's actually cheaper than my current car. Just wondering if there is there any way around the electric problems in them? A lot of 01-02 models with nct going for peanuts. Seems to be a nice car to look at as well.

Or am I just crazy? :P

tuborg_man

A mechanic friend of mine calls them a practical joke by renaults on mechanics, can be expensive and hard to repair on certain things, window regulators give trouble and are unnecessary complicated, (i think anyway , I was thinking about one as well but changed my mind after a bit of research)

conzy

I had a diesel one and it was a pos. I know someone with a petrol one and it never had any problems but there is very low mileage on it.. and the 1.6 engine has to be driven very hard to get any go out of it I found.

barura

tuborg_man wrote: »

A mechanic friend of mine calls them a practical joke by renaults on mechanics, can be expensive and hard to repair on certain things, window regulators give trouble and are unnecessary complicated, (i think anyway , I was thinking about one as well but changed my mind after a bit of research)

Did you come across anything major that goes wrong or is it just lots of small expensive things?

barura

The one I'd look at would be the 1.8. The 1.6 is the same as the Megane, iirc, and is a proper dog for just crapping itself.

tuborg_man

Just electrical (especially the keycode) tensioner's and belts have to be done the second it's due, suspension is a pain to replace (as are most things on the car, some lads won't touch them anymore) you can get a good one and be lucky but i'd recommend against it , (and i love renaults)

filthymcnasty

check:
-the keycard works properly
-all windows working ok
- any warning lights, can have issues with 02 sensors/catalytic
- be prepared to spend an hour changing headlight bulbs

x in the city

barura wrote: »

Howdy all, I'm just wondering about renault lagunas. I remember my old man having one and it being extremely comfy. I checked out insurance on it and it's actually cheaper than my current car. Just wondering if there is there any way around the electric problems in them? A lot of 01-02 models with nct going for peanuts. Seems to be a nice car to look at as well.

Or am I just crazy? :P

lagunas of that era are the best way to burn money. lad at work was just telling me friday he had three turbos go in a diesel one.

you would have to be deranged to want to buy one, with so many cars to chose from nowadays.

bman1

I bought a 01 1.8 one bout 5 years ago. Had to replace the ecu but that was more the previous owners fault than the car. Think people are overly critical of renaults. Yes the window regulators can go, but I've thought the girlfriend at the time to do the first one and she did the last one to go in under 10 minutes. The headlight bulbs are tricky but like the regulator she can do them in 5 minutes or less now. She now has the car, 160k ish on it and bar general wear and tear things it doesn't burn a drop of oil, the gearbox is perfect, the clutch has never been done to my knowledge and the car is going strong. I've never found the suspension hard to work on and I've replaced most bits and pieces over the course of owning the car, and I'm no mechanic, just interested in cars in general and learned stuff through trial and error down through the years. The only two things that have ever pissed me off bout the car are it went through a few top mounts( I'd blame the Kerry roads though) and the backbox exhaust rubber mounts don't last long, no matter where you buy then from, but the backbox is fairly big on the Lagunas. Overall I think it's a lovely comfortable safe car and a don't regret owning one for a sec. Just thought it was worth posting this coz you never hear anything good said bout them and I don't think they are all as bad as people make out.

x in the city

bman1 wrote: »

I bought a 01 1.8 one bout 5 years ago. Had to replace the ecu but that was more the previous owners fault than the car. Think people are overly critical of renaults. Yes the window regulators can go, but I've thought the girlfriend at the time to do the first one and she did the last one to go in under 10 minutes. The headlight bulbs are tricky but like the regulator she can do them in 5 minutes or less now. She now has the car, 160k ish on it and bar general wear and tear things it doesn't burn a drop of oil, the gearbox is perfect, the clutch has never been done to my knowledge and the car is going strong. I've never found the suspension hard to work on and I've replaced most bits and pieces over the course of owning the car, and I'm no mechanic, just interested in cars in general and learned stuff through trial and error down through the years. The only two things that have ever pissed me off bout the car are it went through a few top mounts( I'd blame the Kerry roads though) and the backbox exhaust rubber mounts don't last long, no matter where you buy then from, but the backbox is fairly big on the Lagunas. Overall I think it's a lovely comfortable safe car and a don't regret owning one for a sec. Just thought it was worth posting this coz you never hear anything good said bout them and I don't think they are all as bad as people make out.

very well, but i still wouldnt touch one..

a honda accord vs a laguna

only only one winner.

johnos1984

bman1 wrote: »

Had to replace the ecu but that was more the previous owners fault than the car. .

Why?

Please enlighten me as to how a car owner could neglect the ECU apart from soaking it in water,

Was it down to lack of servicing?

Dartz

Have one.

'02 Laguna II with 55k miles. 1.8. Automatic. One comfortable mother****er of a car.

Probably wouldn't have bought one at the time, but circumstances were unusual and I found myself in possession.

I knew the previous owner, and known the car since new. It'd given no more trouble than any other decade old car really. Suspension didn't like the last few winters, one of the tyre pressure sensors has failed, and I lost one of the keycards.... otherwise it's run perfectly acceptably.

At this stage, most of the real pups will have long gone by process of elimination. The decent ones will have survived. For little money, you get a comfy, reasonably quick, decent handling and safe car.

Sounds like an OK deal really.

barura

Thanks for all the responses, maybe I'll get myself an early christmas present, weather permitting.

Window reg in under 10 minutes ?

Presumably that doesn't include removing the door card and putting it back again ? Regardless, unless you can get one with a years test for under a grand I wouldn't bother, if its over a grand you are spending there are too many options to justify buying a petrol laguna.

barura

I've seen a few going for under a grand, hopefully when the time comes, one will stick its head up. Anything that doesn't justify the price bracket, I will just og back to my other option... A skoda Fabia. But I really hope it doesn't come to that. Not that the fabia is a bad car, I just really like the idea of a laguna for some stint of my car ownership lifetime.

bman1

johnos1984 wrote: »

Why?

Please enlighten me as to how a car owner could neglect the ECU apart from soaking it in water,

Was it down to lack of servicing?

The car had an intermittent fault, which should have been fixed straight away but he didn't and left the car parked up and went to jump start it and crossed the jump leads and basically messed up the ecu.
@James, nope, suppose it doesn't include the doorcard but in all fairness it defo doesn't take any more than 15 minutes. She went to do the last one and when she came in to say she was done I thought she was taking the Mick! But she wasn't!

tfitzgerald

I had a 01 laguna and gad a lot of small problems with it , the key card, windows, indicators and the air con but in saying that I loved the car . Most comfortable car I have ever driven

BeanFlicker

I have the 01 1.9dCI at the moment. Very comfortable car. In the 9 months of ownership, the only problem I have had is with the two windows regulators that had to be replaced, otherwise they're grand and ye can pick one up v.cheap

The keycard does annoy me tho

barura

What happens with the key card? Battey dies?

BeanFlicker

barura wrote: »

What happens with the key card? Battey dies?

I haven't had any problems with the keycard yet, it's just that I can't attach it to my set of key and I keep misplacing the card. I think they cost approx €150 - €200 to replace

barura

That ain't so bad. Maybe there is a way of copying it on the cheap as well. Fantastic stuff! Again, thanks for all your input everyone, pretty decided on my next car now.

DoneDL

We got a 1.9 diesel estate about 2 months ago. The key cards have been sent away twice for repair, first card was a faulty spare that came with the car and the second one was dropped. Google keycard repair as we only paid £35.00 a time for the keycards to be repaired.

vinn

renault = joke and problems

barura

vinn wrote: »

renault = joke and problems

Care to expand on that?

bman1

vinn wrote: »

renault = joke and problems

See that's the kind of comment sumone who's had one bad experience, or sumone who's never even had a Laguna and just listens to what everyone else says would make. Maybe you've had lagunas, maybe one drove you mad but at least explain why your making a comment like that when you make it. As for the keycard, we had one that wouldn't start the car after a while. Herself looked it up on the net and found a handy 'how to' guide, turned out it was a tiny piece of plastic broke off inside the card, must have been a common problem, so she took the card apart(we'd nothing to lose at that stage) and glued the piece back in place and its worked fine ever since. I think people have good and bad experiences with all cars and sumtimes certain brands get slated unfairly. I certainly wouldn't regret having a Laguna and I'd consider myself quite neutral and wouldn't prefer any one car maker over another.

BrianD3

I've owned my Laguna 1.6 since 2003 and done 260k miles and have not had any problems with the keycards and IIRC have only replaced one keycard battery.

The main problems I have had are
1) tyre pressure sensors - I had the system turned off a few years ago as the sensors kept getting broken when getting new tyres fitted
2) two electric window regulators
3) a few plug coils
4) backlighting on the climate control display is gone

I've also had the rear suspension bushings changed twice but on a car that has done that mileage that's not exactly a big deal. A few other bits of the suspension have been changed but again, nothing out of the ordinary for a car with that mileage.

There's some wrong information in this thread. The 1.6 engine is very reliable it's not a "proper dog that craps itself". The one in my car runs fine, burns no oil whatsover, does over 40 mpg etc. Cars is also still on its original exhaust, cat, battery, clutch etc.

Also whoever said it takes an hour to change headlight bulbs is clueless, it takes about 2 minutes and you don't need tiny hands or any particular skill.

vinn

barura wrote: »

Care to expand on that?

try the cooling system for a start then read up on their keys

johnos1984

bman1 wrote: »

The car had an intermittent fault, which should have been fixed straight away but he didn't and left the car parked up and went to jump start it and crossed the jump leads and basically messed up the ecu.

That's more that the owner was clueless and not the car was badly serviced.

What was the intermittent fault?

My mate had an 04 one and the fault list was endless. He had an 01 one before that which was faultless

bman1

Fair play BrianD3, liking your post! I turned off the tyre monitor system too, no need for it anyway, I always check my Tyres regularly. The backlight for the heater controls is actually such an easy fix, I googled it and all it needed was taking apart and a spot of solder put in the right place. I bought a Haynes manual for the car after buying the car and found it really handy, for those few times when you'd get stuck looking for sumthing/trying to do a job.
@ vinn...... I have never ever had a problem with the cooling system, and it's definitely not a common fault coz I would have heard of it. Every car brand has it flaws, every one, so renaults getting slated so much is unfair. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not here to argue with people, your probably a sound guy but I just feel I have to say my 2 cents ( and I very rarely post).

bman1

johnos1984 wrote: »

That's more that the owner was clueless and not the car was badly serviced.

What was the intermittent fault?

My mate had an 04 one and the fault list was endless. He had an 01 one before that which was faultless

Ah no man, never said the car was badly serviced by him, the car used to yo yo up the revs sumtimes and he said he found it impossible to drive it coz it could happen when he'd be stopped in traffic and the car would rev off the accelerator, over revving up and down to 3k like a yo yo. He had had the throttle body replaced because a garage thought that was the fault but after doing that the car never stopped revving up from the moment the car was started. He said he'd had it to the main dealers and they'd spent a bit of time checking it over and doing diagnostics and they felt the ecu was at fault. I bought the car coz he got sick of it and got a few people to check it out, long story short I replaced the ecu and the car was perfect since.

johnos1984

vinn wrote: »

try the cooling system for a start then read up on their keys

I've NEVER heard of an issue with the cooling system on them. All common faults are electrical AFAIK

BrianD3

Renault used to have cooling system problems (mainly due to neglect and not changing the coolant) but that hasn't been the case since the mid 90s.

Anyone who says that the Laguna II model has a problem with its cooling system is a waffler.

timogen

I have a laguna 1 phase 2, the 00 concorde model 1.6 petrol have to say it's a great car maybe a bit under powered for the weight of the car but the engine is great.The only things ive had to replace are wear and tare.
150,000 miles ive replaced bearings in back wheels,a cv joint,track rod ends for the last nct, and only have to replace the two inner tie rod ends for this nct.
I also have 06 chevy kalos and i much prefer the laguna.

barura

BrianD3 wrote: »

I've owned my Laguna 1.6 since 2003 and done 260k miles and have not had any problems with the keycards and IIRC have only replaced one keycard battery.

The main problems I have had are
1) tyre pressure sensors - I had the system turned off a few years ago as the sensors kept getting broken when getting new tyres fitted
2) two electric window regulators
3) a few plug coils
4) backlighting on the climate control display is gone

I've also had the rear suspension bushings changed twice but on a car that has done that mileage that's not exactly a big deal. A few other bits of the suspension have been changed but again, nothing out of the ordinary for a car with that mileage.

There's some wrong information in this thread. The 1.6 engine is very reliable it's not a "proper dog that craps itself". The one in my car runs fine, burns no oil whatsover, does over 40 mpg etc. Cars is also still on its original exhaust, cat, battery, clutch etc.

Also whoever said it takes an hour to change headlight bulbs is clueless, it takes about 2 minutes and you don't need tiny hands or any particular skill.

Perhaps I should change my idea of that 1.6 engine! Just heard of so many of them going. Thanks for putting aside my misconception!

BrianD3

barura wrote: »

Perhaps I should change my idea of that 1.6 engine! Just heard of so many of them going. Thanks for putting aside my misconception!

The 1.8 is also a reliable engine but there will be less choice in 1.8s as they didn't sell as well here. If you are hearing stories about the 1.6 but not the 1.8 it could simply be due to the 1.6s popularity.

BTW the 1.8 has 8 bhp more, is 0.8 secs quicker to 60 and is slightly less economical

barura

I just remember my dad having the 1.8, we used to do some long distance with the car fully loaded. It must have had a bit more torque, surely? It was a real nice drive. I had noticed there wasn't so many 1.8's...

BrianD3

Yes, quite a bit more torque for the 1.8, 170 Nm vs 148 Nm.

The 1.6 would struggle with the car fully loaded.

bman1

We test drove a good few before we bought the 1.8 and even though the 1.6's we drove were ok there weren't a patch on the bigger engine. Even the 1.8 doesn't feel that fast but it has more useable power when you want it, makes for safer overtaking and all that, nicer for motorway driving too. We decided the little bit of extra tax was well worth it anyway, but if you only want a 1.6 car don't be put off, just test drive a good few, of both size engines, to see/feel the difference.

Jesus Shaves

BeanFlicker wrote: »

I haven't had any problems with the keycard yet, it's just that I can't attach it to my set of key and I keep misplacing the card. I think they cost approx €150 - €200 to replace

Drill a hole in the bottom left hand corner of the card
works a treat;)

johnf2020

timogen wrote: »

I have a laguna 1 phase 2, the 00 concorde model 1.6 petrol have to say it's a great car maybe a bit under powered for the weight of the car but the engine is great.The only things ive had to replace are wear and tare.
150,000 miles ive replaced bearings in back wheels,a cv joint,track rod ends for the last nct, and only have to replace the two inner tie rod ends for this nct.
I also have 06 chevy kalos and i much prefer the laguna.

I have had 10 years experience in the Renault business. Yes Laguna 2 has had problems, and no there is no excuse for it...but as people have pointed there seem to be as many good ones as bad ones and nothing in between .
If I was spending my money on a cheap Laguna, I would try and find the best phase 1 car that I could ie. 00/01 Sport or Concorde..Much,much better car but it will probably cost a couple of hundred more to buy it. Don't be tempted by a 1.9dti one --buy the petrol.

voojeq

I already had one but the previous model laguna mk1, that was a brilliantly comfortable car, lots of space inside and in the boot, had 1.6 16v version which wasnt that bad

Only problem was the front suspension, be aware. Make sure you test her well on the motorway on all speeds, lookout for anything unusual while driving at certain speeds, mine was for example shaking like crazy at 60 km/h pass that it was fine

b318isp

A friend of mine had a mark 2 1.8 Sport. It was a mine of problems, such as:

- Three cracked alloys
- Bumper fell off when driving (no joke!)
- Radio stopped working
- Front passenger door central locking gave up
- Usual window regulator failures
- Wipers failed
- Bits fell off the interior
- Some sort of ECU fault
- Cracked brake disc

You'd swear it was used as a getaway vehicle beforehand...:rolleyes:

There are so many better made cars out there for the money that it isn't worth the gamble.

but43r

BrianD3 wrote: »

I've owned my Laguna 1.6 since 2003 and done 260k miles and have not had any problems with the keycards and IIRC have only replaced one keycard battery.

The main problems I have had are
1) tyre pressure sensors - I had the system turned off a few years ago as the sensors kept getting broken when getting new tyres fitted
2) two electric window regulators
3) a few plug coils
4) backlighting on the climate control display is gone

I've also had the rear suspension bushings changed twice but on a car that has done that mileage that's not exactly a big deal. A few other bits of the suspension have been changed but again, nothing out of the ordinary for a car with that mileage.

There's some wrong information in this thread. The 1.6 engine is very reliable it's not a "proper dog that craps itself". The one in my car runs fine, burns no oil whatsover, does over 40 mpg etc. Cars is also still on its original exhaust, cat, battery, clutch etc.

Also whoever said it takes an hour to change headlight bulbs is clueless, it takes about 2 minutes and you don't need tiny hands or any particular skill.

There is an easy fix for the backlight on climate control not working.
This fixed it for me http://www.coupe-club.org.uk/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=ovt00tmqcjv16sqst25fidn354&topic=460.msg1007#msg1007

Bawnmore

Any specific issues with the estates? They look very good for the money - http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2867767

toby2111

Thinking of getting 2008 diesel Laguna,dealer said they sorted out all the probs associated with previous models.Is he just spinning me a yarn?They're about all I can afford for a comfortable,decent sized diesel....or whats alternative?Mondeo,c5,jetta etc seem more expensive.

johnf2020

toby2111 wrote: »

Thinking of getting 2008 diesel Laguna,dealer said they sorted out all the probs associated with previous models.Is he just spinning me a yarn?They're about all I can afford for a comfortable,decent sized diesel....or whats alternative?Mondeo,c5,jetta etc seem more expensive.

He is not spinning your yarns----Laguna 3 is a much,much better car than the previous car,,,,unfortunately it just inherited the same name and came along as this country faced financial meltdown. Actually most of the Renault range is much improved since 2008 its just that the slowdown came along in 2008 and the range never got the success it deserved initially from launch..The majority of Renaults on the road since 2010 then would have mainly been Agressive Scrappage deals

---

hard to believe that the "new " Megane is around since 2008!!!!!

kev250

Quite a bit of false information here!

Yes it is french so obviously it is going to give its fair share of problems, but we bought one for 500 a few years back and so far it has not given any major problems

Jesus Shaves

kev250 wrote: »

Quite a bit of false information here!

Yes it is french so obviously it is going to give its fair share of problems, but we bought one for 500 a few years back and so far it has not given any major problems

In fairness that's your experience with one car

I bought my mk2 1.6 petrol 8 months ago and so far i have fixed/replaced

2 window regulators
front right suspension
steering rack
gearbox
catalytic converter
alternator
battery
2 sumps
replaced airbag ecu


and that's only what i can remember

Thank god it hasn't given trouble in 2 months which is a record

johnos1984

johnf2020 wrote: »

He is not spinning your yarns----Laguna 3 is a much,much better car than the previous car,,,,unfortunately it just inherited the same name and came along as this country faced financial meltdown. Actually most of the Renault range is much improved since 2008 its just that the slowdown came along in 2008 and the range never got the success it deserved initially from launch.

John are Renault stopping sales of the Laguna here as they are doing in the UK

puppetmaster

darokane wrote: »

In fairness that's your experience with one car

I bought my mk2 1.6 petrol 8 months ago and so far i have fixed/replaced

2 window regulators
front right suspension
steering rack
gearbox
catalytic converter
alternator
battery
2 sumps
replaced airbag ecu


and that's only what i can remember

Thank god it hasn't given trouble in 2 months which is a record

Sounds like a lotta money to be putting into a cheap car no? (depending on its age of course) Did the front suspension, Steering rack and 1 of the sumps happen at the same time by any chance? :P

Everyone has different experiences with cars i Guess. Ive had A mk2 for 2 years. I replaced the window reg cable setup last month, cost me a tenner to get the set from ebay. Otherwise i put a new nsf wishbone in. Which was about €90 all in. Which isnt too much to ask of a 9 year old car imho.

Jesus Shaves

puppetmaster wrote: »

Sounds like a lotta money to be putting into a cheap car no? (depending on its age of course) Did the front suspension, Steering rack and 1 of the sumps happen at the same time by any chance? :P

Everyone has different experiences with cars i Guess. Ive had A mk2 for 2 years. I replaced the window reg cable setup last month, cost me a tenner to get the set from ebay. Otherwise i put a new nsf wishbone in. Which was about €90 all in. Which isnt too much to ask of a 9 year old car imho.

mines 10 years old now
they all happened at different times, say every few weeks, i done a lot of the work myself so saved a lot of money, only reason i have it is because i can't afford a new car
Apart from all that's gone wrong it's still a lovely car to drive:D