First car - Max 1.4 and €2000: Scenic VS Megane?

DainBramage · 28-02-2013 12:29AM

galwaytt wrote: »

First, OP, I realise your on a Ford mission, so won't dissuade you from that, but the Renault bashing is nearly good enough for a Pullitzer atmo........hence this post..........

Rubbish. See my earlier post. My first one did 88k miles in, and put my first coilpack in it at 80k+. Apart from one set of tyres and brake pads, and the scheduled timing belt, it never required anything beyond regular servicing. Second one I sold to a family member where it went on for years afterwards.

Funnily enough, I heard that too. I don't know whether to believer it or not - the first coilpacks were Sagem afaik, and later Hitachi or Denso. Why either would 'prefer' Renault plugs I'm not so sure, unless they had some weird capacitance........Beru make coil packs for them too iirc.

This post takes the biscuit. The OP asked about Gen 1/Facelift Scenic which predates your car by years. It has no keycard, for example. It is widely acknowledged that the Gen II cars had loads of problems. But that wasn't what was asked, so the relevance of it is moot. Might as well paint all Passats with oilshaft hex drive brush if that's yer logic.......

On a general note, even in the older Scenics, the 1.4 16v was a better engine, lower tax, and more powerful, than the older 1.6 which by that time was a bit of dinosaur.

Actually your pompous post takes the biscuit.
The OP initially asked for any experiences of 1.2/1.4 Megane or Scenic, no where did he specify a specific gen, just gave a budget. The problems with the Megane might be well known to you, doesn't mean the OP knows, that probably why he asked.
I gave him my 2 cents - i'm not sorry that this seems to have made you so irate.

28-02-2013 12:33AM

To be honest, I sincerely appreciate all the replies from both sides of the argument, really.

Everyone will have differing opinions and experiences, and I'm well aware of that. It's the diversity of replies that makes Boards so good. This forum (Motors) seems to be quite active in general though and has helped me a lot.

I started out with a 1.4 Megane in mind and now I'm looking at picking up a 1.6 Focus (moving from 1.4 > 1.6 is something i'd rather avoid (extra tax etc) but 1.4 seems to be much pricier in general anyway).

Anyone got any advice/insight regarding my last post? I do notice that the Focus I have my eyes on has a tow bar.. is that reason for concern at all (realistically)?

28-02-2013 02:28AM

Ah, I've decided against the white Focus (tempting as it is).

Was reading the 'guide to buying a used car' thread and seen that the car changed hands on 25/01/13. So that's a fairly short life for a Focus in someone's hands if it were in good nick. Must be something wrong with it.

pete4130 · 28-02-2013 03:38AM

KKV, I had a 7/8 year old 1.4 MK1 Focus Estate as my first car. I had it about 2 years. It wasn't the fastest thing on the road but it wasn't the slowest. I'd load it up with 5 people, 5 bikes and bags and drive up to Belfast and back for the weekend. It was a bit sluggish from a standing start and not fantastic at overtaking.

03-03-2013 03:11PM

Well I'm not too fussed about having a 'fast' car. I just want a car that I can learn in really and will go from A to B without too much messing around.

I picked up this in the end: http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4611876

Paid €950. Gave it a good look over and 15 minutes in it driving it about through all gears etc. (and then obviously driving it home it was going for about an hour and on a motorway too to give it a good push) and it seems (to me, anyway) to be mechanically fine. It's a very rough car though, in that it needs a bit of fixing up (rear numberplate and front grill can come off easily, wiper blades need changing, car in dire need of a thorough clean inside and out, etc.) but they're all fairly minor in the grand scheme of things.

I reckon I'll spend about (according to a mechanic) €400 bringing it up to scratch. Mechanic reckons a lot of the stuff doesn't really need to be done, but I just want to do it anyway to get the car sorted while I have the money spare in my pocket to do it.

All lights, electrics, seem to be fine. If I can get 12 months out of it I'll be a happy camper. Then next year I'll look for a 'proper' car to buy to have and use with a better budget and I'll be a bit more choosey.

I appreciate all the help and advice on this thread from ye guys who are much more informed than I. You're a great bunch and a very helpful (and active!) forum. I'm sure ye haven't heard the last of me. (I predict I'll be making a thread in less than a week called "Cost of timing belt and head gasket?", haha :P )

dodohert · 01-05-2013 01:41PM

Just bought a 1.4 2003 Megane for 1,500 yo-yo's 60.5k miles on the clock TB & Waterpump newly fitted 2 weeks ago (before I bought it) had two previous owners.... after reading posts here Im tempted to sell it ! .....Should I ?

First car - Max 1.4 and €2000: Scenic VS Megane?

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