Our Megane II was purchased on May 2002. Since then it has travelled about 12500 klms, most of them in the city.

As far as looks are concerned, well, it's a love it or hate it situation. I think the unusual, ahem, "derriere", adds sportiness to the design.

Performance is very good for a 1.6 litre. Torque is available at all times, and I have managed to get it up to 200km/h on an empty motorway. Allegedly it can go faster (?).

Consumption is around 10litres/100km around town, and I'm pretty hard with the gas pedal. So its all good here.

Build quality is good, with some exceptions. Most of the materials are very good, and some have an upper-classy feel. They are screwed together good, too. One day the passenger window was left open and rain poured on the inside of the door for an hour. Yet the window switch refused to malfunction, and there is no stain on the door's cover. But unfortunately, some squeaks are now evident when the car goes over bumps - especially on Greek "roads" which mostly resemble the lunar surface. There are 2 or 3 of them. Admittedly, one of them was introduced when I changed the factory-installed stereo head unit with a new one. It seems that the person who installed the new head unit did not do his job properly, so I'll have to go get it re-installed someplace else.

Mind you, the squeaks are not terribly noticeable, it's just that I have an obsession with such matters.

As far as I know there are lots of "youth" problems with this model. Renault aknowledges most of them and fixes them under warranty. However, there are some problems that some dealers are unable to fix.

Over the last year, our car has had the following work done on it under warranty:

At about 8000 km, an electronic pressure sensor on the engine failed, making morning engine starts a problem. It was replaced the next day in under 15 minutes. This is not considered a known problem.

At 10000km, the glove box was replaced because the opening handle was broken by some ***hole who stole my cd's while the car was unattended (and unlocked) for 5 minutes - I know, I know... :-(

At 11000 km, I noticed that after a night of heavy rain, some water had accumulated in the driver's side door pocket. This is probably the most common of the Megane II problems, and is easily solved by most dealers. It seems that due to a factory error, water was allowed to pass from the drainage pipes in the door, to the inside of the door pocket through the speaker grille (!). Thankfully, the wiring and speaker are intact since water does not actually come in contact with them.

At 12000 km, I noticed that the clutch pedal "squeaked" slightly when pressed. I oiled the pedal's spring and the noise went away.

Also, for the last 5000 km the brakes whine when applied at low speeds. This is also a common problem, and is due to the nature of the brake pads which are of the new "eco-friendly type". Almost all of the Meggies I have spotted on the road have whining brakes. This is a problem with many newer models from many different companies.

First oil change was at 12000 km (manufacturer recommends first oil change @ 15.000km, better safe than sorry I say).

Check out the Greek Renault Club.

And ofcourse, Renault Online.

Biggest Renault forum online (alas, in French): Planete Renault Forum