2003 Renault Megane Dynamique 100

[Waugh-terfall]

Having missed my lecture through sheer stupidity I decided I'd actually post some pictures of my Megane, a car that I have a very divided opinion of, a car that my parents are starting to hate, a car I should probably sell but cannot bring myself too...

So, the car was my 18th Birthday present from my parents, it's a 52-reg Oporto Red Metallic 5dr mk2 Renault Megane Dynamique with the 100bhp 16v 1.4. Although it's got more power than most of it's competitors it's a fairly lardy car (just look at that arse) and thus isn't going to set the world on fire performance-wise with a 0-60 of dead on 12secs. This doesn't bother me, I don't thrash the car, because driving normally around town and to and from 6th form before the summer it would somehow only manage to achieve a frankly scary 28mpg-33mpg...
The car started life as a Demo for a local Renault dealer network in Guildford before it's history got slightly compicated. It was bought from the dealer by a man for his wife, they divorced and so the car moved to her name, she re-married and so the name on the logbook changed again, I bought it from the lady for £3,000 in late April 2009 at around 52,200mi. It was bought knowing it'd need a little work, cambelt, window motor, some bits of trim (glovebox handle, gearknob and front forlight surround as well as a new key so the remainder of the budget was set aside to cover it... Read my entries about it here: Auto-Journals - Tom's Megane.

It's a great car for the money, in Dynamique spec it has a few extras, namely:
Auto light/wipers
Leather steering wheel/gearknob
CD player & Steering wheel controls
Refrigerated Glovebox (big enough to smuggle immigrants in)
Electric, heated mirrors
Self-dimming mirrors
Front/Rear One-touch windows
Air Conditioning
and the most stupid key in the world...

I love it, when at sixth form it was different to the various ages of VW Polo everyone had, I'd wanted one since they came out and had a very, very busy Summer working on a film ferrying people and equipment all around Surrey, London and Kent as well as an epic camping holiday in the New Forest. It's a good car to drive, can keep a fairly decent turn of speed (had some fun on a Goodwood Breakfast Club run last June from Guildford Cathedral) and handles pretty well too for what it is, though the speed-sensitive steering numbs the feel a bit. Unfortunately, following a few electrical gremlins though stupid design-flaws driving the car scares me as I'll never know what's going to happen next and when...
-KeyCard Failure (£130 - new Card)
-Airbag warning lights (self-sorting)
-Front-passenger window dropping itself (Ebay £15 Motor/Halfords £17 Haynes Manual)
-Headlights dying driving home late at night after a heavy rainstorm (had to continue driving slowly with just my front foglights on) (self-sorting)
- 'ELECTRONIC ERROR' Wiper/Lights/Alarm going, car wouldn't turn off (Halfords £70 Battery) leading to below
-Complete Electrical Meltdown (Free RAC Recovery + £295.16 Body Control Module)

Anyway, I'm now at Uni in Canterbury so the car is tucked up in the garage back home (57,384mi) awaiting my return...

Some pictures:












And a video of some frolicking in the snow...

Edited by Waugh-terfall on Thursday 28th January 16:30

[missing the VR6]

Classic Renault problems with the electrics in your pics!!!!

[Allyc85]

very strange looking type of fog you have there, I hope they were just on for show in the pics?

[va1o]

Good post, I've always quite liked those Meganes, and at £3k its a lot cheaper than the equivelent MK4 Golf and more powerful/ better equipped.

Edited by va1o on Thursday 28th January 19:15

[BelperJim]

Nice first car. Glad to see that Renault are keeping up the good work with the electrics.

[Waugh-terfall]

missing the VR6 said:

Classic Renault problems with the electrics in your pics!!!!

Allyc85 said:

very strange looking type of fog you have there, I hope they were just on for show in the pics?

Yeah, they were just on whilst we were playing, didn't go anywhere near the main road with them on!, the water pics they were just flicked on to add to the reflections in the water but it didn't quite work out that well...

va1o said:

Good post, I've always quite liked those Meganes, and at £3k its a lot cheaper than the equivelent MK4 Golf and more powerful/ better equipped.

Thanks, that was my reasoning behind them, the design and price/spec, was initially looking for 02/03 VW Polo 1.2(65) and 1.4 but I got a little impatient and after missing out on a couple I chose 'BumCar'. I may swap it for a 53-plate Focus Zetec 1.6 at around Easter-time, the electrical issues worry me, but I haven't made an executive decision yet, half hoping a MINI One pops up with the right spec/milage/price by then, but doubting it...

Edited by Waugh-terfall on Friday 29th January 12:51

[soad]

Waugh-terfall said:

I may swap it for a 53-plate Focus Zetec 1.6 at around Easter-time, the electrical issues worry me, but I haven't made an executive decision yet, half hoping a MINI One pops up with the right spec/milage/price by then, but doubting it...

The electrical problems would put me off, not exactly cheap to fix them.
Mini One/Cooper would be my choice too, but they're holding their prices pretty well so far. Focus Zetec 1.6 a safe choice but a tad dull to drive perhaps.

[Waugh-terfall]

They're on in these to help give more light but this one didn't quite work as I really needed some reflectors to bounce the light back at the car:

same with this really:

[va1o]

I'd say its probably not worth changing it if your at uni at the moment, I'm presuming you don't have the car with you?

Edited by va1o on Friday 29th January 16:38

[Waugh-terfall]

va1o said:

I'd say its probably not worth changing it if your at uni at the moment, I'm presuming you don't have the car with you?

Edited by va1o on Friday 29th January 16:38

Not at the moment, no, but I probably will do for the next academic year. If I were to sell it it'd be because the older it gets the closer it gets to needing a cam-belt change and it'll be losing more money in depreciation etc. Also, my sister turns 17 in May and will probably want to learn to drive, as I won't be using my car she can have it to learn in, but the Megane is difficult to judge the rear of, is stupidly easy to stall and has quite a heavy clutch, and thus she doesn't want to drive it

[Waugh-terfall]

Well, I made an unexpected trip home late on Friday night and have returned to Canterbury with the car for 2 weeks. Had a look through the trip computer earlier after the quickest car-wash in the history of man and was horrified by the result of a 16-ish mile crawl home in the snow averaging about 15/16mph:


Thankfully it looks a lot better after a 2hr/98mi jaunt, 95% on Motorways to Canterbury:

[Hairspray]

You just told me more about my car that I know myself

I absolutely hate the gearbox on mine. Its just.... st. I learnt in a Cooper so I was used to a fantastic gearbox & clutch and then got into mine and... oh dear. But oh well, its nicer than alot of cars! ANd yes, taht arse can be abit of a problem, grazed mine a few weeks ago on a pillar in a car park! Oops. And in addition to those problems you listed, I have that massive sunroof and all the electrics that go with it to worry about.... if that goes wrong I'd presume!

I won't be allowed to take mine to uni either, wherever I do go, because I share it with my mother.

[Waugh-terfall]

MSTRBKR said:

37mpg @ 57mph from a 1.4? I could be wrong but that seems pretty low for that speed. I got 44mpg in my 2.0 Clio the other week averaging 60!

I know, it's terrible isn't it!

Hairspray said:

You just told me more about my car that I know myself

I absolutely hate the gearbox on mine. Its just.... st. I learnt in a Cooper so I was used to a fantastic gearbox & clutch and then got into mine and... oh dear. But oh well, its nicer than alot of cars! ANd yes, taht arse can be abit of a problem, grazed mine a few weeks ago on a pillar in a car park! Oops. And in addition to those problems you listed, I have that massive sunroof and all the electrics that go with it to worry about.... if that goes wrong I'd presume!

I won't be allowed to take mine to uni either, wherever I do go, because I share it with my mother.

I quite like it on mine, feels a little flimsy though compared to my study old Mazda. Clutch action is pretty dire...

I have it here for the next 2 weeks, keep walking past it and thinking 'hmmm, could probably drive to my lecture, it is spitting after all' before finding I have no money in my wallet and outside campus is 2hrs max...