RENAULT SYMBIOZ

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Discussion

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Sunday 1st September
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As I seem to be the only one so far that has bought one.... lol

I've had a 1.5 diesel Kadjar from new since 2018, to be honest I was never was fond of Renault as a brand but a ridiculous deal saw me buying one.

I have to say the ownership and reliability/cost of running it has really impressed - we've got a terrific local dealer and the only thing it's been outside the network for, was to have the timing belt changed as Renault's price was nearly twice the local garage.

It's reached a point where although I could carry on, new vehicles are only getting more expensive and mine will depreciate to a point where the payment (yes it's financed... lol) will become really stupid.

Plus I work in greater London and Khant is going to screw me over at some point with it being a diesel.

This in the back of my mind, set me off looking for a replacement. Didn.t fancy the VAG stuff, we had a new golf as a courtesy car and the safety stuff was horrible to live with, so that went out of the window. Likewise, we have work Kia's and the dealer support has been so bad, I won't touch them. We have a new 73 plate Mokka on the fleet which seems to break at the drop of a hat, so again, no....

This bought me back to my local dealer, we negotiated a decent deal and a fair price on mine so have signed on the dotted line for a mid spec Techno Esprit Alpine. It's currently on it's way to the |import centre, hopefully I should have it in a couple of weeks.

update as things once it arrives.

The Rotrex Kid

31,150 posts

165 months

Sunday 1st September
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Hadn’t really looked at these tbh. Are they the replacement for the Arkana?

Looks like the same 1.6 Hybrid? Have you driven one?

The same engine goes in the Clio, where it’s superb IMO, in the Arkana, not so much, revs very hard, not really enough power for the size of the car IMO.

The sunroof looks trick, shame you only get that on the top model.

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Sunday 1st September
quotequote all
I had a test drive of it, being an automatic hybrid it's a lot different coming from a manual diesel!

It's slightly longer than a Captur and not as big as the Arkana, it drove nicely. Seems strange driving in silence under electric power!

The roof was very smart in the top end one, but it's got decent spec in the middle of the range.

zbc

884 posts

156 months

Wednesday 11th September
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I should have mine tomorrow. A few problems with the dealer and now it's the insurers who are being a pain. I'm in France and planning to take it to the UK on Friday so hope that it goes through smoothly

zbc

884 posts

156 months

Thursday 12th September
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Happy new car to me

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Friday 13th September
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That's a great colour and the one I would've gone for but for some odd reason, they don't do it in the trim level I wanted.

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Friday 13th September
quotequote all
Just collect mine, as mentioned elsewhere. When I contacted GA to change to the new model, it would let me.

Online only insurer, and only having dealer cover until tomorrow got me into a bit of a panic. I managed to speak to someone via the accessibility phone number (naughty). He explained they were unable to offer cover!

I had to cancelled the existing cover, in the end the new insurer is about £150 quid cheaper than my old car which this has replaced!

All's well, but I didn't need that!




Sheepshanks

34,367 posts

124 months

Friday 13th September
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minky monkey said:
I have to say the ownership and reliability/cost of running it has really impressed - we've got a terrific local dealer
Is it the dealer a PHer works at?

I;ve been to our local one twice in the last few weeks to look at EVs - first time a salesman couldn't be found, it was weird, there seemed to only a receptionist in the place. Second time we found a salesman wandering around outside and he told us no-one is buying new Renault EVs!

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Friday 13th September
quotequote all
I can only speak from my experience. I had similar issues at Nissan. Walked in, got ignored made to feel like an inconvenience and walked out. Very odd!

I've used the dealer since 2018 and touch wood, they've been great on the sales and service side.

There's good and bad all over, I've had shocking experience at Kia dealers locally. I'm lucky this one is a goodun!



minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Monday 16th September
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So, after a few days of use, I happy with the MPG on the Symbioz, I have a commute mainly of 30 and 40 MPH roads of around 18 miles each way. This mornings journey was 64 MPG. My old diesel Renault Kadjar sat at just over 50 MPG.

I can't get the USB music system working properly yet, in the old car it was fairly straight forward but this one does not seem to recognize all the artists - it may just be an issue with the stick itself so I will need to look into that. I may just jump into using Spotify. .

It drives well, a little more bumpy but having gone from 17 inch to 19 inch wheels, this was to be expected.

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Wednesday 18th September
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Six days old and it's first puncture....

FFS.


minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,540 posts

171 months

Wednesday 18th September
quotequote all
Luckily all sorted, £30 for a tyre repair. A replacement Primacy E 2 tyre from black circles is £200.

zbc

884 posts

156 months

Wednesday 18th September
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I ended up doing about 1500 km over the weekend. A lot of motorway driving so the hybrid wasn't much use. Nice to drive nonetheless.

No punctures yet!