Ownership Verified: 2006 4 wheeled blue appliance (Megane)

villej

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
658
Location
Finland
Car(s)
'03 and '06 Renault Megane
So, we needed a second car. My wife had kind of started to like my Megane, so I assigned the car to her use. Thus, I needed a replacement. Looked at some alternatives, which included everything from Bavaria to Catalonia. In the end I decided I that at this point I do not want to invest very much to a car, mostly because we do not have a single parking space at our apartment, and the car has to sit on the street, vulnerable to all sorts of abuse from idiots passing by. Also it will have to withstand daily cold starts during winter, which is something I would not like to do for a nice car.

Within the budget it was a choice between slightly newer and less driven French or Italian car, or older car from manufacturers elsewhere. As I have had a good experience with French cars, and as expecially used Renaults are dirt cheap compared to most other brands, I ended up buying an another Megane. This time a 2006 one, driven 170 000 km. An estate. Which is handy, as we occasionally need to move bigger stuff.

I could have just recycled the proof pic from the old thread, because the interior is exactly the same. Still, I took a new one anyway, and some extra pictures too:

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It has a proper boot! (and a missing roof lining clip):

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The car is not perfect though. It is well maintained an solid to drive, but bootlid has opening related problems, and drivers seat is missing a height adjustment handle. Both problems are common to the Meganes of this age. Bootlid problem (the lock does not always open) is caused by a broken wire inside the rubber wiring snake between the body and the lid, and it should be easy to fix. Latter seat related problem is harder to fix. The whole seat needs to be replaced if I want to get it right.

Also the tires need rebalancing and there is some noise coming from the blower motor, which is probably caused by a leaf or something else that touches the moving blades.

Also I'm not sure if there is a tiny bit of shake from somewhere when accelerating hard between 60 and 70 km/h. I would guess that would be drive axle related.

Otherwise it is a solid car. It has had a cambelt done one year ago, it has a new windscreen and tires, and every service has been done on time.

Hopefully this car will give us trouble free kilometres.
 
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Drive axle shake during acceleration sounds familiar... our Renault Trafic (at work) does it too, and it's probably a "they all do that sir" since it's been doing it since it was brand new. It's not at 60-70 though, it's from like 10 to 30 or so when you're accelerating out of an intersection while straightening out the wheel.

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Also, this would be a good time to buy a spare coil pack and the required tools needed. Keep them in the glovebox. Do the same for the other Megane. :p
 
Good to know about the shake, It could well be normal. I need to monitor if it gets worse.

And yes, getting a spare coil pack could well be wise. And teaching wife how to change it. :) This one has actually had all of those changed on independent Renault garage a year ago. They should be some kind of longer lasting ones, and the mechanic had told to the previous owner that they should last for the lifetime of the car. Not sure if I should really count on that. :p
 
I guess these are at least as nice as some Dacias :p The steering is perhaps a little light to my taste on these. How is the clutch?

Still, congrats! :cool:
 
Congrats! Good looking thing, the Megane of that generation. Nice choice of color as well. I guess you also get a decent amount of performance out of that 1,6 engine?

So, next up, the car in your avatar? :wicked:
 
Thanks, I guess. :p

It certainly is not a driving machine when it comes to the steering feel. The clutch seems to work like it should. No slippage, and biting point is easier to find than in the other Megane.

The engine is noticeably more powerful than the 1.4 litre one. Also the gears are longer, I think. At least the revs feel modest on higher speeds. The time for the Laguna coupe may come when I have a house with a garage. ;)
 
Longer gears isn't a bad thing when it comes to french cars. Most I've driven have been buzzing along at like 4000 rpm when doing 120. The exception is the Trafic we have at work which have a really nice long fifth and sixth.
 
Bought an injection extraction cleaner, and cleaned almost the whole interior. Lets say that there was some dirt in the seats and front door cards. Also removed some panels from the center armrest thing, and vacuumed all the dirt from there.
Next I need to take a look at the blower. Cabin air filter was not properly in place and a bit broken, so that would indicate that there could be something in the blades that doesn't belong there.
 
Like almost everything with the second generation Megane, changing the cabin air filter is a bit more complicated process than necessary. The whole glovebox needs to be removed to access the filter. (The slot for the air filter is on the left in the picture, just behind the black air duct.)

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Also, my trust to Finnish car services is slowly detoriating. The filter had been changed 6 months ago, but it was installed wrong way around, so it didn't fit properly at all. Thus it probably allowed all sorts of dirt to enter the blower. How hard can it be to install an air filter right, if even an ex arts student, who has no experience in changing the said part, can get it right on the first try?

Though I have to say, I got really good service in a tire shop when I took the tires to rebalancing. Now they are better. The wheels are perfectly straigth, but the tires are from an unsually bad batch. The mechanic said that he seldom has to put so many weights to good quality tires, as he had now.
 
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Currently the car has traveled a bit over 190000 kilometres, and nothing major to report. Here's the sum up of costs for the first year of ownership:
Purchase price: 3250 EUR
Registration fees: 10 EUR
Tire rebalancing: 20 EUR
Service (New alternator): 300 EUR
Inspection: 40 EUR
Service (New steering arm joints, wheel alignment and new oil & filter): 280 EUR
Insurance: 300 EUR
Tax: 200 EUR

Total: 4400 EUR
-excluding purchase costs: 1140 EUR

So total costs per month for the first year are: 367 EUR
-excluding purchase costs: 95 EUR


I also ordered some new winter rubber, branded Michelin X-Ice XI3. The current studded Bridgestones are missing some studs. These are my first studless winter tires, so we shall see how I'll get used to them. I'll also need to get new summer tires during winter. Current Nokians are almost done after only 15000 kilometres.

And about some of the faults mentioned in the previous posts: The blower motor noise has disappeared by itself. The boot opening problem was caused mainly by water that was residing inside the bootswitch. Removing the water would have been enough, but to be sure I ordered a new switch from Ebay for 20 EUR.
 
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I got my first set of studless winter tires a few years ago. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2. The only part that required some getting used to was the lack of sound to tell you you just lost traction.
 
Had to call roadside assistance today. Auxiliary belt shredded to pieces, and I did not want to drive with disintegrating belt, as I feared some pieces would find their way near the timing belt. Mildly interesting thing is, that the auxiliary belt has been changed one and a half years ago. I think the belt should last a little bit longer.

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Oh, and I am digging the studless tires. In icy conditions their grip is obviously weaker than on studded tires, but because of the extra comfort they provide I can live with that.
 
The car is up and running again. New belt and tensioner cost 229 EUR, of which 89 EUR is for labor.
 
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Great to hear it is going with such minor problems! I seriously think that Renault has way too bad reputation for what it is. But that is only a good thing for used car buyers.
 
Cost for the past year:

New summer and winter tires: 700 EUR
Inspection: 50 EUR
Insurance: 180 EUR
Tax: 250 EUR
Service (New auxiliary belt): 230 EUR
Service (New oil & filter): 90 EUR
Misc parts (Bulbs etc.): 40 EUR

Total: 1540 EUR

In the course of 2 years of ownership this car has cost me 5940 EUR (including original purchase price and all costs expect fuel).
Per mont the cost is 248 EUR
-excluding purchase cost: 112 EUR (upkeep, taxes and insurance only)

Also calculated fuel costs quickly. It has been consuming 7.1 litres per 100 km, the fuel has cost about 1,50 EUR/l and the car has traveled 40000 km. So the total fuel cost for 2 years is about 4300 EUR. That makes 180 EUR per month.

As you can see from the costs, everything has been going quite fine with the car. Soon I'll have to replace the windscreen though, there's a crack on the passenger side. Also the cambelt needs to be changed next winter. That's a bit over 1000 euros total.
 
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High level brake light on the rear spoiler stopped working. So proceeded to look what was wrong with it. These wagon Meganes have a known fault: rear spoiler connection points are so weak that the spoiler can snap off on its own. Renault has issued a recall on that, and this car has that recall done.

When I started removing the spoiler it quickly became clear what that warranty repair was: They had glued some plastic pieces to the spoiler that kept it securely attached. At the same time they made it impossible to take the spoiler off, without first tearing off those pieces.

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It was fun to get rid of three of those. Also, five of the eight connection points snapped off in the process, so I glued them back.

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The light itself wasn't designed to be opened, but i managed to crack it open. Components on the PCB were totally done. There clearly had been some water and salt leaking in. So I just ordered a new Valeo unit from some Polish seller. Cost about 50 EUR. It should arrive this week.

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I have been a little bit occupied, so I have not been on FG or updated this thread for some time.


Shortly after that brake light job or drivers window mechanism said its last goodbye. The mechanism had been due for replacement for some time already, as it worked erratically. Some times window didn't go all the way up without haggling, etc.

Finally it got stuck at fully down position. Of course it was raining sleet vertically and I was already late for a work meeting. I quicly put a garment back I had on backseat over the door and the window while the car was parked. I teared the the thing down when I got home, and spotted that the cables on the mechanism were totally tangled and shredded. So I taped the window up and ordered a new mechanism from Ebay for a whopping 60€.

The installation process was relatively easy, hardest part was to get the door card back on. I had feared I would have to spent hundreds of euros for a new mechanism and installation, so being able to do it myself for such a low cost was a pleasant surprise.


In other news, I decided to spend tens of thousands and ordered a new car. Delivery is probably in April or May. Don't get excited, it's just some ordinary wheels for transportation. Nothing fancy. It remains to be seen which one of our Meganes will move over.
 
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Got some parts!

Timing belt and water pump need to be changed, and I thought I should change dephaser pulley at the same time. Just to be sure it will work for the next 4 years, as they are prone to go wrong in these Renault K4M engines.

Ordered the parts from a German online shop, as the whole set (timing belt kit, water pump, dephaser pulley, two plastic caps and auxiliary belt) cost less than a single dephaser pulley would have cost in Finland. The pulley costs around 250€ here, while the whole set from Germany cost 230€..

The service is booked for next week. Installation should cost around 350€ (5 hours of work) if everything goes as planned.

Also this car is most probably getting sold in about a month or two, so someone will get a well serviced Megane with a fresh inspection stamp for quite cheap. Cheapest ones seem to go for about 1400 € on Nettiauto, but those have no mention of the timing belt service and/or the condition of tires. I think I should get closer to 2000 euros for this, as this has two sets of really good tires too.
 
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