Ownership Verified: Le barge du wafting - Renault Laguna V6 banger

lip

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Messages
3,499
Location
Switzerland
Car(s)
Renault Twizy
One week ago, with my old car already inside the ball-bearing gates, it was once more the time to do some autoscout surf for a possible replacement. And once more I had to avert the temptation to do something really stupid like buying a cheapo Maserati Biturbo, a sky high milage Ferrari Mondial, or a fat old Mercedes S-Class passagemaker. Phew. Instead I went for a Renault Laguna II. Sure, buying a decade old frenchy is stupid in its own way, but hey.

2002 Renault Laguna II, manumatic transmission, 135'000km (84'000m), 3.0L, V6, 208hp (152kw)

http://img834.imageshack.**/img834/520/81026696.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.**/img405/7569/10350920.jpg

Pro:
  • Perfect wafter for the Autobahn (90% of my driving time)

  • Annual service and emmission check done. Aircon serviced too.

  • Most important: Checked by the Motorfahrzeugkontrolle (rigorous and in a good way tightfisted Swiss MOT) on the day I bought it, so I can be sure chassis/brakes/steering and engine wise it's all sound. I would never buy a car that hasn't this done at the moment of sale. This way it is certified it's a roadworthy car and not some tarted up lemon with a bent frame.

  • Very comfortable and smooth suspension. The car really goes over instead into bumps.

  • Seems to be a save vehicle (even more so compared to the bangers I had before this). Five-star NCAP and all that.

  • Pulls well. (Every car with 100hp/1000kg has enough soup in the bowl to get the daily commute done to be honest, but a bit more spice in the soup is nice).

  • Growling soundtrack. In a cute way.

  • Every panel apart from the roof and the bonnet has at least a dent or a patch of surface scratches on it. What's "Pro" about this you're asking? Well, I don't care about cosmetics (I could be a Parisian if my french wasn't so lousy), and because of this the price was 1/4 less than every other V6 Laguna with the same age and odometer/technical condition even before the haggling started. Bare in mind I plan to drive this car only for the next two years (at 35'000km/year) right until the next mandatory MOT appointment and then I give it (almost) for free to whichever garage I'm going to buy the successor from.

  • No silly rear wing and no oversized exhaust ends. And no further visible distinction from less powerful models apart from two hard-to-read V6 badges on eighter side. I very like this sort of understatement. For the same reason I drive around on steelies without any hubcaps. The car had some fitted when I bought it (see the add picture below), but I took them away on site and left them there. I can't stand almost-alloys plastic hubcaps. You eighter have alloys, or you don't.

  • An old style car stereo slot and no in-built GPS. Again, what's "Pro" about this you're asking? Well, even if I only drive old bangers with scratches, in contrast inside I love to have the newest TomTom, the best suited modern radio with a large and clear display and so on. Sure, in-built satnavs and entertainment systems are nice and up to date if you buy a fancy new car, but if you consume old wheels at the rate like I do you simply hate the look of lousy first-generation TFT screens and sad-sack can't-read-it-in-daylight tiny dash displays. In-built CD players particularly are a pet peeve of mine. - Keep the car bare and modular so I can fill it with new gadgets or the ones I take over from the old car. That's what I like.

  • Very comfortable and surprisingly clean seats, infact all of the soft interior with the white contrast stitching looks pristine.

  • Aircon

  • OMG, it has cupholders! :D


Contra:

  • Rear visibility is crap. Massive C-pillars, a silly self-dimming rear view mirror, and the rear window wiper may look large but does only a small patch below the roof line. FFS, car makers, what's next to make reversing harder? No reverse gear?

  • Was a smokers car at some point. It doesn't smell and as already mentioned the seats are pristine, someone with OCD went over them recently for sure, but the dashboard and the center console are in need of a good cleaning.

  • No sunshine roof. Going to miss that when the summer comes.

  • The top of the dashboard is made out of some really poor mans plastic and does face some lousy contrast to the fabulous seats. The french, eh? Classy.

  • Minor niggle: The functions for the aircon are a row of sleek indentical switches. You actually have to look down to find the right button to change the fan setting for example. Would be much safer if you could feel different styled switches and radials without having to take your eyes of the road.

  • A quick look into some 2003 breakdown statistics gave me some brow-up moment. The Laguna II is right down at the bottom of the list. Mostly some immobilizer/keycard problems, and engine wise luckily only the diesel versions are the main culprits. But still, I have renewed my annual TCS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touring_Club_Suisse) membership and hope for the best. - Watch this space.

My arguments for haggling the price down:
- You can have my old car for free (hehe)
- Battle scars all over the Renault (it was in use as a curtesy car by the garage for most of its life)
- Battery in old car is brand new (I even have the reciept handy)
- Aircon LC-display light is gone (impossible to replace without ripping the whole dashboard apart)
- Breakdowns are to be expected
- I pay in cash, right now.

The sellers arguments for letting the price not sink too low:
- Your runabout had an engine failure. It's not a car anymore.
- Yes, the Renault it scratched all around, but non of it is deep, and the asking price is already low because of this.
- Everything is serviced and MOT checked. You can drive this for the next two years without any hassle.
- If you're argumenting with breakdowns statistics, why do you want this car then? - (Granted, good argument)

We met in the upper middle: 2600 SFR : Deal! (2797 USD, 1765 GBP, 2100 EU)

Insurance is 1000.- per year. (1070 USD, 674 GBP, 804 EU)
Swiss road tax is 400.- per year. (428 USD, 270 GBP, 322 EU)

The add pic:
http://img809.imageshack.**/img809/3248/bigimgp1300.jpg

Inside:
http://img12.imageshack.**/img12/9735/66755696.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.**/img690/9990/23383660.jpg

Some of the scars:
http://img15.imageshack.**/img15/8562/33055604.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.**/img18/8913/70679761.jpg

Lazy slacker. My old car was on 4000rpm when 120km/h was on the speedo:
http://img805.imageshack.**/img805/2588/94057721.jpg

Proof of ownership:
http://img685.imageshack.**/img685/8317/2013011416.jpg

And now, as in most "Post your car" threads here on FG this would be the place where the owner will tell you what his future plans are in upgrades or restauration. - But not here: When the snow melts the car gets a wash to get rid of the salt, and then once every year there will be a threat of a full service. - And that's it.
 
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You're an idiot. And the wheels are hideous.

Did I mention you're an idiot?

:tease:
 
The amount of these on ebay which are spares/repairs is very very high. :D
 
Why an idiot? It's not like I just bought some old Laguna.

Wait a minute.

OMG! What have I done?!

:D
 
fat old Mercedes S-Class passagemaker

I fail to see the stupid o_O


; would've been better than that frenchie anyways. :p
 
Well I don't know the used market there but surely a Pug 605 or a classic XM would have been a better option if you wanted French. Both of them are better equipped and far better looking as well as being way cooler.
 
The comparable PSA products would be 406/407 and C5... XM and 605 are both too old, and too big.

And as usual, I stand by my claim that French cars in general aren't half as bad as people make them out to be. Something like one in five cars on European roads are French, after all. They have to be doing something right. :)
 
You're an idiot. And the wheels are hideous.

Did I mention you're an idiot?

:tease:

In your face, those are plastic wheeltrims. If you were talking about the black steelies, those are cool as they always are.

matt_loser_sml.gif


:p
 
The comparable PSA products would be 406/407 and C5... XM and 605 are both too old, and too big.

And as usual, I stand by my claim that French cars in general aren't half as bad as people make them out to be. Something like one in five cars on European roads are French, after all. They have to be doing something right. :)

But they are proper barges-du-wafting and OK they are older but once you get beyond 10 years old there's little to choose between good used cars.

Anyway bring it on the Roadtrip and to Ringmeet so we can take the piss out of it in person.
 
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A friend sold his '02 300k km diesel laguna grandtour for 2k. Well maintained, no faults, similar condition as yours (minor scratches and stuff). I drove the car a bit even. The laguna imho is a very awkward car, not fun to drive, horrible dashboard... it did however consume little fuel and was very reliable.

He bought a '12 bmw X3 as a replacement ...
 
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errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, manumatic?? I no no.
 
Contra:

  • Rear visibility is crap. Massive C-pillars, a silly self-dimming rear view mirror, and the rear window wiper may look large but does only a small patch below the roof line. FFS, car makers, what's next to make reversing harder? No reverse gear?

  • Was a smokers car at some point. It doesn't smell and as already mentioned the seats are pristine, someone with OCD went over them recently for sure, but the dashboard and the center console are in need of a good cleaning.

  • No sunshine roof. Going to miss that when the summer comes.

  • The top of the dashboard is made out of some really poor mans plastic and does face some lousy contrast to the fabulous seats. The french, eh? Classy.

  • Minor niggle: The functions for the aircon are a row of sleek indentical switches. You actually have to look down to find the right button to change the fan setting for example. Would be much safer if you could feel different styled switches and radials without having to take your eyes of the road.

  • A quick look into some 2003 breakdown statistics gave me some brow-up moment. The Laguna II is right down at the bottom of the list. Mostly some immobilizer/keycard problems, and engine wise luckily only the diesel versions are the main culprits. But still, I have renewed my annual TCS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touring_Club_Suisse) membership and hope for the best. - Watch this space.

And as usual, I stand by my claim that French cars in general aren't half as bad as people make them out to be.

They aren't. Only Renaults are.
 
Well I don't know the used market there but surely a Pug 605 or a classic XM would have been a better option if you wanted French. Both of them are better equipped and far better looking as well as being way cooler.

What do you mean, Lagunas aren't cool?


Although I prefer the looks of the Estate version, the saloon's not that bad. Congratulations!
 
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tl dr

Has it blown any light bulbs yet? Does the radio work? Why is it French?

(Trying to keep myself from getting back at all the Volvo hatred I witnessed during the Lolvo :p)
 
Those things are utter crap but hope you've got a good one which wont let you down every 500km's like the ones my friends have had.

Manumatic? Is it some kind of a automated manual? Oh god.
 
Congratulations, even with all the hate speech, it's a great car. I have driven now 25 000 km with my 2005 facelifted 2.0 Break now, and it has really been easy (and super-frenchy-comfy) ride. Bought it with 259 000 on the clock, everything works like a dream. Only EVAP purge valve has been a letdown, I had to change it last summer, and now, 20 000 km later it is broken again. Luckily it's pretty cheap (81,90 ? original) and easy to swap yourself.

Let the haters hate, that's why these are so insanely cheap :)
 
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