Manual, Brown, Diesel, Wagon !

GTV V6

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 20, 2004
Messages
842
Location
Barcelona, Spain
Car(s)
Audi TT V6, Skoda Octavia vRS NX
My job has recently changed, so I have to travel around Spain a lot. As a Service technician, I have to take tools and spare parts with me.

Unfortunately, my company does not provide me with a car, though they do pay me per km.

My Audi TT is neither practical or economical enough.

After many test drives and a lot of internetting, I got this...



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It's a Renault Megane Sport Tourer 110dci, basically a Megane estate (wagon).

It's 2 years old with 21,000 kms (13,000 miles). I got it from a dealer with a 2 year manufacturers warranty for ?12,900

It has the 1.5 turbo diesel motor with 110Hp with a 6 speed manual.

Other highlights include...

Cruise control, Air-con, integrated bluetooth & Stop-Start. Pretty standard stuff these days I guess.

First impressions are that it's a lot quieter and solid feeling than I thought it would be. I always had the impression Meganes were in the plasticky & unrefined end of the market but it's actually quite nice.

The colour is nice too, it's a sort of metalic brown, like coca-cola, doesn't really show up in the photos as the rain dumped a load of sand on it a few days ago and I haven't had the chance to clean it.

Importantly, the economy is pretty good, on a long run at 120kmh (75mph) it will get 4.5 l/100km (62 UK mpg or 52 US mpg)
Around town, this goes up to about 5.2 l/100km (54 UK mpg or 45 US mpg)

The TT is staying for the time being, though I haven't used it for a few weeks. It's sitting in the garage at the moment with it's battery disconnected.

I guess it will have to go, as I don't like the idea of it just sitting there losing money. Maybe I'll get an old SL or M3 that won't lose so much and may even go up a bit in value.
 
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That's a rather handsome car. Up until seeing photos of your car, I felt that (the previous) Meganes were just too 'French' for my liking. This iteration's styling has moved more toward the mainstream. I've had several lift-back vehicles and much prefer them as daily-drivers over 'three-box' designs.

The metallic brown color is increasingly popular in the U.S. as well. It provides some welcome relief from the white, gray and black vehicles that make up so much of the 'fleet' here. (I shouldn't talk... my daily Focus liftback is silver! :rolleyes:)

Since Renault has been absent from the U.S. market for such a long time, I can't comment on their reliability. When they were sold here, they often didn't live up to the owners' expectations. I don't think that Renault made much of an effort to either understand or adapt to the American market, which is still quite different than Europe.

Here's hoping that your new ride will serve you well!

SL
 
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The 1.5 liter turbodiesel is in millions of Renault, Dacias, Nissans and even some Mercs if I'm not mistaken. I haven't heard of any problems, and it's very economical too.

It's hilarious when you tell owners of diesel Nissans "that's the one with the Renault engine, right?" :lol: A couple of times it's been as if their entire world came crashing down on them because they thought they bought a "reliable" Japanese vehicle. Nevermind the fact that Nissan has a pretty terrible track record with diesel engines as of late. The Renault powered ones are fine.
 
I always had the impression Meganes were in the plasticky & unrefined end of the market but it's actually quite nice.

We had these as a rental at work a couple of times, and that was my thought aswell - until I drove one. They are really, really good. It had the 6-speed aswell, so it's probably been the same engine.

I hope it serves you well!
 
Since I got this car, I've been filling up at a supermarket using cheap diesel (Ave 93 euro cents/l)

However I noticed that the economy has been getting gradually worse.

It went from 4.6 to 5.1l/100km.

So last week I filled it up with normal diesel from Repsol, I've been really surprised that on my last trip, the economy recovered to 4.3l/100km. This was 300 km on the motorway with the cruise control on so I don't think it's down to me changing the way I drive.

Anyone else have any experience or explanation about this ?
 
Nice car, but your company sucks for not giving you a car for your work travel to begin with.

Regarding the supermarket fuel: I've had similar experience long (nearly 15 years) ago, and with petrol.
 
Nice car, but your company sucks for not giving you a car for your work travel to begin with.

At least here the tax free travel compensation is high enough to cover all the costs and even pay for the car itself if driven enough and the car is economical... So actually it is better for the employee to drive their own car instead of company car without compensation... Don't know if it is the same in Spain.

For what comes to consumption against the diesel quality, you should test it through longer periods. I see consumption changing from tank to tank somewhat even when it feels like nothing has changed.
 
The Spanish govt. thinks 19c per KM is sufficient, so anything above that is taxed at a variable rate depending on your yearly earnings.

I get 32c per km, before tax, but it comes out at about 26c after tax.

Even then, if I do about 25000 km/year, I should gain about ?3000 per year (after all costs and selling the car)

My current plan is sell it after 2 years (after warranty runs out) and get another one.
 
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In Finland it's 43 cents per km. More if you have passengers, tow a trailer, if you're traveling by snowmobile or ATV etc. It sounds like a lot but it should cover everything.
 
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