Renault Laguna's, any good?

MikeHunt79 · 19 Oct 2009 at 19:33

I've been looking at a few 2nd hand ones, around 2002/2003, and the Diesel ones seem to eat turbo's, as I've seen 3 which are on their 2nd turbo and another one which has a blown turbo despite only 80k on the clock.

Is there anything else to be concerned about and are they any good overall? I guess the Mondeo may be a better option?

Firestar_3x · 19 Oct 2009 at 19:35

MikeHunt79 said:
I've been looking at a few 2nd hand ones, around 2002/2003, and the Diesel ones seem to eat turbo's, as I've seen 3 which are on their 2nd turbo and another one which has a blown turbo despite only 80k on the clock.

Is there anything else to be concerned about and are they any good overall? I guess the Mondeo may be a better option?

Avoid the laguna, its a big pile of ****, one of the worst cars renault have ever made.

Engines / Gearboxes / Electrics, you name it and this car has trouble with it.

iaind · 19 Oct 2009 at 19:40

MikeHunt79 said:
I guess the Mondeo may be a better option?

yes

MikeHunt79 · 19 Oct 2009 at 20:05

Firestar_3x said:
Avoid the laguna, its a big pile of ****, one of the worst cars renault have ever made.

Engines / Gearboxes / Electrics, you name it and this car has trouble with it.

Ok, thanks, I'll avoid.

iaind said:
yes

Don't mondeo's have something expensive that can go wrong (MAF?)

iaind · 19 Oct 2009 at 20:09

You're probably thinking of the DMF (dual mass flywheel) - can fail on the diesels due to the epic torks. 600 quid job which is probably about the same as a new turbo on a Laguna, but the problems arent as common as some people say

Was it a derv you were after?

dave_beast · 19 Oct 2009 at 20:49

Avoid Renault full stop, because they use unique parts that are not shared with any other manufacturer, they can bump up parts prices, and believe me, as a Renault owner, parts will come into the equation at some point.

thepharcyde · 19 Oct 2009 at 20:55

The_Dark_Side · 19 Oct 2009 at 23:50

MikeHunt79 said:
I guess that pretty much any other car ever produced would be a better option?

Got it in one.

MikeHunt79 · 20 Oct 2009 at 00:05

iaind said:
You're probably thinking of the DMF (dual mass flywheel) - can fail on the diesels due to the epic torks. 600 quid job which is probably about the same as a new turbo on a Laguna, but the problems arent as common as some people say

Was it a derv you were after?

Yep, I'm after a derv. DMF, that's it, it's the only thing that I remembered when a thread involving a derv Mondeo came up... I was thinking about a Pug 406 also, but I've also heard that they can also have flywheel related issues. I guess there's no such thing as a trouble free car, but I think I'll steer clear of the Laguna.

dave_beast said:
Avoid Renault full stop, because they use unique parts that are not shared with any other manufacturer, they can bump up parts prices, and believe me, as a Renault owner, parts will come into the equation at some point.

It does seem 2nd hand Laguna's are cheap, but it seems they're cheap for a reason. Shame really, as they all appear to come with lots of options (xenons, aircon, leather, etc.)

The_Dark_Side said:
Got it in one.

Even a Vauxhall?

The_Dark_Side · 20 Oct 2009 at 00:10

MikeHunt79 said:
Even a Vauxhall?

Buy a Laguna if it comes with a full warranty (so the breakdowns won't cost you a thing) and if you have a second car to use when it breaks.
I don't know why the Laguna is so bad (the Clio and Megane are far better) but it's terrible and the electrical faults are typically very expensive to put right.

MikeHunt79 · 20 Oct 2009 at 00:58

The_Dark_Side said:
Buy a Laguna if it comes with a full warranty (so the breakdowns won't cost you a thing) and if you have a second car to use when it breaks.
I don't know why the Laguna is so bad (the Clio and Megane are far better) but it's terrible and the electrical faults are typically very expensive to put right.

After looking at the classifieds it seems the Laguna almost always has things like climate control, electric mirrors, electric sunroof, etc... Maybe this is why the Clio and Megane are better as there is less stuff to go wrong in the first place.

Being a Peugeot owner right now, I know how frustrating electrical faults are, I think I'll try and go for something where the wires are not made of cheese...

theNude · 20 Oct 2009 at 05:28

I recently sold my 2002 Laguna IDE 2.0 Initiale.

Bought it just before Christmas for ferrying family around for 2250GBP, one owner from new, FRSH and 60k miles.

kept it for 8 months, i kept meaning to sell it for a good 4 months before i did though.

Sold it for 2250, during the 6k miles i had it it i spent 700GBP on parts it as it needed various electrical niggles sorting out including engine sensors and fuel pump.

It was a good drive (for fwd scum), very quiet and it was well specced being top model (electric heated leather seats, cruise, sat, dual climate etc etc)

I personally wouldnt buy one again but for the money it was a comfy, well specced car. but i think your money will be safer with a mondeo/focus/generic rep car.

atpbx · 20 Oct 2009 at 07:11

Virtually everything goes wrong on the laguna.

Even I wouldnt drive one.

footman · 20 Oct 2009 at 08:20

I had a Laguna Dynamique (semi-estate) for 3 years. I bought a Renault because my wifes best friend owned a Renault dealership.
Her advice was to buy the model with fewest electronic bits as they are the parts that fail most.
We bought ours new in 2003 and ran it for 3 years, the only money we spent was on servicing and it ran like a dream.
Prior to that we had 2 espaces, both no frills models and we had no problems despite driving all over Europe.

iaind · 20 Oct 2009 at 09:04

MikeHunt79 said:
Yep, I'm after a derv. DMF, that's it, it's the only thing that I remembered when a thread involving a derv Mondeo came up... I was thinking about a Pug 406 also, but I've also heard that they can also have flywheel related issues. I guess there's no such thing as a trouble free car, but I think I'll steer clear of the Laguna.

Most newish cars have DMFs - Pugs, VAG group cars, Vaux I think too - even the petrols. The reason it's so "common" with the Mondeo is because of the amount of Mondeos on the road. Definitely worth a look at a Mondy if you're conscious of the potential problems

Firestar_3x · 20 Oct 2009 at 09:09

iaind said:
Most newish cars have DMFs - Pugs, VAG group cars, Vaux I think too - even the petrols.

Yep My Passat had DMF issues at 90k, so its by no means a Ford only issue.

ethos · 20 Oct 2009 at 09:14

I quite liked the 2.2 dCi we had a work... did quite a few miles in it. Fairly comfy, performance was decent enough (150bhp iirc). Did plenty of 4-5 hour drives in it too.

Can't really comment on the reliability but I can't remember any particually big faults/issues with it.

Girlfriends dad has the 3.0 v6 estate... again no problems so far and it's very well spec'd. Renaults servicing pricing and the like is very well priced too.

iaind · 20 Oct 2009 at 11:17

Firestar_3x said:
Yep My Passat had DMF issues at 90k, so its by no means a Ford only issue.

Nor a diesel issue! I really think its just because of the quantity of oil burning Mondeos out there..

MikeHunt79 · 20 Oct 2009 at 11:59

iaind said:
Nor a diesel issue! I really think its just because of the quantity of oil burning Mondeos out there..

Yep they're not exactly a rare car, so I guess this maybe why there are more reports of problems...

Quick question, do all the Mondeo TDCI models have chain driven cams or is it only on certain engine sizes or years?

I get around · 20 Oct 2009 at 12:05

No, my dad bought one, he's spent about 3 grand on repairs in about 8 months, worst mistake he ever made he said, this car has only done about 75k (mostly motorway) baring in mind and not been driven hard at all until i got hold of it for a day.
I've driven it and it was so damn awful I actually wanted to vomit, had to floor it to get anywhere, like a boat round corners, ride quality was horrible, cheap feel, crappy gearbox, nothing had any feel, even at speed it felt horrible (when i finally got it up to some speed), crap stereo from stock (sounded like a £5 portable radio), it was just a sack of hate. I have said before it was the worst car I have ever driven.

Avoid like the plague if you ask me.