mjb wrote:Not a Megane nor fire, but I had a Laguna which was built so well it nearly literally fell to bits - half the screws and bolts on the car were loose, including the engine mounts, alternator, rocker cover, ABS unit...
Ahh, that was it. I remembered that you'd had a lot of issues with a Renault.
My two Mk.1 Clios were staggeringly reliable - the first one was a 1994 1.4 petrol (which I owned briefly while learning to drive), and was reasonably sporty - the poor little bugger had been thrashed to within an inch of its life and all the mechanicals had been neglected (including the filters and engine oil; there was bugger all in the sump and what little there was was like treacle). She still ran just fine though, and even more sweetly once the oil and filters had been changed. When it came to MOT time she failed due to serious issues with the brakes, and would have cost more to repair than she was worth, so sold for scrap.
The second Clio I had was a 1997 1.2 petrol, and had been looked after very well. Unfortunately it was completely gutless; on motorways and dual carriageway roads, you had to rev the engine hard to maintain 70, and so it was nigh-on impossible to hold a conversation over the din. It also struggled to get up steep hills, even in low gears, so it was almost useless for going up to see my folks in Thurso. The only thing that went wrong with her mechanically was the connector for the starter motor had come loose, and she refused to turn over one day when I was leaving work. AA man came and fixed it in under a minute. Traded her in for the 406 later on that year - as far as DVLA can tell, she's still on the road (yay, she survived the Scrappage Scheme!)
Meganes are supposed to be pretty good cars, but I don't see lots of them about.
