Laguna's......what's the do?

[lexi]

These diesel cars seem to be so good on paper.
Renault/ Nissan engines with 150bhp from a 2litre
The same engine in the Renault Trafic?

What to watch for and not to like?..from the latest to the 5 or 6 yr olds please .

Anyone?

[CitroJim]

What to watch for and not to like?..

Turbos with the life expectancy of a mayfly... The turbos fail for a pastime and may, if the driver is not au-fait take the engine (and even the whole car) with it, due to the engine consuming it's own oil and running away until something goes either kaboom or the whole car ignites and goes up in flames...

Apart from that I believe they're pretty good cars...

[lexi]

I had kind of heard that. Has it been cured on latest models as I aint heard if the Trafic version
does it?

[isisalar]

One thing to beware of is the 'keyless' malarky.
Instead of a traditional key, they have a plastic/electronic gizmo a bit bigger than a credit card which is inserted into a slot in the (iirc) floor, the starter will then operate.
The boffins, realizing that these 'keys' could be easily lost made a hole in one end so it could be attached to a keyring in the normal way.
However, the 'key' has to be removed from the keyring to insert it in the slot!!!!
Only renault could do this.
If you are considering getting one don't forget to factor in the cost of a kennel to keep it in.
Paul

[CitroJim]

If you are considering getting one don't forget to factor in the cost of a kennel to keep it in.

[Xaccers]

One thing to beware of is the 'keyless' malarky.
Instead of a traditional key, they have a plastic/electronic gizmo a bit bigger than a credit card which is inserted into a slot in the (iirc) floor, the starter will then operate.
The boffins, realizing that these 'keys' could be easily lost made a hole in one end so it could be attached to a keyring in the normal way.
However, the 'key' has to be removed from the keyring to insert it in the slot!!!!
Only renault could do this.
If you are considering getting one don't forget to factor in the cost of a kennel to keep it in.
Paul

The key slots into the centre console, and is held in by a peg within the socket that matches up to the hole in the end of the key, this is so it can't just be yanked out. I don't see how anyone could mistake that hole for a "keyring" then again, how anyone could easily lose the keycard itself is beyond me.
The battery cover contained the manual entry key (another myth was that with a flat battery there was no way to get into the car).
3 button keycards, which I believe were available later with keyless entry had a hole next to the manual entry key which a keyring could be attached to and wouldn't need removing to use the card in the car.





I had a 1.9DCi Laguna II (51 plate) which was fantastic to drive, very comfortable, very economical with shed loads of room inside, unfortunatly it occasionally went into limp home mode with a message "Fuel injection system faulty" until you rebooted, and the turbo failed which Renault replaced under warranty despite me being rather late on nearly all the services. In two years I clocked up 76K miles, and those were the only two issues I had.

[isisalar]

Sorry, my mistake.
So the hole is not for a keyring then. I don't think it would be a good idea to drill a hole in there so one can't use a keyring at all.(except on the revised ones).
Only Renault could do this.

I had a customer willing to pay £5000 to change his laguna for A.N. other car but the £8000 depreciation in 10,000 miles he had suffered meant he couldn't afford to buy anything. He couldn't sleep at night(he told me) for worrying about losing the 'key'.
Paul

[CitroJim]

He couldn't sleep at night(he told me) for worrying about losing the 'key'.

I can believe that... I'm one who likes to keep all my keys together on one ring - three actually, one for each car - with a big fob or two. That way I know it'll be hard to misplace/mislay/loose my keys and touch-wood in 36 years that has been the case...

That Laguna contraption would drive me potty as it must be separate from all other keys. I'd be scared of loosing it too...

On a key-related thing I observe that Robyn has inherited her dad's key habits and she has all her keys on one big bunch with numerous fobs and she says for the same reason as I do... You can almost see her 206 steering wheel sag under the weight...

I guess there must be a bunch of keys gene and my daughter has inherited it from me... I don't think she'd like the Laguna card either...

[Xaccers]

Sorry, my mistake.
So the hole is not for a keyring then. I don't think it would be a good idea to drill a hole in there so one can't use a keyring at all.(except on the revised ones).
Only Renault could do this.

I had a customer willing to pay £5000 to change his laguna for A.N. other car but the £8000 depreciation in 10,000 miles he had suffered meant he couldn't afford to buy anything. He couldn't sleep at night(he told me) for worrying about losing the 'key'.
Paul

Probably best he doesn't get behind the wheel of any car then if he can't keep track of such a large key!
Maybe he ended up bying a Volvo like the one I saw at Tescos petrol station recently, it was scary! He couldn't figure out how to work the pump, then couldn't figure out how to open his filler cap, was back and forth to the pump 3 times trying to work things out, then when he finished and tried to drive off another driver had to shout out and warn him he he'd left the filler cap dangling!
I find there's nothing worse than a big bunch of keys dangling from the ignition. Actually there is in the Xantia; a big bunch of keys dangling from the ignition where the car key has been inserted the wrong way up!

I never had the need to attach keys to either my Laguna or Megane cards, and with the Megane I didn't need to take the key out of my pocket.
With the two button cards though if you were inclined to, it was easy to drill through the top edge or the manual key so you could affix a keyring.
The initial reported depreciation in the media was laughable, they gave a figure at 3 years for a car that had only been out 2.

[lexi]

I love depreciation. It is important to be at the bottom end of it with a few spanners

[Xaccers]

I love depreciation. It is important to be at the bottom end of it with a few spanners

It's how we can pick up some very exceptional cars for only a few hundred quid

No one in their right mind buys a new car without expecting it to lose thousands in it's first year, certainly not if it's a French car!

[Citroenmad]

No, I would and did avoid Lagunas. A shame as they do look nice and on paper they are very competitive. I would get a bit bored constantly stood at the side of a motorway watching it burn itself to a shell though.

Far more reliable large diesel cars around to worth looking at those. Cheap for a reason!

Petrols are the better ones in a LagunaII, though you still have their other interesting features, such as the key card. Which would also drive me potty and im very much a bunch of keys person too.

That said, the 2.0 DCi is the better of the lot, apparently. Its mainly the 2.2 and 1.9 which has the most problems. There are some good Renault forums which are a good source of information on them.

150bhp might sound appealing but not at the expense of reliability. Most modern diesels have a good power rating now and if its a little lower than you would want them a remap is a cheap and efficient way to improve things.

If it was me after a 5-6 year old big diesel car, Id consider the VW group cars - as the diesels are very reliable (some a little less refined than others). A HDi Citroen, very good engines. On that basis id even consider some Volvos and Fords as some use the same PSA units.

If you like Renaults then the LagunaIII is getting cheaper, a 1.5 or 2.0 DCi might make a good buy. Though im insure of the actual cars reliability, you would hope its improving.

[isisalar]

Re the customer-
At the time(late 2009) I was working at a well known car supermarket, and this poor guy had been persuaded to sign a 5 year finance agreement by said Co., about 2 years previously for the Renault Laguna, which iirc the price was £10,000 .The Renaults auction value was estimated at £1200 and the settlement figure on the finance was £8000 ish
Moral of the story is,
Don't go to car supermarkets, especially ones that you can drive away instantly from, in your 'new' car, on a finance agreement especially.
The reason they want you to drive away today, is that if you check out the deal overall with a knowledgable person, they would tell you , you are being ripped off.
Cars on display were routinely marked up at £3000 more than they were advertised on the Companys website! If this guy had got a bank loan(say £7000), gone in with cash, and bought, the same car for the price advertised, he would certainly be in a much better position today.
As it is, if he still has that car, which must now be worth zilch, he's still paying £200-250 a month poor sod, and until later this year!
I really hope one of the £2000 'Guarantees' weren't added to his finance agreement.

[DickieG]

Shame about the turbo problem on Laguna 2's as they look quite attractive and can have a great spec, the present Laguna looks like a cross eyed blob of blancmange.

As for keys I hate carrying any more than the keys I need at the time so all of my car keys are individual keys, why carry all that weight/clutter when you don't need to? Incidentally having a heavy bunch of keys hanging on the ignition lock isn't a particularly good idea as it causes additional strain on the barrel which can cause fractures, I recall reading serval tales of Clio's suffering from this problem a few years ago when Dawn had one.

[Citroenmad]

I always have my house and work keys on with my car key, though if I use a different car then I change over that key. I don't often have more than one car key on at one time. It would get a bit confusing having to press 3 C5 keys to unlock the one im using Not to mention a C5 key is pretty huge.