[AlanHo]

I am currently on holiday in the Portugese Algarve and using a Renault Megane 1.5 dCi 110 Dynamique TomTom 5dr EDC hire car.

Spec is here

http://www.buyanewcaronline.co.uk/renault/megane/megane-diesel-hatchback/1.5-dci-110-dynamique-tomtom-5dr-edc/

I initally quite liked the car - it is smooth, quiet and very refined - but after 3 days I long to get back into my i30.

The interior is cramped, the side and rear view out impeded by thick pillars and small windows, instrumentation is minimal, the gear change too heavily spring biased to the 3rd and 4th gate - it is an effort to get into 1,2 5 and 6.  But the worse thing is that it has no grunt - the bloody engine would not pull the skin off a rice pudding. I spend more time in 1st and 2nd gear than I ever do in the i30 and it will not be a surprise if a donkey and cart beat me away from the lights before the week is out.

If you ever want a reminder of just how much torque at low speeds the i30 1.6 CDRi has - go drive a Megane.

[Shambles]

Looks nice, but - just like an elephant - wouldn't want to own one 

Hope The Algarve is as nice as I always imagined it to be 

[asathorny]

yep looks nice...   have a nice break 

[Dazzler]

  You had me worried for a minute Allan.. I thought you were going to change camps 

[syecadelic]

You had me worried for a minute Allan.. I thought you were going to change camps 

was worrying myself!

The main thing about Renault is... THEY ARE FRENCH!!!
sorry i hate and despise French cars as i have heard of so many problems with them, obviously some good things. but yeah. just not fond lol : )

[Surferdude]

You had me worried for a minute Allan.. I thought you were going to change camps 

was worrying myself!

The main thing about Renault is... THEY ARE FRENCH!!!
sorry i hate and despise French cars as i have heard of so many problems with them, obviously some good things. but yeah. just not fond lol : )

Having spent many years as a member of the Renault Car Club of Queensland I don't necessarily agree with you. However, having said that, it's been a long time since I had anything to do with them. (since the early 80's I guess.) So they could have changed a bit over the years.
As a Past Preseident I was recently invited to their 40th birthday dinner. Many still members who were there at the beginning with me. And the are every bit as passionate about their cars as we are.
I did not last year in the UK that the marque I noticed least on the roads was Renault. So in this day and age I don't hold out much hope for their future if their quality is slipping.

[Dazzler]

I loved the 1978 Renault Virage (1.4) I had for 4 years from new...The seats were one of the best things ...

[accim]

Renault is the best sold brand in Slovenia, some of the models are even assembled here. The brand itself isn't that bad, it's well known for it's comfortable seats. We've even owned few Renaults at our house in the past and present (3x Renault Clio and 1x Renault Laguna and now, I/we have Renault Kangoo Express 1.5 dCi 85hp - cargo version).

We haven't had any problems with the Clio's, but we've had quite few of them with Laguna. Don't remember exactly what were all the things, but it doesn't even matter. Hope the Kangoo will be running well, it's only a week old now and has only around 900 km on the clock, so can't really tell.

I've even test driven the Renault Megane and I agree with AlanHo. The car is okay, some of the things in the interior are also quite nice, but I always enjoy going back to Hyundai, especially the i30 and would never consider replacing my i30 with the Megane.

[syecadelic]

I know they used to be good cars, but in the past few years, when they started adding more electrics.. it wasnt good publicity for them in my eyes that so many cars had a lot of issues with them.
Their cars do look  great mind you. just wouldn't sure of their reliability

[AlanHo]

I am now back home and driving the i30 is a revelation compared with the Megane.

I usually give a hire car a thorough inspection before accepting it - and did so this time to make sure all the scratches and dings were properly recorded - but forgot to look at the tyres in my haste to get away. 4 days into the holiday I parked up with the front wheels on full lock and saw the tyres. Both front tyres were badly worn on the outer edges - about 20% of the tyre width had absolutely no tread whatsoever. The canvas was not visible - but I bet it was not far off.  We were staying too far away from the airport to return the car without wasting a precious day of our holiday, so I put up with it for the other 3 days with fingers crossed - making sure I kept off rough roads.

I complained to the hirer when I returned the car. They inspected the wheels and said that the tyres were legal in Portugal because 70% of the width of the tyre had more than 1.6 mm of tread. It didn't matter about the edges being totally bald.

I will be more careful about inspecting the car next time I hire one.

I must confess that the only good things I found with the Megane were the roomy boot and low cabin noise. It was not comfortable, had no pulling power below 2500 rpm, trim levels were poor, rear visibility out of the cabin compromised by a low roof line, small windows and thick pillars and on my car the cruise control had a mind of its own. My other objection was that it is French.

Anyone hiring a car in the Algarve should take note that the A22 motorway has recently (December 2011) been converted to a toll road. There are no toll booths – there are cameras on the motorway which record the registration numbers of cars as they pass. Local residents can fit a transponder in their car which automatically registers trips on the toll road and then pay by direct debit or at a post office. Visitors have to pay tolls either in advance by buying a pre-paid card, or pay in arrears within 5 days of using the A22 at a post office. The system for holidaymakers is a mess. Buying a pre-paid card is difficult because it is impossible to know how much credit to buy when you first arrive for a holiday. If you don’t pre-pay, it takes 2 days before the system processes the tolls so anyone using the A22 to return to the airport to catch their flight home cannot pay the toll incurred during that journey. They will be back home before the toll due is processed. The car hire company told us that they are required to notify the authority of your address. The authority will then send an invoice to your UK address demanding payment for the tolls with an additional admin fee and a fine for late payment – even though it is not possible to pay the toll on time anyway. We await that invoice.  We complained to our hire company that they had neglected to warn us about the tolls on the A22 when we collected the car – they explained that they will soon be issuing leaflets to clients advising them of the new system – but are not able to do it yet because the government have still not notified them of all the rules and procedures. The car hire guy said with a smile “This is Portugal my friend – we can’t organise anything properly”.

[Phil №❶]

Sort of a nice post Alan,

Nice to see that you're pleased to be back in your I30. Sad to see the bulk of your update was about toll roads. What a bummer for your holiday, having to frog around with all that crap. The people in Melbourne Aust, have the same system, which is why you'll never see me in Melbourne, ever again. We pay enough in taxes for all road travel to be free, as it is in my state and SOME others.It always was free in the past and due to Federal & State Government financial mismanagement they can only build decent roads if they're privatized.

Nice to see you're home safely. 

BTW, Did you happen to see any nice "Fillies" 

[AlanHo]

BTW, Did you happen to see any nice "Fillies" 

Yes - but I'm not officially allowed to look.

It was noticeable that most visitors at this time of the year are pensioners like ourselves - so there were far more old mares than fillies....

[Dazzler]

Interesting post Alan.. We were in Queensland two months ago where the toll system is quite similar to what you described ...

I hated it (we don't have tolls in Tassie) and I found it really stressful having to look out for toll signs as well as the forever changing speed limits. We thought we only went on two toll roads and I paid both the tolls (around A$4) by credit card over the internet within the obligatory 3 days...

BUT... unfortunately, I missed one and we got a $25 bill in the mail with a photo of our rental car    We were in Brisbane on 31st of October but don't recall any toll signs 

[Surferdude]

Interesting post Alan.. We were in Queensland two months ago where the toll system is quite similar to what you described ...

I hated it (we don't have tolls in Tassie) and I found it really stressful having to look out for toll signs as well as the forever changing speed limits. We thought we only went on two toll roads and I paid both the tolls (around A$4) by credit card over the internet within the obligatory 3 days...

BUT... unfortunately, I missed one and we got a $25 bill in the mail with a photo of our rental car    We were in Brisbane on 31st of October but don't recall any toll signs 

Dazz, maybe the Clem 7 tunnel? Or the 'Go Between Bridge from the City to South Brisbane.

It's the same in the UK.
And if you wander into the London central area and don't pay the "Congestion Tax" within a couple of days, the fine is eneormous. Fortunately our hire car company explained it all carefully to us at the point of pick up so we took a circuitous route out of London to the NW to stay as far away as posssible from the congestion tax area.

BTW. They have the tolls in Sydney, too.
It's not just a matter of poor government planning TBH. In the bigger cities. the cost of resumptions is enormous. (Or the cost of tunnelling). And the saving in fuel and time by using a toll road versus driving through the city is more than worth it.
Having said that, I tend to avoid them if possible. If you know your way around (at least in Brisbane) there are some pretty useful alternatives.

[Dazzler]

I think from memory it was the murrarie or something like that? I paid one for the Clem Smith Tunnel and another for the Gateway Motorway? I think we might have only been on a motorway that day for 1 or 2 kilometres when we were zig zaging through Brisbane visiting Model Train shops (maybe I should arm wrestle Trish for the $25) 

I'm holding my breath that Eurocar doesn't slug me the $37.50 surcharge for unpaid tolls I think I saw in their fine print 

Next trip to anywhere with Toll Roads I'm programming the GPS to avoid them 

[Phil №❶]

IMO It's un-Australian  to charge $25 under those circumstances. Tourists should be exempt, either by rego or hire car rego, or at the very least charged the normal fee. 

[Dazzler]

IMO It's un-Australian  to charge $25 under those circumstances. Tourists should be exempt, either by rego or hire car rego, or at the very least charged the normal fee. 

 

I am a stickler for minimising my costs (do everything to avoid parking fines and even avoid parking meters by walking extra distance if have the time) Hope I don't get any more.. Dead money 

[babis_xo]

Next trip to anywhere with Toll Roads I'm programming the GPS to avoid them 

No use here m8! There are tolls installed at every exit /entrance of the motorway
And 12 tolls on the motorway, one for every 40kms... Apart from this, you'll have to stop every time and *cling... *cling... the coins to the guy who sits behind the cashier's desk. For a 500km trip, you will need: 50€ for gas, 25€ for tolls and... 15€ for sedatives.
So, what you were saying about Portugal?

EDIT: I didn't take account of the coffee you may need, so it's 4€ more (3€ if it's a take-away coffee in a plastic cup)

[Dazzler]

Next trip to anywhere with Toll Roads I'm programming the GPS to avoid them 

No use here m8! There are tolls installed at every exit /entrance of the motorway
And 12 tolls on the motorway, one for every 40kms... Apart from this, you'll have to stop every time and *cling... *cling... the coins to the guy who sits behind the cashier's desk. For a 500km trip, you will need: 50€ for gas, 25€ for tolls and... 15€ for sedatives.
So, what you were saying about Portugal?

EDIT: I didn't take account of the coffee you may need, so it's 4€ more (3€ if it's a take-away coffee in a plastic cup)

We've just done about 1000 Kilometres in 3 days (in Tassie) and it cost us about A$90 after an 8c docket discount  (no tolls, no sedatives but several coffees at about A$3.50ea)

[babis_xo]

Does your camry at least has a heated cup holder?

[Dazzler]

Does your camry at least has a heated cup holder?

No, but I have a Flash Ceramic Travel mug with a cool touch hand grip and a Silicon cap...   (one of my mates gave it to me as  a gift after coming back from the USA... ) it works great 

[babis_xo]

  

[2i30s]

sounds like you now need a 12v coffee machine in your car. 

[babis_xo]

sounds like you now need a 12v coffee machine in your car. 

I don't like kitchen appliances in my car. Cars should have heated cup holders as a standard