Plus they suffer terrible depreciation and tend to be hard work to sell on again so expect dealers to be reluctant when it comes time to part-ex. I’d sooner have a Mazda 3, Toyota Auris or Honda Civic.

Terrible depreciation can be an opportunity to get a bargain if you are buying one or two years old and keeping in the long term. It all depends on how reliable it turns out to be. I agree about the Japanese brands though but you are unlikely to be able to drive a hard bargain when buying one of those.

Renault used to give a 4 year warranty with their cars, but this was reduced to 3 years recently. Now this was either because no one ever claimed in the fourth year and it was unnecessary, or there were lots of faults as the cars got older and it was costing them too much. Which does everyone reckon is the real reason?

If anything it would be the second - that's why KIA offer a 7 year warranty of their cars - and is a selling point, including when you sell it on before that 7 year warranty is up, assuming you've followed the service requirements correctly to qualify. It also helps put more service work the way of dealerships, as many people still opt for using indie garages after a standard 3 year warranty is up.

The longer the warranty (as long as it has been calculated correctly vis-a-vis reliability), the more reliable the car. That equals more sales, as Hyundai/KIA demonstrate. Many of the established makes have missed the boat on this issue and are now (literally) paying the price by prioritising styling and gizmos over engineering quality, reliability and good customer service.

Our Kia was 100% reliable for the 5 years we had it. The only warranty claim was for a new A/C condenser which had been holed - expected Kia to blame a stone but there was no argument and it was sorted FOC. Would have another but so far they have not had a car on their books that has met our current needs.

But pop over to the Kia forum and you would soon conclude they are pretty much the worst company on the planet. Constant whingeing by posters about dealers not accepting problems as being covered by the warranty with many saying within weeks of buying that it is their first and last Kia.

This is obviously not Kia's fault, its clear that some (many?) of their dealers prefer to charge customers rather than use the warranty for which they are presumably paid less.

So whilst the warranty may be an initial selling point if dealers do not follow up by carrying out work required it will probably discourage more repeat customers than encouraging them.

I am slightly concerned about this modern trend for small highly-stressed engines, the 1.3 kicks out 130bhp but I expect you have to wring its neck to get that. I have not driven it yet, I admit.

Why not try a small modern turbo petrol?

We are on our 2nd VAG 1.4 TSi (a 140 PS and now a 150 PS) and they drive in a far more relaxed manner than any 2.0 N/A petrol I have ever owned or driven (the current Mazda 2.0 petrols are anything but relaxing). On a recent 1000 mile road trip to Scotland I would say I never went above 3500 rpm even when overtaking. They also do teriffic diesel like mpg, the Scottish trip returned 55 mpg.

They are so good the wife now has a 1.0 TSi 110 PS in a Fabia, its truly outstanding.

Edited by Avant on 15/11/2018 at 12:13

Lots of useful comments, thanks. I think the next thing is to test drive the 1.3 engine to see whether it suits my driving style. I will try and get to the dealer again this weekend or next.

Some of the points raised:

I'm not bothered about depreciation - I tend to keep my cars until there's not much value left and then pass them on to friends or family. Depreciation is only an issue if you sell. But is Renault depreciation any worse than other mainstream makes such as Ford, Vauxhall, Hyundai etc?

Alternatives to Megane - we have a Ford and Toyota so I like something a bit quirky. Had Renaults for many years (started 1979), like their comfort and refinement.

Reliability - it's well documented that Renault went through a bad patch at the turn of the Century but people I speak to with the newer Clios plus Kadjars and Capturs seem pleased with them. It was the early versions of MK2 Lagunas, Meganes and Scenics that were poor.

Warranty - I guess only Renault will know why they reduced the warranty from four years to three. Doesn't really bother me, the salesman said you can extend the warranty back to four years for a few hundred (I can't remember the exact amount) but that can be lost in negotiations I am sure. All cars are complex these days, I don't think Renaults are any better or worse than other makes. Gone are the days when my rough running Renault 18 that left me limping home was resolved by tightening the carb mounting with a screwdriver - it had worked loose! These days you can't do much without plugging the car into diagnostics.