New car advice

[monkeyhanger]

Never liked Renaults, they used to be rust buckets and unreliable now they're just unreliable with poor interior design. Had the misfortune to be given a Kadjar as a hire car and the passenger seatbelt was puzzlingly already plugged in. I drive off and my OCD made me unplug it. I knew then why it had been plugged in. From the centre roof console there was then a piercing light in my eye line to tell me that the passenger airbag was activated. Incredibly crap design to have a hugely distracting light if no-one us occupying the passenger seat.

My mate has a Captur company car that he refers to as the "Crap-Turd".

Lastly, my sister's Megane nearly killed her (one of those fat-arsed people carrier style ones. There was a fire between the back of the dash and the engine. She came to a swift stop, and the central locking locked. It stayed locked as she tried to get out, with the smell of burning plastic. 30 seconds of kicking the doors and the drivers window, the car unlocked and she got out. 10 mins later the car was a smouldering wreck of bare metal and melted plastic.

Would not touch a Renault with a barge pole.

If you fancy French, I'd pick a Peugeot - every time.

[Andy Beats]

Never liked Renaults, they used to be rust buckets and unreliable now they're just unreliable with poor interior design. Had the misfortune to be given a Kadjar as a hire car and the passenger seatbelt was puzzlingly already plugged in. I drive off and my OCD made me unplug it. I knew then why it had been plugged in. From the centre roof console there was then a piercing light in my eye line to tell me that the passenger airbag was activated. Incredibly crap design to have a hugely distracting light if no-one us occupying the passenger seat.

My mate has a Captur company car that he refers to as the "Crap-Turd".

Lastly, my sister's Megane nearly killed her (one of those fat-arsed people carrier style ones. There was a fire between the back of the dash and the engine. She came to a swift stop, and the central locking locked. It stayed locked as she tried to get out, with the smell of burning plastic. 30 seconds of kicking the doors and the drivers window, the car unlocked and she got out. 10 mins later the car was a smouldering wreck of bare metal and melted plastic.

Would not touch a Renault with a barge pole.

If you fancy French, I'd pick a Peugeot - every time.

Never any reliability issues with our Renaults, the Clio went three years without needing anything other than servicing (not even a bulb blew) and it was so cheap to run it was laughable.
The Captur was equally reliable and cheap to run, but did have some annoying rattles.
Interior design of the Captur was also excellent, it was the first car we had with a big 'touch screen' using app-style icons and it was very good.
The instrument design was nice, with a big digital speedo.
Some very clever design touches too, like the genius zip off/on cloth seat covers that could be machine washed.
Get yourself a spare set and you could change the colour of your seats in minutes too, if you wanted.
The sliding rear seat is clever too, allowing you to increase boot space if no passengers etc.
Tales like your sister's Megane don't bother me, as the same 'scare stories' can be applied to any make.
I've got a photo here of a car burning near Aberdeen airport some years ago, and it was a Golf....

[monkeyhanger]

^ The main point of the "scare story" was more about the fact that the car locked my sister in for 30 seconds when the fire had started. Don't know whether her kicking the door trying to get out or something else eventually tripped the central locking to release. If it hadn't released when it did she'd have been cremated in that car because she could not kick the window out.

[Andy Beats]

^ The main point of the "scare story" was more about the fact that the car locked my sister in for 30 seconds when the fire had started. Don't know whether her kicking the door trying to get out or something else eventually tripped the central locking to release. If it hadn't released when it did she'd have been cremated in that car because she could not kick the window out.

Again, this can be applied to other cars.
A whole family drowned in an Audi Q7 in Ireland when they slipped down a harbour ramp into the sea.
The people inside and outside were frantically trying to open any of the doors without success.
At least your sister's Renault did release her, no such luck in the Audi and rescuers were trying for a long time.
Now, the following is something I've only heard and may be an 'urban legend', but the metal poles on car headrests are allegedly pointed to aid window breaking.
Remove headrest, smash window.
Since the Irish family story, I have been tempted to buy a small window hammer, but keep forgetting to do so.

[stevereeves]

Bearing in mind the above, super extreme siuation, try removing the front headrests beforehand. Just in case. In my Mk7 Golf the fronts are absolute sows to remove requiring a screwdriver to push the tags in, despite what the handbook says using the key don't work, the rears are still a tad tricky but waaay easier....

[Andy Beats]

It's reminded me to order a couple of little car hammers (and seat belt cutter), they're only £3 each.
TBH I've still no real idea if the headrest thing is urban myth or not.
I know the ends of the headrest poles are pointed in most cars, but I assumed this was just to guide them into the seat easier.

[Dark_cze]

There is reason why I carry small pocket knife. End of blade should be able to break car side windows and also cut seatbelt. Is it problem to carry pocket knife in UK? I heard some stories but never really checked on my own.

[monkeyhanger]

Also bearing in mind that driver error was to blame for the Audi incident. My sister's was all down to the car. She took Renault to court and they settled out of court. They tried to weasel out of it by saying it was out of warranty - it was (just) but had a full Renault service history and had been serviced 3 months prior.

Not sure the headrest pegs are pointy enough to be used like one of those window hammers you see on buses and trains. Not much density/weight to the headrestto swing it like one of those little hammers.

How much random stuff can you prepare for, at the end of the day? I have a blanket some bottled water and a few multipacks of chocolate muesli bars in the car in case I have a breakdown in these freezing temps and am waiting a few hours for rescue.

You shouldn't need to plan for the eventuality of a 3 and a quarter year old car, well maintained, bursting into flames from a non-serviceable area of the car.

[Andy Beats]

Also bearing in mind that driver error was to blame for the Audi incident. My sister's was all down to the car. She took Renault to court and they settled out of court. They tried to weasel out of it by saying it was out of warranty - it was (just) but had a full Renault service history and had been serviced 3 months prior.

Not sure the headrest pegs are pointy enough to be used like one of those window hammers you see on buses and trains. Not much density/weight to the headrestto swing it like one of those little hammers.

How much random stuff can you prepare for, at the end of the day? I have a blanket some bottled water and a few multipacks of chocolate muesli bars in the car in case I have a breakdown in these freezing temps and am waiting a few hours for rescue.

You shouldn't need to plan for the eventuality of a 3 and a quarter year old car, well maintained, bursting into flames from a non-serviceable area of the car.

True.
To be honest I'd probably rate a fire extinguisher as more important than being thirsty/hungry for a few hours.
But I don't have a fire extinguisher in this car either (have had in other cars).
TBH, the way I feel about this car right now I'd be quite happy to climb out the window I've just smashed with my hammer and watch it burn, whilst dancing around it.

[Andy Beats]

Is it problem to carry pocket knife in UK? I heard some stories but never really checked on my own.

Folding blade under 3 inches is fine.

[CP_Vaughny]

Did you manage to get any shipping info on yours? VW wont tell me what ship mine is on - Mine leapfrogged to in transit at the same time as yours, so maybe they're on the same ship

My car is on a vessel that left last night, Glovis Cougar!

[moley]

Cheers for the ship name. I'd guess mine is on the same boat as our trackers updated at the same time.

My dealer just called to let me know what they're going to lend me - a golf (no idea what spec, I'll find out on Saturday).

[Dark_cze]

Is it problem to carry pocket knife in UK? I heard some stories but never really checked on my own.

Folding blade under 3 inches is fine.

thanks

[moley]

Caffyns have confirmed mine is on the Glovis Cougar as well.

The Golf they've loaned me is quite nice, the 1.5 TSI - not as well equiped as the Polo I've ordered but still lovely to drive. Bit of a bugger to get in the garage though, its a lot bigger than my old Twingo!

[Dark_cze]

Caffyns have confirmed mine is on the Glovis Cougar as well.

The Golf they've loaned me is quite nice, the 1.5 TSI - not as well equiped as the Polo I've ordered but still lovely to drive. Bit of a bugger to get in the garage though, its a lot bigger than my old Twingo!

well polo is not much smaller than golf