What's Bad
Variable ratio steering weights up heavily on cornering and front suspension clonks a bit.
Love it or loathe it styling of the hatchbacks has resulted in a loss of boot space, down to 330 litres.
Front passengers need to be careful not to push their feet too hard into the footwell or they may push the end of the brake pedal mechanism and apply the brakes.
Drivers suffered parking brake and electrical problems within 6 weeks of the car going on sale. One reviewer suffered a mysterious serious engine vibration and the accelerator pedal falling off due to a misplaced circlip both the same week. Seems that water gets into fusebox of early cars and causes havoc. Renault has a sealing kit. Later cars not affected.
Holds water in doors until they're opened, especially the rear, then they empty. Potential future rust spots? (Put a rain coat on when lifting the boot lid, it also holds the water.)
Headlights prone to blowing their bulbs. Very difficult to replace, even following instructions to access them via the wheelarch.
Only 88% of cars up to 2 years old breakdown-free over previous 12 months in 2004 Which? survey and only 80% in 2006 Which? survey.
10th from bottom in 2007 UK J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey with 75.3% score.
What to Watch Out For
If buying used, make sure all electrics work. By late 2009 these cars were suffering repeated electric windown and keycard problems.
On 225s have an emmissions test carried out because misfires may have spiked the cat.
On 1.5 and 1.9DCIs EGR valve should open to allow carbon dioxide, which acts as a cooling gas) into the combustion chambers when the engine is under load (>30% boost). This allows the combustion chamber temperature to drop and thus the temperature of the exhaust gases. If it sticks in the closed position the exhaust gas temperature will rise causing a) the turbo bearings to fail and b) engine oil into the induction system. This will cause the engine to go on running until it has consumed all its oil and then it will go bang. Problems with EGR valves in Renault dCi engines are often the cause of rough running when the valve is stuck in the open position as well. In several cases turbos have blown but the EGR valve has not been replaced. Inevitably the new turbo unit will not last long. This seems to be confined to early 1.5DCIs as Renault modified the EGRs and no further reports of trouble in the 9 months to April 2007.
Keycard failsafe requires driver to press clutch before starting with card, but electrical cable for this can dangle into footwell and get snapped. Meganes with 17" wheels can suffer high rear tyre wear down to 8,000 miles (due to tyre compound and camber of rear suspension). Widespread ignition coils failures.
Reader Jonathan Lamb's saga (received 11-5-2004):
"Over eleven months the car has had its winscreen replaced, front and back brakes replaced, steering column replaced, sun roof replaced twice, battery flattened over night for no apparent reason, remote sensors replaced at least twice, seatbelt mounting replaced, dashboard sound-proofed, gearstick replaced. This is on top of the sunroof fuse being faulty on collecting he vehicle, loud engine noise pulsing..."
RenaultSport Megane 225s can be plagued with misfires caused by injector failures
MeganeSport - Welcome
Recalls
August/September 2007 recall of 1.5DCIs because fuel injection pump can spring a leak.
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