Used renault espace

kateandpete

Wonder if I could ask for a little advice here as it's a long time since I bought a used car.

We are in the situation of having to get rid of our skoda octavia estate as we need a 6+ seater in the near future. Originally we had planned on selling the skoda and taking out finance to buy an MPV (renault grand espace). However, on thinking about it some more I am now more minded to try and get the new car on the same sort of budget we will sell ours for and putting the would-be repayments to one side in case we need it for repairs etc.

Looking at owner satisfaction levels has me a little concerned though as the espaces don't seem to do too well and I understand that they are not cheap to service/repair. Our reason for chosing this particular MPV is boot size. The other vehicles we considered which I think would give us enough space for the big dog, pram etc as well as all the kids are e.g. VW transporter/caravelle, merc vito, but the second hand prices for these mean that we would be looking at huge mileage and again, I worry that parts are not cheap for these.

First question.. anyone who knows more about the espace am I right to worry about the reliability or have I just read too many internet scare stories?

My other queries relate to a specific car I have looked at. It is being sold by a dealer. I've been told that the steering pump needs replacing and that that will obviously affect us taking it for a drive. Been told that if we want to buy it he will fix the pump first.
The fact that we can't get an idea about how it drives until after commiting to buy makes me nervous and I've considered getting the AA or RAC to do a pre inspection check to see what else they come up with or if this is the full story. Any advice much appreciated.

s_b

these renaults can be a nightmare whether petrol or diesel
for a garage to offer a vehicle not fit for the road is a specific offence and to my mind shows his attitude should you use him even before you have
vitos can be problematic too and are not nice to work on
all these types of vehicle at the bottom of the barrel are basically russian roulette though
what you have to ask yourself is can you afford to pull the trigger once purchased?
well can you:)??????????

kateandpete

Yes that seemed to be my impression. The problem is we don't have a lot of choice as we need the extra seat but cannot lose any of the boot space we have in the skoda. The choice of vehicles is virtiually nil.

We'd be looking at a budget of about 6k. Originally had planned on going for newer car with lower miles and borrowing and extra 6k for 12 second hand price, but I realise that we could still end up with high maintenance bills AND a load of credit.

Any suggestions of a car I've not thought of? COnsidered things like peugeot expert teepee and fiat scudo panorama, but again I keep seeming to find horrible reviews. Also the VW caddy maxi life but all of these vehicles seem to be pretty rare anyway, and pretty non existant in our revised price range.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Berlingo and Teepee are excellent vehicles but not 6 seaters, Scudo which is a Fiat badged Peugeot Expert or if you prefer Citroen Dispatch are far bigger....they are all basically vans with windows and seats installed and are made to take the hammering that vans get, Expert/Dispatch/Scudo is the base vehicle for Eurotaxi so you know it will run for hundreds of thousands of miles with good maintenance...Caddy Maxi again a good vehicle.

Consider also Kia Sedona, and Previa, but Previa will be expensive unless very old, Honda FRV and Fiat Mutliplas are 6 seaters, but not much in the way of a boot.
Sedona is underrated.

Don't whatever you do buy an Espace, it will break down again and again and it will break you financially, and be wary of Pug 807/ Cit Synergie/Fiat Useless, not much better than the Renault, unless you go for the old model based on Pug 806 which is an excellent vehicle.

The Reno you are considering has no doubt been outed by some poor desperate now probably broke blighter, probably find the steering pump is the straw that broke the camels bank account.

cyclonebri1

We have a family load of Renaults so are somewhat predudiced.

But I would say in this case avoid. The Megane Scenic and Espace has some even more quirky engineering than the other body/model options.

In my recent time of Renault ownership the car hasn't cost much money, most things failed in the waranty period, but it's the fear and expectation of something breaking that is the real issue for me, if you can understand that.

Also, Renault are notorious for "bundling" there repair parts, ie, a spare o ring for the fuel pipe will cost a new set of fuel pipes, a lost spring clip removed to bleed the clutch will cost a complete hydraulic jose set, ad infinitum :mad::mad:

oldtoolie

Also check on Honda Stream & Toyota Avensis Verso.

gilbert_and_sullivan

oldtoolie wrote: »

Also check on Honda Stream & Toyota Avensis Verso.

Well remembered, i'd quite forgotten Avensis Verso, which i drove regularly, a superb car and based on the excellent Avensis of the time.

Rolandtheroadie

Chrysler Grand Voyager.

kateandpete

Many thanks for the suggestions everyone. We pretty much decided to let this particular renault go anyway, so will spend a bit of time looking at some other vehicles as you are all confirming my fears. Deadline for a new car isn't until january (although I could do without the stress over Christmas of trying to sort it near then). Saw a couple of nice looking VW caravelles on autotrader although I don't know how scared to be of the HUGE mileages some of them in our price range have done!

vikingaero

I would agree that you should avoid the Espace. The Scenic is quirky enough and the Espace is even more left of field and rare. Rare in this case = delays on parts and high costs. Look at the new VW Sharan/Seat Alhambra. The latest model has taken a real step up in size.

kateandpete

I would be really keen on the Seat/sharan as we've been really happy skoda owners. Having said that the boot size, even of the newer ones, doesn't look enough to take all the junk we normally carry around with us! That's true of most standard MPVs which are fine for transporting the people numbers but useless if you want to take anything with you.