A (small) update.
I've now done 800 miles, so the engine is a bit livelier.
It revs freely but seems a bit slow for the revs to decrease, so changing from first to second, if you have accelerated hard from stop, means that going into second quickly , the revs are a bit too high for a smooth change.
Niggles: The speedo is almost impossible to see unless the vehicle side or headlights are on. This seems to be a fairly common complaint for some Renault owners, too.
There is a fix!
A nifty program , (ddt4all, Windows) linked to the OBD plug lets one change a few parameters on the car's ECU, one of which is the instrument cluster backlight. Default is "without". Set to "with", the panel lights up with the engine's starting. The owner's forums discuss this at length and it works.
Other tweaks are available, I think, such as activating extra readouts such as mpg, which is not enabled by default on the model level I have. Proceed with care is the watchword.
Another niggle is that the hatch can only be opened by key, or by a lever adjacent to the driver's seat,
The money saving elements in build quality are there, for instance the parcel shelf is very flimsy, and the screws holding the front cup holder are uncovered. A couple of plastic covers would not be expensive.
All in all, though, I think the car is quite lively enough for our use and motorway speeds and cruising are perfectly fine. Reviews have said it's a sluggard, though!
The car is nearly six inches longer (and an inch wider) than the Jazz, but this is mostly front and rear overhang and is not reflected in interior passenger space. Having said that, front leg and headroom is fine for me (I'm just a tad over 6 ft tall) and I find the slightly firmer seats are comfortable and the driving position good.
So far, so good and as I may have said before, if one accepts the car as a budget model, what you get is good value for money.
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