Nearly excellent in many area let down by poor reliability

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sjhartland's review of Renault Modus 1.5 Dci Maxim 106

“Nearly excellent in many area let down by poor reliability”

★★★☆☆

written by sjhartland on 23/03/2012

Lets start with the good points and leave the bad stuff to the end...the Maxim 106 has a great engine, very flexible and smooth but with loads of torque if you need it. It's never going to beat Ferrari but for a Renault Modus, its pretty quick with great overtaking potential, rather then drop into a lower gear to overtake its sometimes easier in this car to change up and let the turbo and torque do the work! Combined with the 6 speed manual gearbox it also gives amazing fuel returns, I've had as much as 80 mpg on gentle runs along A roads when the car is left in 6th to cruise along. Average is 53 - 56mpg even round town. The overall gearing is perfect, allowing 4th gear from about 25mph and 5th at 30mph which explains the good fuel returns.
You can't talk about a Modus without mentioning how flexible the interior is - the rear seats move back or forwards to either give a large boot but little rear legroom, or a smaller boot but loads of interior space. Even with the seats right back there is still plenty of space for a trip to Tesco, the boot space is perfect for bags of shopping. Front legroom is huge as is the headroom. There are loads of clever cubby holes around the car, too.
The controls are well thought out, the gearbox action is actually very good, power steering very light, clutch light. Can be a little jerky at low speed or in heavy traffic though.
The Maxim model has loads of kit. You get Air Con, Cruise Control, remote central locking, electric front windows and mirrors, though rear windows are manual. Renault have been thoughtful with little touches like the power staying on after you turn off the engine so you can do up your electric windows and the lights stay on until you open the divers door which can be useful in a dark driveway. Good interior lighting too.
It's a safe car with lots of air bags and a 5 start euroNcap rating.
It's easy to drive and park, the visibility is fantastic, there is so much glass, the mirrors are small but brilliantly effective.
Brakes on my car are average, despite having discs all round.
Centre digital console is ok, but quite cluttered if I'm honest and yet still doesn't give you all the info you want sometimes.

On motorways and faster roads its actually very good, wind noise doesn't become a problem at all surprisingly, and with the 6th gear means the engine doesn't sound stressed. It will cruise along at 80 - 90 all day, unlike some city cars! Using 6th means that the engine is doing just 2000rpm at 70mph, compared to my other car, a 1.6 petrol ford focus which does around 3400rpm in top (5th) and is much noisier because of that.
Road tax is only £95 a year and insurance was quite low.

So a good car then?? Well, if not for poor reliability and a few other problems! Some things I don't like...the seat is not that comfortable, and being quite a tall car means that you feel like you lean a lot in the corners as the seat just doesn't hold you. It takes a while to get used to being quite high up with the wheel at a slightly 'weird until you get used to it' angle. Also the stereo is....awful. No bass at all, sound quality is tragic. The controls are awkward, the sound gets really bad when the volume is turned up. On the plus side it does come with steering wheel audio controls and I suppose the radio is fine if you just want quiet background noise.
The onboard computer gives lots of info except real time mpg, only an average. Worse is the 'miles remaining' countdown which works fine until the fuel light comes on, when it stupidly goes blank. The one time you really really need to know how many miles you have left and the car decides not to tell you. Utter rubbish and someone at Renault should have the sack for designing that!
My biggest issue is with the overall reliability though. Of course, its a Renault so not in the same league as a Mazda or Honda, but in less than a year of ownership its been in the garage more times than any car I've ever had. Nothing major to be fair, but bulbs are always blowing, interior trim in falling off or breaking in several places. The glovebox won't stay shut, I can't use the cubbyhole on the dash as it won't close properly now. It's had every bulb replaced a couple of times already and I've just noticed that a side light and number plate light are out AGAIN! Apparently having the lights on, plus an indicator, plus a brake light puts too much strain on the earth lead and can burn it out, but the electrical system as a whole seems badly designed.
It seems to get through tyres quickly, I had a front spring snap and the seat belt alarm kept coming on despite the fact that I was wearing the seatbelt which turned out to be a faulty sensor.
Servicing it expensive too, just an oil and filter change is around the £80 - £100 mark.

So, mix of good / very good and bad. It does offer great economy, flexible interior space and in the 106bhp model good performance. But the unsupportive seats, poor interior build quality and overall reliability means I don't know if I'd recommend one, even though I do like my Modus!

  • 2005

    Year Manufactured

  • 1 Year

    Length of ownership

  • 5 door

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