My thoughts so far with my Esprit Alpine model collected on 1st March.
I’ve had the car for just over a month now and driven it 850 miles or so. I’ve not experienced any of the problems I’ve seen reported here or on Facebook.
According to the dash, mpg has been around 56mpg on average. I’ve seen 68mpg after driving the 20 miles down A487 to Cardigan which must be all down hill as it was worse coming back! It feels best driving in Comfort Mode in “B”. If I drive in Eco I just end up pushing the throttle harder and it feels like hard work.
The driving experience has been great. The car is generally quiet, sometimes with a bit of a roar when I climb a hill and there are plenty of those around here. Bear in mind I’ve come from a diesel Ford Tourneo Connect so it’s not surprising the Symbioz is quieter.
I find the car to be very comfortable and, although it’s on those 19 inch wheels, I don’t find it that rough a ride. Again bear in mind what I have been driving previously. The Ford would often record incidents on the dashcam due to rough road surfaces and speed bumps. This isn’t happening in the Symbioz with the same settings.
Surprised to find that, when descending a long hill and the battery’s been fully charged, the petrol engine seems to start up to provide engine braking. If so it’s all very clever.
The speedometer seems accurate. Within 1mph of what comes up on the speak-your-speed signs I go by. It means that using the speed limiter works well. Previous car was 3 or 4 mph out at 30/40mph.
Opening the tailgate with my foot. Seems to me it won’t work if a door’s been opened first. It makes sense as I don’t want to be sat in the car dozing and listening to the radio when a dog runs under the back and opens the boot. Unlikely I know but you can see where I’m coming from. In my case it works if I poke my foot under where the 25 is on the number plate. I’ve had a look and can’t see where the sensor is.
The parking sensors are a bit sensitive. I’ve found I’ve much more space than I realise when they’re going off.
On the other hand, I’ve already slightly kerbed the nearside rear wheel on a tight corner. It is very slight though.
There’s one section of road where the car shouts at me to “keep control”. I can feel the lane keeping thing tugging at the wheel first toward the centre line of the road then toward the kerb. It’s always at the same spot and I think the markings are too close together and windy for the car to work things out.
I need to establish how to lock the car without arming the alarm. I think holding the lock button down on the remote till it screeches at me does the job. I’ve got to find out before I go on the Isle of Wight ferry!
My thoughts one month into ownership
Not a good start for me so far . First 2 weeks was fine then every first drive getting gearbox failure risk . Car struggles to change gear, slowing down gets a grinding noise. Have taken a video of it happening for the dealer. Car going back into service center on 14th , apparently the earliest they can fit it in. Not good as ive paid cash outright for the car. Only way of getting it back to normal is shut engine off get out of car and shut door to reset everything. Does not do it again for the rest of the day.
That is perhaps the worst defect I've seen on this forum since getting my own Symbioz in Oct. Good luck and hope it gets sorted soon.
I ended up sending a message to Renault UK ceo regarding my towbar.... Funny thing it was resolved 2 days later
I ended up sending a message to Renault UK ceo regarding my towbar.... Funny thing it was resolved 2 days later
Iconic Esprit Alpine in black
Rizmo - I bought the manuals off the guy on ebay before the car arrived. I've read the whole thing cover to cover and the open r-link one. I'd always prefer this over trying to get the info on line.
Micky - That has to be the worst problem I've heard of. Thankfully it doesn't seem common.
However all is sweetness and light for me so far. Another small but good improvement over my previous car is the DAB radio. I like to listen to 6 Music here in the UK which is a DAB only station. In my old car the signal would often drop out on my regular routes. No such problems with the Symbioz.
Micky - That has to be the worst problem I've heard of. Thankfully it doesn't seem common.
However all is sweetness and light for me so far. Another small but good improvement over my previous car is the DAB radio. I like to listen to 6 Music here in the UK which is a DAB only station. In my old car the signal would often drop out on my regular routes. No such problems with the Symbioz.
