A290 GTS - 1 year on
Discussion
I am coming up to one year into my ownership of the A290 GTS.
My car was £39,970 as it was supplied before any grants and before any discounts were available. I expect you could buy the same car new today for less than £35k. It has done 6,000 miles.
For a £39.9k car it is not well built. It has developed rattles and feels like a £20k car which of course is the price of the base Renault 5 that it is built upon.
The range is awful. I only use it on short journeys and in summer it is running up to 3.4 miles per kw and in winter just over 2 miles per kw.
It does have a sporty feel to the driving and it does look really good.
I purchased it from Glyn Hopkin in St Albans who are no longer an Alpine dealer. I will have to travel 40 minutes to Gerrards Cross to get it serviced. I rang them yesterday to get a "waiting appointment" and the service guy on the phone was really helpful and took my details saying he would get back within half an hour. I have heard nothing!
Based on my 1 year experience I would say i) buy a low mileage second hand one for c£25k. ii) accept that the car has a lot of cheap plastics and will rattle and creak like a cheap car. iii) if you regularly need to travel more than 140 miles then the range probably isn't good enough for you. iv) the dealerships are really poor. v) the legroom in the back seats is really restricted for anyone with feet.
I owned an A110 in the past and I was a massive fan of that car. The A290 is a completely different proposition.
My car was £39,970 as it was supplied before any grants and before any discounts were available. I expect you could buy the same car new today for less than £35k. It has done 6,000 miles.
For a £39.9k car it is not well built. It has developed rattles and feels like a £20k car which of course is the price of the base Renault 5 that it is built upon.
The range is awful. I only use it on short journeys and in summer it is running up to 3.4 miles per kw and in winter just over 2 miles per kw.
It does have a sporty feel to the driving and it does look really good.
I purchased it from Glyn Hopkin in St Albans who are no longer an Alpine dealer. I will have to travel 40 minutes to Gerrards Cross to get it serviced. I rang them yesterday to get a "waiting appointment" and the service guy on the phone was really helpful and took my details saying he would get back within half an hour. I have heard nothing!
Based on my 1 year experience I would say i) buy a low mileage second hand one for c£25k. ii) accept that the car has a lot of cheap plastics and will rattle and creak like a cheap car. iii) if you regularly need to travel more than 140 miles then the range probably isn't good enough for you. iv) the dealerships are really poor. v) the legroom in the back seats is really restricted for anyone with feet.
I owned an A110 in the past and I was a massive fan of that car. The A290 is a completely different proposition.
Thanks for this, sorry to hear that overall you've not gelled with it.
The range interests me - the GTS has the Michelin PSS5 as standard fitment I think, and if I've understood Michelin's website that's a class C rolling resistance tyre. The alternative PSEV is 'only' class B, but it should make a difference (perhaps 10-ish miles per charge?). Intrigued to know if GT+ owners see better range and efficiency numbers. 3.4m/kWh isn't great, but hugely influenced by driving style, HVAC load and usage pattern (urban vs country roads - even hills!) - pls don't take that as a criticism.
Can't be sure but think I managed around 4m/kWh when I had one as a courtesy car (onPSEV PSS5 tyres) - but that's just a single trip. In comparable use, my i3S does 10-20% better; that may be partly due to the fact it's nowhere near as much fun to chuck about!
It felt pretty solid from that test drive - great body structure - shame to hear that the trim rattles develop.
Agreed it's vastly different to the A110. Seems a partially tactical product to broaden the brand's reach; I still wish it well.
The range interests me - the GTS has the Michelin PSS5 as standard fitment I think, and if I've understood Michelin's website that's a class C rolling resistance tyre. The alternative PSEV is 'only' class B, but it should make a difference (perhaps 10-ish miles per charge?). Intrigued to know if GT+ owners see better range and efficiency numbers. 3.4m/kWh isn't great, but hugely influenced by driving style, HVAC load and usage pattern (urban vs country roads - even hills!) - pls don't take that as a criticism.
Can't be sure but think I managed around 4m/kWh when I had one as a courtesy car (on
It felt pretty solid from that test drive - great body structure - shame to hear that the trim rattles develop.
Agreed it's vastly different to the A110. Seems a partially tactical product to broaden the brand's reach; I still wish it well.
Edited by Hoofty on Sunday 26th July 09:19
The wife's ticked over 12 months old a couple of weeks ago.
Our nearest dealer is Arnold Clark in Liverpool and they are good once there but painful to book anything with.
Yes range is not great in Winter at all.
The car has done 2500 miles so as you can imagine an EV is just perfect for our town use and occasional trip up to Chester. My daughter has a petrol Ibiza on the drive doing nothing so we always have a fallback option which helps of course.
No squeaks or rattles as yet. Still turns heads where it goes. Overall very pleased with it.
We'll probably keep it up to its third birthday and see what else is about then.
Our nearest dealer is Arnold Clark in Liverpool and they are good once there but painful to book anything with.
Yes range is not great in Winter at all.
The car has done 2500 miles so as you can imagine an EV is just perfect for our town use and occasional trip up to Chester. My daughter has a petrol Ibiza on the drive doing nothing so we always have a fallback option which helps of course.
No squeaks or rattles as yet. Still turns heads where it goes. Overall very pleased with it.
We'll probably keep it up to its third birthday and see what else is about then.
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