Renault Arkana Problems

According to the official test, the Arkana has a combined (city and highway) consumption figure of 6.0 litres per 100km which is pretty decent for this type and size of vehicle. CarsGuide’s road test, however, showed that, like the vast majority of cars out there, the Renault will use a bit more than that in the real world. A mix of country, city and suburban work as well as a helping of highway and motorway driving netted a figure of 7.5 litres per 100km. Still pretty good, to be honest.

The other factor when considering running costs is the type of fuel required. Here, again, the Arkana scores well as it will happily run on the cheaper 91-octane fuel rather than the premium stuff.

You won’t void your warranty by having a qualified person look at the car, but since this is Renault’s problem, why would you spend your own money fixing something that should not be occurring in such a new vehicle? If you’re not getting anywhere at dealership level, I would suggest you try Renault Australia’s customer service department. If people went elsewhere every time a dealership mechanic expressed frustration, those same dealerships would be deserted.

Meantime, I’d have to question whether the original problem was incorrectly diagnosed given that new door cards have not stopped the rattle. The fact that the noise starts and stops according to the position of the window makes me wonder if the cause is not a part of the window actuator or its mechanism. If part of the window regulator is rattling against the door card, it might sound as though the door card itself is the problem when it’s actually something else.

The bottom line is this: The car is under a factory warranty designed to protect the owner against problems like this one. Legally, Renault Australia is obliged to fix it. Don’t be put off by surly dealership staff; chances are once they understand you know your rights, they probably won’t be quite so eager to dismiss you.

Conventional wisdom is that your should increase tyre pressures with increases in load and travelling speed. But in the Arkana’s case, the factory tyre pressure recommendation for either urban or freeway speeds remains at the 33 front and 31 rear psi you’ve noted on your tyre placard. Which suggests that the type of tyre Renault is using is happiest at those pressure regardless of average speed. Which, in turn, suggests that a load that varies only by a couple of passengers and a few pieces of luggage is likewise not going to affect the tyre’s performance.

A much better thing to concern yourself with is to keep a weekly eye on the tyre pressures. Tyres lose about one psi a month just sitting around, so keeping on top of that is very important in a safety sense. A tyre can be as low as about 12 psi before it will even look strange to the naked eye, so buy yourself a good quality tyre gauge and get into the habit of checking those pressures every weekend.