hamidtaxi wrote:
so what you saying since you've had the renault has it given you any problems, is it good on feul, does it drive ok,
Do you ever regret buying this or not
I really like how it is designed and it looks good in black the flip up seats look better than what any other taxi has got an it has 2 wheelchair spaces most have only one
What prices the price guide on a new one?
I have never regretted buying the Renault Voyager NX8; mine has the semi-auto gearbox. The only thing I regret is not having the long-wheel base version, but I was quoted an extra £1,800 at the time, which soon after I bought it went down to an extra £900. I would have had the long-wheel base at an extra £900, but I thought the £1,800 extra was too much.
And Voyager is a very decent company to deal with!
Since having the NX8 I have kept full statistics on the MPG and the average so far, with a very heavy right foot has been 32.3mpg. Although, since the fuel has started spiralling, like most drivers I have been very light on the gas and have achieved between 33.7mpg and 36.5mpg over the last seven weeks. But I do mainly airport work from Birmingham Airport, so a lot is motorway.
The service intervals are every 18,000 miles, with the major service being every 54,000 miles. From the start I have never taken any notice of this and have halved the service intervals. I service my Renault Voyager NX8 every 9,000 miles with the major service at every 27,000 miles. My NX8 has done 32,000 miles now and is two days away from its 1st birthday. The one thing that I would criticise is the long service intervals, especially not changing the air filter until 54,000 miles. When the air filter came out of my NX8 at 27,000 miles it had about 5-6mm of dirt, gung and debris over the whole filter, completely blocking the engine breathing. After changing the air filter, my mpg improved by about 6-7mpg instantly!!
The drive is very good indeed with a quite high driving position. Also, the tyres on these vehicles are commercial 8 ply and last absolutely ages. At 31,000 miles I had my tyres swapped round, with the fronts going to the back and vice versa. But there was still 5mm of tread left on the front tyres and no measurable wear on the rears. One driver with the Nissan version has had 54,000 miles from his front tyres.
IMO the Renault Voyager NX8 is far, far better value than any of the competition. Punters love the spacious passenger compartment and the full-size tip-up seats with the full-height back rests are extremely comfortable. If you’re on a long journey, you don’t have to stop every 20 miles, so that the passengers on the dicky seats can change to the more comfortable rear seats for the next 20 miles, as in the LTI charabancs. The tip-up, occasional seats in the Renault Voyager NX8 have been properly designed, with passenger comfort foremost in mind!
I think the reason you don’t see many of them about is because Voyager don’t have a dealer network, preferring to sell from their factory, which incidentally has recently moved back to Crewe with new, enlarged production premises. I think they are still operating from Sandbach, but check with them before you go and visit. There website is;
http://www.voyagermpv.co.uk/
Having no dealership network helps Voyager keep the price of the vehicle down, but then the down-side as far as sales are concerned, is that most taxi drivers are lazy sods and can’t be ar*ed to drive to Crewe or Sandbach. If you’re going to the PHTM Annual Exhibition at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on 1st and 2nd June, Voyager will be exhibiting there.
There is a slight intermittent problem in semi-auto mode between 1st and 2nd and 2nd and 1st gear, but that’s a Renault problem and not a Voyager one.
About fifteen months ago I met a guy from Leicester in a taxi garage in Coventry. He had a ’56 plate Voyager NX8 with a manual gearbox, but built on the Nissan body-shell (same thing - all Renault underneath). His NX8 had done 167,000 miles with no problems at all and still on the original clutch. But it’s like any motor; you can be unlucky and get a ‘lemon’.
The only down-side to the Renault Voyager NX8 is its height. You need 2.2 to 2.3 metres (7 feet to 7 feet 3 inches) clearance to be safe and sure. This means that most multi-storey car parks are inaccessible, as are some open-land supermarket car parks which have height restriction barriers, as at ASDA Bromsgrove. Ultra-low bridges are a potential 'total loss hazard' if you're not concentrating and I have had to re-route twice since I had the vehicle when I have come across bridges where the head-rooms were 6 feet 9 inches and 6 feet 6 inches. But I knew this would be the case before I bought the NX8.
If you want any further info or a chat, check your PMs. But you can pay for the call.
