The knob in the middle of the radio panel is not the volume button, this tunes the radio up and down, or you use it to select the option in the menu then press it - why not just use the joystick near the handbrake ?
I found this dial really fiddly to use but nothing compared to what I found at night.
Just above the tiny power button is ... the volume knob, at night this is not illuminated so you find yourself feeling around for it, it's literally invisible at night - almost every car I've ever driven has the power button incorporated into the volume knob and they light up so you can see them easily, add to this the terrible radio controls - for example I press the << or >> to search for a station and this radio finds static or what is really a dead station so you do it again and find it jumps a bit more but the same, in the end you have to try and tune manually with the central knob but find the stations jumping around while its finding and removing stations in it's list in real time.
I would rate this as the worst radio I've ever used, simply due to it's poor design and lack of user friendly operation.
In the daytime the radio looks fine but it's just so hard at night, if you looked at say Vauxhall Vectra a few years ago they put a nice LED which shone down into the gear stick area, it was really nice, you had a gentle light at night but things like this wouldn't be an issue in that car.
Only a few minutes before I handed it back I found the stump of radio controls which are hidden by the steering wheel include a phone function, I tried this but it never switched to my phone even though it was paired.
Having 4 buttons on the steering wheel which are exclusive to cruise control seems pointless, most people would use radio or volume etc.
The BMW isn't perfect but on their simple steering wheel I can set a speed limit, activate and turn off the speed limiter, set audio volume, switch from radio to CD to USB, tune the radio/change music track on the CD/MP3, answer the phone, choose who to dial etc, all this from a minimum of buttons.
Renault could easily do similar, just put the wedge that's hidden behind the wheel into the wheel, put the cruise buttons on the left i.e all 4 on the left, sorted.
Then even if you can't find the black volume dial in the dark it's easily located on the wheel.
Alter the software so the radio is easier to use, larger numbers, stop the stations jumping around so quickly and that's sorted.
Reduce the Sat Nav joystick sensitivity so it doesn't jump about to the wrong menu, reduce the buttons so its simple.
When I first saw the i-Drive on the BMW I was sceptical but you don't need any more buttons.
You have Audio (top Left), Menu (Middle) , Phone (Right)
Under the dial you have Back (Left) and so on, it's simple you just twist and press the main dial.
If you can control so much from this then Renault can reduce their Sat Nav buttons and sort this out, perhaps even follow Toyota and put touch screen in, it makes the Avensis radio and Sat Nav easy.
It's the silly things that ruined this car, it bings and bongs almost all the time telling you off for your speed or lighting up big red lights, when I drive at 0.5 degrees C the car simply flashed the temperature in the bottom right of the large Sat Nav screen, no warning, nothing other than a very slow flash which hardly drew any attention.
Start almost any other car and you get a warning bong then a message "outside temp xxx" - some might find it annoying but I see that and alter my journey to work so I pay attention to them, I always have and found them a great help particularly when I used to work in the Derby Dales in the High Peaks and need to keep an eye in case the weather changes.
Sort them out and look at the terrible twisting controls for lights and wipers and your pretty much sorted, most people will be fine with the handling and seats, steering is light and simple then I think the car would be OK.
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