Choosing a car for a family of six is an expensive and somewhat limited task. Amongst the rather limited list of Multi Purpose vehicles several are instantly omitted as being five-seater and several more as simply being massively overpriced. Fortunately, thanks to the motability scheme we were able to narrow it down to two cars, the Renault Grand Scenic and Vauxhall Zafira. Let me explain why we plumped for the Renault. Being on the motability scheme we were given an option of colour (we chose jet black) but were limited to the 1.6 Dynamique Grand Scenic which, is one above the basic model. However, this was still more than we are used to with the best we had driven before an L reg Renault Espace!In the MPV field the Renault Grand Scenic is a relative newcomer and one I had certainly never heard of. Initial appearances were not favourable with this being a Renault Megane Scenic with what can only be described as a fat arse. The look is identical with a smooth rounded shell with the only difference being the sloped rear of the Megane replaced by a straighter more estate style rear. Not being a fan of the futuristic 70's spacecraft styling of Renaults in general the look of the Grand Scenic is not particularly appealing. However, what sold this car to me over the Vauxhall Zafira, Ford Galaxy etc was that the Grand Scenic is a sizeable compared to regular cars. But, this being a direct conversion of the Megane allows a more "carlike" feel and certainly benefits from not having the minibus/white van feel of the Vauxhall Zafira. In effect you have the benefits of the MPV with the feel of owning a real car.
With a high ride height and adjustable seats including headrests everything is at hand to make your drive be it driver or passenger as comfortable as possible. There is a refreshing ease of use to all the various levers and pulleys with none of the effort I associate with an MPV. Certainly when we examine the Zafira everything seemed a lot more difficult to adjust and manoeuvre. Despite the seemingly compact exterior the interior is roomy to say the least particularly in driver and passenger seat were you can fully stretch your legs and even your arms with none of the knee knocking and elbow jogging I could have reasonably expected from a car this small. Seating is comfortable and the whole interior is neutral in light brown with a rather uninspired grey dash. The middle three passenger seats have a fair amount of legroom too, certainly enough for two of my children although my teen finds it more roomy in one of the collapsible rear seats in the boot area. The last seat in the middle is reserved for my toddlers car seat and this is refreshingly high up and with the good legroom makes it nice and easy to take the car seat and the child in and out. With an impressive headroom there is none of the stooping and banging of heads and legs there is a lack of tantrums we previously got trying to get her in and out our Vauxhall Astra! Nice to see that the middle seatbelt is a full on shoulder one too rather than the lap strap we have encountered in other MPV's.As I have mentioned the Grand Scenic has generous space on the interior. However, it does suffer from lack of boot space with seven seats up. Renault.co.uk claim it is 200litres of space (500 with both seats down) but this only equates to about four or five carrier bags of shopping nestled precariously. Certainly there is not the room for a pram and shopping. This is perhaps the only thing that larger MPV's such as the Vauxhall Zafira have over the Scenic. Fortunately, we are a family of six not seven and as such one seat is permanently down (although they are easy to pull up and collapse something the Zafira was not!). This gives us the room for a pram and four or five bags of shopping although that is about it. Renault have provided the Grand Scenic with a massive glove box and several storage compartments in the floor and doorspace but you, as we do may still find yourself having shopping under your feet taking up your legroom.
Driving the Grand Scenic is a strange experience. For a start there is not key but rather a credit card sized piece of plastic. You open and close the doors with it and put it into a slot to start the car with a button. No more flooding of the engine for me! The car starts with little fuss and is very quiet. The steering wheel seems to small for a car of this size and the gearstick is high up on the dashboard which makes this almost like the dashboard of a truck. Fortunately, the Grand Scenic drives very much like a car and is smoothness in itself. The high ride and massive windscreen coupled with the strange positioning of the gearstick does take some getting used to but the 1.6 petrol engine and power steering coupled with very little noise around town makes this very much like driving any hatchback. Being a 1.6 I expected it to have plenty of acceleration but unfortunately perhaps due to the extra weight of the vehicle this is lacking. No speeding away when the lights turn green for me. Instead I receive more of a gentle meander towards forty. It is no surprise this car drives well around towns and cities with responsive steering and as such easy parking but our particular model struggles on the motorway and becomes quite noisy at seventy. Steering also feels a bit loose at speed despite the supposed understeer control. Incidentally one of the strangest things about the Grand Scenic is a lack of a traditional handbrake altogether. At first you will be seemingly forever searching for it in the traditional middle aisle but it is actually a small lever to the right of your steering wheel. What is good though is that it turns itself off when you drive off so you barely have to use it.High fuel consumption is one of the few things that the 1.6 Grand Scenic has against it. Although it is not bad at around twenty four miles per gallon with a full crew inside it is certainly a thirstier engine than we are used to. Then again I would expect this is the price you pay for driving a car with six people, a pram and shopping! Those concerned should perhaps consider the 1.9 diesel model as we will if our motability offer comes to an end. At least Renault have included a fuel indicator which is digital and tells you exactly how many miles to go until you need to refuel.
Of course there is no point getting a spanking new car if you cannot boast about the gimmicks and mod cons and the Grand Scenic is full of them. Air conditioning is standard and our model has a CD/radio which is operated by a click wheel fingertip control on the steering wheel. There are sunscreens built in to all the passenger windows which negates the need for our bagpuss stick on ones and fold down tables too. The handbrake comes on and off automatically on stopping the engine and starting then driving off and of course the windows are electric. Perhaps the best feature though is the fact the car heats up really quickly and as such defrosts all the windows within minutes. No more de-icer, warm water and ice scrapers for me. However, for every ying there is a yang and this is the automatic halogen headlights which seem to come on at random on full beam in the daytime. It is nice not having to remember to turn them on and off though. The windscreen wipes seem to flick water back onto the window too. Electronically the dashboard indicators are entirely digital from speedo to temperature. Add to this an oil and water level check on start and the Grand Scenic seems to cover all the bases.I am not going to pretend security and safety was a primary reason for buying this car. After owning several second hand cars none above M reg the only security features I am used to is no one would want to nick it and the nearest I got to an air bag is an inflatable pillow! However, it is reassuring that the Grand Scenic has an immobiliser and dead locking and airbags as standard front and rear. Also nice is the fact you can turn the airbag of on the front passenger seat for car seats. With the high ride and Renaults impressive safety record (five stars in the Euro NCAP safety tests) I feel safer driving this car than I have in any other.
As you can see I have nothing but love for our Grand Scenic. It is not perfect thanks to limited boot space and its various eccentricities but it is the closest thing you will get to the refinement of driving a high specification car combined with the features and space of an MPV. At its £15,320 price it is horrendously out of our price range for the future but hopefully second hand at less than £10,000 we will one day be able to own one of our own. It is certainly competitive price wise with a new Vauxhall Zafira and in many ways superior to it.Technical specifications i.e. boot space taken from:
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