Renault Scenic 1.5 dCi road test
Renault’s Megane-based Scenic compact MPV is popular in the mid-sized C segment (which includes cars such as the Focus, Astra, Golf, etc). In that part of the market, MPVs constitute 30% of sales across Europe, with the Scenic accounting for 14% of those sales. So Renault has a lot of stake with the launch of this third-generation Scenic. The French carmaker has responded by designing and building a modern family wagon that is modern looking, safe and practical. But the company’s products have also suffered from reliability issues, so it will be interesting to see if it has tackled those effectively.
Renault Scenic lease prices
Renault Scenic new and nearly new prices
The Scenic has a range of engines on offer, with three petrol units and four diesels. On the launch we drove a car fitted with the 1.5 dCi diesel engine and a 108bhp power rating mated to a manual transmission, although the car that will go on sale in the UK will have 4bhp less (the 108bhp engine will only come here in 2010 with Renault’s first dual-clutch automatic gearbox). Torque of 177lb-ft available at 2,000rpm and a 0-62mph time of 12.3seconds give a good indication of the Scenic’s performance: it’s not exactly swift and while there’s a decent amount of urge in the mid range, it’s not the kind of car that you’ll look forward to overtaking in. The manual gearbox wasn’t anything to write home about either: notchy and imprecise, we found some of the changes laborious and lacked the instinctive feel of the best transmissions.
Read the full Renault Scenic road test
RoadTestReports.co.uk provides road tests reports written by members of the Guild of Motoring Writers. These reports are complemented by car reviews submitted by the members of the public who drive the vehicles day in day out.
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