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Enjoying the scenic view

Thursday, 24 June 2010

WHEN I temporarily switched from Ford to Renault 12 years ago a mechanic in a Ford garage told me that I would find problems with the electrics in a Renault. I thought he was just bad mouthing the opposition, but he proved to be correct. Yes, I had a small electrics problem with the Scenic, but it was easily fixed. Back in 1998 the Scenic was probably the king of the MPVs. In the intervening 12 years there have been many pretenders to the throne. So it was a pleasant experience to reacquaint myself with the Scenic after over a decade away. First thing I noticed was that there was no traditional speedometer or rev counter on the dash, which was a first for me. But there is a very clear digital speedometer on the long narrow display unit right in your line of sight. Just the left of the display unit is the Tomtom sat nav which, apart from providing directions, also gives you the speed limit of the road you are travelling on. The seating position is comfortable and naturally high, but not too high. And with a massive windscreen in your line of vision you do get the impression that the open road is all yours. This is a seven-seater model. But the third row of seats are really only useful for small children. However, if the children are in the second row they can use the fold-up trays on the back of the front seats to hold drinks or games. The third row of seats can be easily folded down and if you leave the second and third rows you get massive space for carrying all sorts of items. The front passenger seat also folds down and if you do that you should be able to squeeze in a pole vault. I liked the sliding centre console, but if you have somebody sitting in the middle of the second row you could give them a nasty knee injury when sliding it back. The interior is very spacious and we are told that there are 84 different storage places some under the floor, but to be honest I didn’t count them. There is privacy glass in the rear windows and you also have sun blinds if required. Naturally there have been huge improvements to this model over the years and one of the many changes have been to the radio controls, which are now a decent size and so easy to use. The Scenic did remind me very much of another very comfortable motor the Peugeot 5008. In recent years the Renault brand has undergone big changes in Ireland. Bill Cullen, though still a garage-owner, no longer holds the Irish franchise for the French manufacturer. Renault’s new management team in Ireland are anxious to re-establish themselves here and aim to do so by introducing some exciting models like the Scenic, Megane and Fluence which I will be writing about in the coming weeks. Prices for the Grand Scenic start at e24,590, while the 1.5 dCi Tom Tom model I drove costs e30,190. But if take into account the Government scrappage of e1,500 and Renault’s trade-in offer of e1,500 plus their own scrappage deal of e1,500 for cars over eight years old, then you can get the top of the range model for e26,040  That’s pretty good value. So it could be said that thanks to the many improvements made, the Renault Grand Scenic is still the King of the MPVs.