RENAULT SCENIC People Carrier 2003‑2009

Having driven my Scenic for two and a half years it’s definitely a Love / Hate relationship.

The car drives brilliantly, is comfortable and roomy, the downside is its reliability.

In my two and a half years I have covered about 23,000 miles (which is not excessive) and its total mileage is now at 45,000 miles. Yet I have spent over a £1,000 keeping the car on the road, plus service costs, MOTs and tyres etc... That may not sound a lot but I’m retired now, and the way things keep failing (especially electrical) I’m wonder what’s coming next.

Now it’s starting to give trouble again and I can’t wait to get rid of it. But there’s the other rub; the trade in value of a Scenic’s is terrible. That tells you something about the car !.

Incidentally my last Renault was a Clio which I loved.

I have owned this car for a year now and has never given any sort of problem. Drives smooth and quiet and is made solid. Lots of safety for all passengers with four air bags. Plenty of storage space and economical unlike other 1.6 litre engines. Gives minimum 31 mpg and has touched 46mpg on motorway. Better value for money. Well done Renault.

great family carrier ,plenty space/storage for those long journeys perhaps. 2.0 better one..not under powered at all,very smooth auto box..not like older styles that gave many problems..theyve now got it right with this shape! nice to handle all weathers. good on fuel. top marks for this model/spec..even has blinds for the kids!

Owned this car for 10 months, bought at good price considering its low milage of 14700 when purchased.Its really a dead boring car to drive because of its well underpowered engine which is also uneconomical averaging 33 mpg and high road tax cost because its emissions are high. The good points are its been reliable so far, is very roomy inside with lots of storage. Costs... i took out a service plan when i bought it so not much really 2 wiper blades and £60 for a replacement door mirror which was kicked off by a yob real easy to fix 10 mins and 2 screws....The auto gearbox probably affects the poor mpg and emissions but works well enough.

Excellent practical car, cheap to run. I have covered 118000 miles in this one with no major problems only wearing parts have been replaced.

The car itself is amazing spacious, good looking and very practical, it has a solid(ish) feel and mechanically it has proven very reliable. However I have had several electrical issues with the car. Firstly the dashboard blew a resistor and it had to be replaced at a cost of £100... very reasonable, however in my honest opinion it is a part of the car which should never break, and when it did my Renault dealer couldn't care less to be honest. I had to wait 2 weeks for an available slot came available; so that's 2 weeks of second guessing the speed of the car and how much petrol is in it. Finally when it came to repairing it, the dealer looked back at the service history and added an 'average' onto the mileage (as it had been reset) so according to my service history the car did 15,000 miles over 8 months... I think not. Still battling with my dealer to get it resolved. If you are looking to buy one of these cars, avoid the 1.6, although it is silent and smooth on the move it is pretty slow and could desperately do with a 6th gear! Also don't be put off of buying one with a replaced speedometer, once it has been replaced it will never go wrong again (I am told) and it saves you the trouble of dealing with the rude and arrogant service staff. Don't be put off this car, it is much better than most of it's rivals (from experience) and has many good points I haven't touched upon.

I found the car to be generally good when it ran well, although bulb replacement was a pain as there was very little room in the engine bay!

It was really practical and I have carried amplifiers, keyboards, guitars AND 4 people (at the same time) with ease and was quite comfortable, if a little noisy at motorway speeds, even when fully laden. The engine pulled reasonably well for a 1.5 diesel and real-world economy was usually between 48 and 55 mpg, depending on loads. The seating was really versatile though and had just enough room to seat 5 plus luggage - with all rear seats removed, it could accommodate most bulky items easily. Storage was quite good and mine had the central 'convenience pack', which had a good size central storage compartment between the front seats - and an air conditioned glove box!

But reliability problems blighted my car from the day I bought it. Window regulator failed x 2, heater pack failed, EGR valve failed and a faulty gear selector (?!) failed within 12 months on a 3 year old car with 18,000 recorded miles and one owner from new. However, I went on to add another 64k miles in almost four years and only replaced additional wear and tear items; paintwork and stonechips/dings (no rust), tyres, battery, brakes and servicing costs (specialist, not dealer!) and the dreaded dashboard fail.

Overall, a mixed review with highs and lows of ownership - economical with cheap-ish road tax (135g/km CO emissions Band E) for the size of car, offset by it needing some attention most months soon after purchase and general wear and tear later, and a feeling that it could've been more reliable, which is a shame as it was reasonably well specced for the price, but it's made me think twice about buying a Scenic again and would probably choose Ford, Vauxhall, Nissan or Toyota for my next medium-sized car.

ive had my renault scenic for a year now, its good because it has lots of room for big families and a decent boot. bad bits, the seat adjuster for raising and lowering snapped off, it only gets 30mpg around the doors, and its slow! i do the servicing myself so thats fairly cheap, the tyres are £35 each (budget ones). the automatic windscreen wipers only work when they feel like it! overall not bad but there are better mpvs out there.

I've owned this car for the last three and a half years, since it was nine months old. In this time the only problem I've had is with a faulty rear window which was fixed under warranty.

The car is very practical - I've been able to transport a double divan & mattress after taking the rear seats out. Try that in a standard saloon or hatch !

Being a 1.5 diesel, I find the performance (or lack of) dissapointing, especially after having a 1.9 Dci Laguna previously.

Fully loaded with four adults, a child and a full boot I thought the car struggled somewhat on hills on a recent French holiday. The car did average 53mpg for that trip which I was pleased with. Urban driving the ecomony is poor, giving anything between 34-40mpg which isn't great. These figures are no better than I got from my old 1.9.

owned for 12 months only running costs apart from fuel etc. have been a couple of bulbs and two new front tyres, passed it`s m.o.t. with no problems. nice comfy car to own and drive. well pleased.