Renault Espace (03-12) - Review

Review by Simon Harris on
The Espace is one of the most spacious people carriers around and makes an ideal car for larger families. The looks disguise its size well - it's more than 4.5 metres long - while inside it's roomy and versatile. It does most of the things you'd expect a people carrier to do, like have seats that fold and remove, lots of clever storage bins and the ability to carry seven people. But newer alternatives are even better and the fact that the rear seats in the Espace don't fold flat into the floor means overall practicality is somewhat limited. Changes for 2006 included a potent new 2.0-litre diesel plus interior upgrades.
4 out of 5

Other Renault reviews

3 out of 5

Running costs

The Espace offers reasonable running costs and Renault servicing is competitive. However, emissions are quite high and there are no especially frugal engines in the range.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£2,046 - £2,668 *

Diesel

£1,491 - £2,210 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

18,000 miles.

Warranty

Three years/60,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£195.00 - £460.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

2.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
    170
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
    292

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The Espace performs fairly badly on the eco front. With an average of 213g/km CO2 across the range, its emissions are a little high for a people carrier. The 2.0 dCi engine is the most efficient - it returns 39mpg and emits 188g/km of CO2.

Find the exact engine and CO2