Renault Scenic (2003 - 2009) 1.6 VVT Dynamique 5d (06) Owner Review

Electric windows temperamental. Passenger side front windo stopped 3 months ago, needs a new motor. About £300 all in! Other 3 work okay but drivers one has a mind of it'd own. Hit the 1 touch close and it often goes down instead! I really hate the key design, simply a nightmare waiting to happen. Latest thing is for the engine to keep running even when you have hit the off button meaning you have to hit it twice. Suspect battery hopefully but getting numerous messages lately about card not detected. AC works okay but not ice cold. Worked in France recently in 40c. Enough to stop you from sweating but I;ve had better. Fuel consumption horrendous for a 1.6. Even at a cruise controlled 70 on the motorway it rarely gets 40mpg, worse if AC on. Around town even with AC off struggle to break 30 even when lightly driven. Another pet hate is the elctronic handbrake. Sure it looked like a great idea to the original designer... Apart from ongoing worries about it;s durability, it makes close quarter manouveres harder than a regular handbrake. Performance is also disappointing. Has to be revved hard to get any decent poke from it and it rev;s very high. 70mph is 3500 rpm. On the plus side the 6 speed box is good. Like a diesel in some ways, very loew geared. Suspension clonks a lot despite having changed all the bushes. Comfortable over long distance and despite the high rev's never too noisy on the motorway. Just come back from a 2400 mile trip around France with no problems. 6th gear is okay but hopeless at speed, any half decent motorway incline can need changing down . Another minor niggle is the fuel flap.. there is'nt one! Simple flap on the side of the car which locks with the remote locking. When required just pull flap open and voila! Hmmm.... Only bought a scenic because of the war on the motorist in London. My beautiful Mondeo ST was an evil diesel! Hence trawled through ebay and finally won an auction. Was very cheap though, only £600 2 years ago. Good spec. 4 electric windows, cruise control, speed limiter, alloys, sliding seats. vast storage, steering wheel controls for most things, AC, radio/cd, cool glovebox, 6 speed box, multiple airbags, front foglights, no parking sensors though. Biggest current problem though is more mundane. Private owner I bought from had lost the parcel shelf.. Tried twice to get another one, even supplying the chassis number, no joy! Real pain having everything in the boot on full display. I realise this is not the point of this website but if anyone reading this review has any ideas I would be hugely grateful!

In summary a cheap and cheerful car that does what it says but not one I would recommend if you drive a lot. Suspect handbrake, key card, electrics etc and far from cheap to repair. Also very high road tax! My tax this year is actually more than my comprehensive insurance!! Only real expense has been a new battery. Finally one very bad point there are no locks anywhere on the outside of the car and no real key anyway! So if your card battery goes flat or it plays up there is absolutely no way to get in! Really poor design to have NO back up at all!