Renault Grand Scenic (2009-) Review

Comfort and Equipment

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The Grand Scenic lives up to its name in this respect. You do feel quite grand when you are sitting in it because you get comfy seats, a high driving position and, thanks to Renault's efforts to increase visibility from the front, it's all rather scenic. The oversized A-pillar can still obscure your view, but less so than before.

The ride is decent, but not perfect. The bolstered-up subframes may have yielded flatter cornering but it has made the Grand Scenic somewhat firm. Around corners it's a dream but hit an undulating road surface and it won't iron out a lot of the bumps.

The cabin is quiet. Renault has stuck plastic and felt flooring in the car to deaden the road noise and it's worked well. Wind noise is well contained, too - cruise along on the motorway and you'll feel like you're in a Roller.

There's plenty of space inside, with class-leading knee-room in the front and second-row seats. Don't, however, expect to become a taxi service for your local 7s rugby team - the pair of rearmost seats are strictly for children.

Fold down the rearmost seats and push the second row as far forward as you can and you'll be rewarded with 702 litres of luggage space - enough for a couple of sets of golf clubs and a baby buggy. If you need further loading capacity, the second row can be stowed up against the front row. You can remove the seats to make a totally flat loadbay but that process requires a lot of huffing and puffing. Once out you can store items up to around 2.5 metres long.

There are four trim levels: Extreme, Expression, Dynamique and Privilege. Expression gets an automatic rear wiper when in reverse, front electric windows, air con and CD radio with MP3 socket. Expression adds automatic parking brake, a thin-film dashboard display, fog lights, electric rear windows, sunblinds on the second row and fold-down tables on the rear of the front seats.

The popular Dynamique models gets you cruise control, handsfree keycard, 16" alloy wheels (dCi 160 and 150 models get 17-inchers), automatic headlights, automatic windscreen wipers and multi-functional MP3 connectivity. Privilege models add electric folding mirrors, rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, carpet mats and a central storage unit.

A basic built-in sat nav is available for a reasonable £450, but it's separate from the infotainment functions, which means two sets of controls to contend with. A moving centre console improves matters, coming as standard with the Privilege trim and an extra £250 with the Expression and Dynamique trim.