Renault Megane Scenic RX4 (1999-2004) Review

On the road

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You sit slightly higher than in the standard car, providing the driver with a vantage point to rival those of purpose-built 4x4s like the Land Rover Freelander. The all-round visibility is excellent, and the RX4 is a manageable size to manouevre around town. But it's none too intrepid if you leave the tarmac: the gearbox is the RX4's downfall. When confronted with serious off-roading, it does not offer a crawler-gear ratio of the kind that would suck the RX4 out of some ooze, pull it to the top of a slippery hill, or allow it a dignified descent of a steep slope without resort to the brakes. Its Freelander rival doesn't have a low-ratio 'box either, but can at least be had with a hill-descent device that automatically brakes the car to 5mph without turning it into a two-tonne toboggan. If you're worried that the high ground clearance might turn the Scenic into an unstable blancmange through corners, don't be: it heels over a little on its comfortably soft springs, but those big tyres grip well, allowing the RX4 to be cornered with far more zeal than your passengers will appreciate. It's not hugely powerful, but can be quite amusing.

Brisk cornering is best supplied by the 140bhp petrol engine, which has noticeably more pep than the 105bhp diesel. The oil-burner, a new common-rail direct-injection version of Renault's 1.9-litre turbodiesel, is certainly smoother and less intrusive than the old DTi, but you won't be fooled into thinking it's a petrol. More to the point, it never feels more than mildly brisk, and requires committed use of the gearbox for hurried progress. But it's undeniably less thirsty than the petrol, and for those less interested in speed, makes a sound choice. The petrol RX4 has enough poke to be surprisingly entertaining for this type of car, but this 16-valve engine runs out of breath at 5800rpm, and sometimes sounds a little thrashy. It is also married to a gearbox whose gearchange quality is less than silken.