- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
1.6i, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
79kW, 148Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 9L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Used car review: Renault Scenic
Renault would love for you to believe that the French company invented the people mover with its Espace of the early 1980s.
That honour must, however, go to the Volkswagen Kombi of the 1950s, because it was the first vehicle to offer consumers a scaled-down school bus, which basically defines a people mover in the first place.
Most recently in this country, the Renault vehicle that has most closely fitted that description has been the Scenic.
Three two-wheel-drive versions were launched simultaneously in 2001, and a four-wheel-drive version arrived later.
It might have that one-box people-mover styling thing happening, but the Scenic is not a huge car and, as such, is limited to seating five occupants - though, those five passengers are all well looked after with lap-sash seatbelts with pre-tensioners, plus six airbags.
ABS brakes were standard, as was electronic brake force distribution. So, for the money, the safety package was good.
The range kicked off with the Expression, which had air-conditioning, remote central locking, power mirrors and windows and a trip computer.
The Dynamique was next and added climate control, 15-inch alloy wheels, a leather-clad steering wheel and fog lights.
The top of the two-wheel-drive range was the Privilege, which initially added only some ritzy trim materials and was just $1000 more than the Dynamique.
That changed after the first six months of sales when the Priviledge gained roof racks, twin sunroofs and leather trim to offset a huge price jump.
Initially the Scenic was offered with the choice of two engines, a 79 kW, 1.6-litre for the Expression and a two-litre, 101 kW engine for the Dynamique and Privilege.
The bigger engine soon proved its worth, and in late 2002 the smaller motor was dropped with the Expression picking up the two-litre unit.
Apart from the early Expression with the 1.6-litre engine, all Scenics were offered in both five-speed manual and four-speed automatic forms, but the manual is clearly the superior car.
The Scenic conforms to that peculiarly European rule of thumb that it's a better car in manual form, purely because Europe is a predominantly manual market and that's what its car makers do best.
The front-drive layout and relatively high centre of gravity leads to some fairly predictable handling, and the Scenic is indeed no race car.
But it is a tidy handler and combines that with a decent ride, which improves the more you load it up.
Servicing costs might wind up being a bit higher than those for a more common vehicle, especially if you use a specialist Renault mechanic. On the flip side is that a lot of workshops won't know the first thing about a Scenic and some simply won't want to know.
With all that in mind, make sure that all the electrical equipment works properly - this is a bit of a Scenic bug bear that has haunted some cars but not others.
Timing belts need changing at 50,000 km intervals, which is fairly low and isn't, in true French tradition, an entirely straightforward procedure.
If the car in question is an automatic, make sure the gears engage smoothly and quickly with no clunking noises or big delays.
The suspension seemed a little underdone on rough roads, and any car that has been used on bumpy roads or has clobbered the odd kerb might need a wheel alignment.
Check the edge of each tyre for uneven wear across the face of the tread, which is the first symptom of mis-aligned suspension.
Perhaps the Scenic's biggest problem is that it's perceived as just another weird French car that doesn't do anything any better than the establishment models.
In a sense, that's true, but that ignores the fact that the Scenic's interior layout makes it a handy five-seater, given its modest exterior dimensions.
What to pay
Early base models with 1.6-litre engines are now around for low to mid-teens.
But if you want an example with the bigger, better 2-litre engine, you'll need to find closer to $20,000, at which point there's a lot more choice.
The competition
Small people-movers are rare and plenty of importers have tried to sell them, with dismal results. Small station-wagons are much more accessible and just about as good for moving a family.
Look at the Subaru Forester or the Holden Vectra wagon. The Daihatsu Pyzar blurs the line between people mover and wagon, and Koreans such as the Hyundai Trajet and Daewoo Tacuma have also waded into the argument.