We are currently in the middle of change with just about everything that’s happening is disruptive to all the old-school standards.
Air BnB is hurting the Hotel trade, Uber has caused upheaval in the Taxi trade and the people carrier is being killed off by the SUV. So is there any future for the Renault Grand Scenic?
Renault actually started the people carrier trend with the Espace way back in 1984 and it’s still going although it isn’t for sale in the Irish line up.
We get the Scenic and Grand Scenic but if you need something bigger then the Kadjar and Koleos have arrived and both are SUVs. However, the Scenic still has a lot to offer if you’re prepared to go with the sleeker shape.
The Scenic has five seats and the Grand Scenic has seven and a bit more space in the back. If you take the Grand Scenic and drop the last row of seats you’ll have a huge amount of space for luggage along with a flat floor so the bottle of sauce can’t vanish between the seats.
There’s a clever button system for dropping all of the rear seats, it really is just a press of the button and you have a van. With five seats up you have 572-720ltrs of space, you can slide the seats forward to increase the boot. There isn’t a more adaptable MPV currently available, the Scenic took everything I threw at it and more.
The kit and equipment level is very high with a decent feeling from every surface as well as have a very good infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android auto built in making it very easy to play music or receive calls on the move.
There’s also a heads-up display so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to see information about speed or cruise control.
Renaults are always comfortable and the Scenic is no exception, the driver will be very happy with the long drives. The rear passengers aren’t short of space with three decent seats in the middle and two more seats down the rear.
You won’t get two adults in the last row for the long drives but I fit back there no problem. You’d have to actually buy a van to get any more space, there’s no SUV that has as much room for the money.
The model I’m driving is the Dynamique S Nav dCi 110 in Cosmos blue and as you’ll see in the video there are 20” alloys on it which I thought would be a bit harsh but I never noticed them and neither did I notice any road noise, it’s surprisingly quiet even at high speeds.
My rather top spec comes in at €33,875 with all the kit and the alloys but the starting price is €28,700 and for seven seats and all that room in the boot that’s good value but the petrol version is a little thirsty. The diesel starts at €29,700 and I’d go for that as you’ll get the torque to pull the heavier load but still get decent economy.
The Grand Scenic is available right now is Mallon Motors in Portlaoise where I’m sure there’s plenty of deals to be done for 2018.
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