Renault Scenic review

• Overview
• What is it?
• So no family-amusing cabin novelties then?
• How is it to drive?
• How is it to ride in? It’s a family car after all.
• What are the electric stats?
• Our choice from the range
• What's the verdict?
• Hyundai Ioniq 5
• Nissan Ariya
• Skoda Enyaq iV
• Driving
• What is it like to drive?
• What about the driver aids?
• Interior
• What is it like on the inside?
• And in the front?
• Buying
• What should I be paying?

Overview

What is it?

The Renault Scenic was a massive hit with car-buying families in the 1990s, so you can see why they wanted to revive the name. But that was that and this is this. It’s a long-ish wheelbase, long-range electric family car.

The original Scenic’s one-box profile and its ultra-versatile interior, with three individual folding and sliding rear seats, are history. Fair enough: people gradually stopped buying those MPVs, and unused ultra-versatile seats just add weight and cost.

These days the sales (and the legal mandates) are in stuff like the Tesla Model Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Nissan Ariya, VW ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq. That’s where the Scenic competes.

Renault has another family electric hatch, the Megane E-Tech Electric, but people have complained it’s not roomy enough in the back. The Scenic is largely the same up front but has a 100mm longer wheelbase, devoted to the rear.

People also grumbled that the Megane’s battery size isn’t enough, so the Scenic comes with 87kWh as standard. That’s 391 miles WLTP. Which ought to shut them up.

So no family-amusing cabin novelties then?

Actually, although the seats are straightforward, there is one. If there are only two people in the back, they can drop the centre armrest. That has two USB sockets, and trays for this ‘n’ that, and cupholders. Pivoting brackets around the cupholders act as little arms to grip and hold upright tablets and phones. They can be set either across the car so both people can watch the same screen, or at 45 degrees so each can see their own.

That armrest opens up more to turn into a ski hatch. There are more USBs for when the centre seat is occupied. In all the Scenic has six sockets and a wireless charging pad.

The top-spec has Solarbay, a glass roof that can be rendered opaque by LCD switching, with separate LCD sections for front and rear. Less weight than a blind, and more rear headroom.

Oh and Jean-Michelle Jarre composed the pedestrian warning noise and the Scenic’s other beep-beep-boops.

How is it to drive?

Very good. The suspension is taut and the steering quick. It’s well-balanced and lively in bends. It’s very light for a long-range EV – 1,850kg, and that shows in its sense of fleet-footedness. Yet it doesn’t feel flimsy.

Performance is easily strong enough for most people: the lead engineer remembered the R5 GT Turbo he drove in his 20s. This is a match for acceleration.

Renault’s excellent driver interface helps. You get physical buttons for the most urgent functions, and a big customisable centre screen too.

How is it to ride in? It’s a family car after all.

It’s fine. Adult-size people in the back have all the room they need, so they can enjoy their screens. It’ll do three abreast, and the flat floor means the central bod has foot space. Headroom’s not a problem either. You get useful storage in the cabin, and the boot’s fine.

It’s quiet over the road and through the air. The ride is firmish – think Kia EV6 rather than Hyundai Ioniq 5 – but it’s well damped. Which will likely reduce the need for sickbags out back.

What are the electric stats?

Here in Britain an 87kWh battery is standard, for a range of 391 miles WLTP. Renault is honest enough to say this means 231 miles at French motorway speed, an average of 72mph. And that’s exactly what we got – 116 miles for 50 per cent discharge – on French motorways and open-country, quick roads driven at eight degrees Celsius. And we were paying precisely zero attention to energy economy.

So it’s going to be about 260 on UK motorways and more than that on slower roads. Unless you’ve a headwind, driving rain or it’s really cold. And actually a heat pump and battery heater are standard in the UK, so low-temp range should hold up pretty well. Finally, battery chemistry is different from the Megane’s, and is able to deliver more of its rated energy down to colder temperatures.

Rapid charging is good too: it’s not about a headline-grabbing power spike, but a consistent rate as the battery fills. It has online charge planning and will precondition on approach to the charger and then can average 110kW over 30 minutes starting from 20 per cent, so you’ve added 50kWh in that time.

Our choice from the range

Renault

1.5 dCi Dynamique Nav 5dr

£23,890

It’s likeable. Lots of rational reasons why: space, efficiency and lightness count in its favour. But it’s also good-looking on the outside and well-finished within, and in most ways it’s a very sweet drive.

We almost wish it wasn’t called Scenic. It’s a name that has long since evaporated from public consciousness in Britain, and in any case this isn’t a Scenic. But it is a very good car.

Hyundai Ioniq 5

£36,940 – £56,095

Nissan Ariya

£46,090 – £59,830

Skoda Enyaq iV

£34,880 – £47,820

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Driving

Driving

What is it like to drive?

The UK version has a 220bhp electric motor. That’s enough, giving decent straight-line acceleration. From 0-62mph it’s 8.4 seconds, and useful motorway thrust is available beyond that. It’s front drive and the motor’s low-rev torque is enough to overcome the Scenic’s slightly weak traction even in the dry if you come out of a small roundabout with too much pedal.

The steering is pretty quick straight off the middle, and could do with a little extra weight just in those first few degrees – it’s easy to zig-zag a little until you’re used to it. Choosing the heavier steering weight map does help. More so than in the related Megane.

Anyway, the Scenic feels more light and nimble than any other large family EV. You don’t get the sense you’re causing a reluctant mass to change direction. It’s fun and well-balanced, stringing corners together nicely, and even providing some realistic steering feel as the tyres run out of grip. Weight distribution is 50:50, again helping agility.

The brakes a well-regulated too, and you can choose your regeneration with paddles. Firm-ish springs mean you do feel bumps, especially at low speed, but the dampers keep things properly under control, and there’s little tyre or wind roar.

What about the driver aids?

Adaptive cruise control with lane centring is standard on the top-spec Iconic trim, and so is blind-spot assist. Lane keeping, and auto-braking for vehicles and people, plus various overspeed warnings are fitted to all Scenics as the law mandates. Like BMW sensibly used to have (but no longer does) there’s a physical button on the dash which you press to access custom assist settings. That means you can cut the systems that are unhelpful in twisty roads, like the ones that nudge the wheel or beep at you when you come across something parked at the side of the road, but turn the assistance back on again for city centres or motorways.

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Overview

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Interior

Interior

What is it like on the inside?

As mentioned the Megane, a car we like very much, doesn’t have the rear-seat space of an ID.3, never mind the crossovers that dominate the family market. The Scenic fully corrects that. There’s always plenty of legroom in the back, the more so when the front seats are raised slightly so the rear riders’ feet can move forward underneath.

The boot is big too, at 545 litres including three good-sized bins underneath for cable or other guff. The floor board itself can be shifted into two levels.

See the main intro section for details of the rear armrest/device holder, which is a genuinely clever and useful thing. There are also multiple pockets in the backs of the front seats.

And in the front?

Moving forward, there’s lots of usefully divided storage up front, taking advantage of the flat floor and the positioning of the bulky a/c unit away under the bonnet.
The front seats are supportive without being bulky. While you’re charging, you can recline the seat into a ‘relax’ position and the infotainment will keep running for 45 minutes.

All UK versions get both a driver’s screen and a vertical 12-inch touchscreen. The voice recognition is provided by a Google assist. We couldn’t get much luck with it, but in a family car you feel ridiculous talking to the dashboard anyway. Fortunately the screen controls are easy to fathom and there are plenty of physical buttons too. The touchscreen has Waze built-in, plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The driver’s screen has graphics inspired by Renault’s corporate ID. Lots of diagonal slashes. So unlike the related Megane you can no longer switch to calm clear round dials.

Trim materials are very good, and they come in interesting materials, colours and textures, not just black grained plastic everywhere.

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Driving

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Buying

Buying

What should I be paying?

The ladder is straightforward: all Scenics get the 220bhp motor and 87kWh battery.

Techno is the base – prices being around £40,000 – but it still gets a heat pump and battery conditioning, LED headlights, the big screens and funky rear armrest, and 19-inch wheels. Esprit Alpine is the sportier one, with more supportive seats that are also heated, jazzier trim and 20-inch wheels.

Iconic has a light-coloured, wood-trimmed cabin, electric massaging driver’s seat, premium sound and full driver assist. These’ll set you back about £45k. We don’t have finance details yet.

Here’s a thing though. In France, where you can get a smaller 60kWh battery, it’s a £4k upgrade to the bigger pack that’s standard in the UK. Over here, a Megane has a 60kWh pack, so you can view the Scenic’s pricing two ways. Either you pay extra for the bigger 87kWh pack and get for free the increased wheelbase and accommodation over the Megane. Or you pay for a larger car and get a larger battery for free. On a Nissan Ariya it’s £5l to make a similar upgrade.

Energy consumption is decent: 3.0m/kWh in motorways and better than that everywhere else. You get a 22kW, three phase on-board charger to get it from dead-flat to full in under four hours on a city-centre three-phase post.

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Interior

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Specs & Prices

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