Renault grand scenic

[Brown888]

I want one. Second hand. 7 seater. Ideally about 10 years old. Love the shape and space but it's not too huge
DP thinks Renault is unreliable
Thinks I should get something more robust like a VW touran.
Aibu?
Anyone driven a Renault grand scenic? Any love stories or horror stories?

I had a brand new Scenic on Motability and loved it. After only 18 months the engine management light came on, and the engine went into 'get you home' mode, and would only go at 50mph, which was dangerous as on the M1. Had to have the full onboard computer replaced twice to solve the problem. Then just 5 months later, again on the motorway, the car just stopped. The electrics failed completely, car stopped and windows all mysteriously opened, and even hazard lights wouldn't work. I was stuck on the motorway with 3 children under 3, very dangerous.

Luckily Motability gave me an early replacement on the car (usually have for a minimum of 3 years), and the following year stopped providing them on the scheme altogether as the electrics were so unreliable.

Unfortunately French cars seem inherently unreliable, although German cars I've never had a moment of trouble with.

YANBU to want a Renault but your OH is right as French cars are generally terrible. Nice design but unreliable.

However he's also wrong about VW as they're no better and potentially worse. I've no idea why people still think German cars are reliable as they're not. Well screwed together, yes. Reliable, no.

www.thecarexpert.co.uk/volkswagen-touareg-2018/

www.carwow.co.uk/blog/most-and-least-reliable-car-brands-revealed#gref

Hated ours. Had one years ago and only had it for 5 months before exchanging it for a Ford CMax - much better and more reliable. The Grand Scenic felt like you were driving a tin!
Have Volvo XC60 now, best car I’ve ever had (although do like Audi too)!

We have had ours for 13 years and it is honestly the best car I've ever had. We have 3 DC and the three full size seats in the back meant oldest wasn't squashed in the middle between two car seats. The extra seats in the back were great for taking friends out, though you would t want to go too far in them.

We chose it as being the biggest car inside with smallest outside. Being able to move and remove each back seat individually has been brilliant too. The amount that can be fitted in the back is amazing.

We've never had any issues and only repairs have been making maintenance things like tyres/brakes etc

Kids are adults/teen now but still really handy for Uni moves, tip runs, IKEA trips and holidays. It is also really comfortable to drive.

I assume ours won't have many years left (56 reg) and when it's gone I am going to miss that car!!

I had one, lovely to drive, very comfortable but bloody hell it was a money pit. The worst was I was driving to my mum to take dd to cinema and the gorgeous display showing everything from speed, mileage to what radio station I was on went phut, phut, splot and disappeared. Had to be completely replaced and lost the mileage count. Then some coils kept going at a £200 a time that caused power loss. It was a nightmare.

Thanks all for your stories
I do lots of motorway miles so don't want to risk a failure at 70mph
Didn't realise VW touran was similar so thanks for that
I did like ford cmax but doesn't have 3 full size seats in the back but might have to compromise

I had a 2014 model. Absolute heap of shit, it cost me £1400 in repair bills in the single year that I owned it. It was just out of warranty at the time, so I’d definitely not have an older one.

^ This 100%. German cars are more expensive because you have to pay for the marketing, that's all. They are not any more reliable.
I read a recent survey by a warranty company - the top ten most unreliable cars was full of "premium" German brands.

It was also pretty horrible to drive, the steering was very light and didn’t feel connected to the axles at all. You could wiggle the wheel a lot and the tyres wouldn’t respond. No nuance whatsoever. The cabin was comfortable and spacious and the driving position was good but as a driver and car owner it was a horrible car.

We have one , we bought it when it was 6 years old and we’ve had it another 5.5years. We haven’t spent anything major on it but the electrics warnings are on for various reasons that keep changing however it still works perfectly fine but need to get it sorted. Our petrol door also jammed shut. But it’s a 11 year old car and I would expect to have to pay for some sort of repairs on a car of that age.
The space inside is great and I’ve sat in the back seats in the boot and don’t find them too squashy. It’s easy to drive and park and we get a lot of miles for a tank of diesel.

We had one for five years and loved it - we bought it in 2014 when it was 8/9 years old and didnt have any major problems; I guess any issues had been sorted out by the time we got it.

We had the 1.9 diesel and it was a lovely refined car for cruising on the motorways as well as good for around town.

Although we loved the overall feel and high-tech nature of the car we were slightly annoyed at the complexity of some things - the front bumper had to be taken off to replace the headlamp bulbs for example - but once these were done it was all ok. I think the Scenic marks 3 or 4 may be better!

Since then we have had a Peugeot 5008 MPV (not the more recent SUV version) which I would also recommend - it has the same kind of space (if not slightly more) but is not so high tech and feels more solidly put together. But the lesson I have learned generally is that diesel is not good unless you do long journeys regularly - if you are driving around town on short trips its far better to have a petrol car.

Of course if you want a far more solid car choose a Touran but they are considerably more expensive

My father had one. it was nice, but electrical gremlins I'm afraid so wouldn't recommend. We have a Zafira and it's simple and cheap to run. A couple of things have gone wrong that shouldn't, but were cheap to fix. The Zafira fire recall was a bit scary though.
our brand new skoda has electrical issues too so VW group aren't the holy grail.

I like the look of the Dacia Jogger as an alternative family car - they have less superfluous electronics to go wrong. Who actually wants 'lane assist' to wrestle you for control of the car? But it's a Renault group car so the basic electrics might have a hissy fit like the Scenic.

Nissan & Renault have the same parts now. We changed to a Kia Sorento & I absolutely adore it- I'll never go back