Can anyone tell me about renault grand scenics? Would I be mad to swap my reliable 4x4 for one?

[ENormaSnob]

I am looking at one tomorrow.

A 1.9 diesel.

Currently driving a rav4, 2l petrol, 5 door. Love it but it's expensive to run and the back seats are tiny. We are off to France in August and I feel sorry for my 3dc squashed in the back!

It looks like the scenic will be cheaper to run plus I want the extra seats so I can take dniece out and away with us.

Any thoughts?

Renaults cost £££ to repair.

IME you'd be mad to swap anything reliable for a Renault. Cheap crap which goes haywire and is impossible to repair.

I had one. It was great in terms of space for the children, fitting in 7 people. However, it was mainly made of plastic. Not very attractive inside.

I had mine for 4 years and during that time it needed 2 major repairs. 2 electronic components that were really expensive. Just out of warranty. I negotiated with Renault and they agreed to pay 70 percent of the cost.

1 year after I sold it renault was on watchdog and offering to recall the cars and pay for this fault.

I would avoid French cars to be honest.

I like ours to drive but it's a pain for repairs & £££ tyres

We had a Renault Sceinic a few years ago and it cost us ££££ getting the same fault repaired. In the end it turned out to be a frayed wire which we got fixed and sold it to SIL. It is still running now, has had no new faults and is 13 years old!

I now have a 6 month old Scenic on Motability. I love it. The seats are really comfy, it is very economical and most of all my 6' and 6'2" DSes are comfy in the back.

I did have a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. That was a 7 seater. I didn't have any problems with it but I prefer my Renault.

What kind of faults are we talking?

I have a local mechanic that does all our work on our cars. Would never pay dealership to do it.

I really like the grand Picasso but none for sale near me.

Our friendly local mechanic refused to repair ours on two occasions because the labour involved to access the parts would cost more than it wood be to pay a dealership to do it with the special Renault tools. Particularly the electrics, which are notoriously bad, and require Renault diagnosis. Which is shit and not worth a fart but don't let me get started on that.

We have a Vauxhall now. Would a Zafira maybe suit you?

Grand Scenic faults are safety recall for electronic hand brake, dashboards failing completely and electric windows failing.

They have lots of 'special Renault tools'

Sounds like my Peugeot bugrit.

The mechanic said it was a pita to change the fly wheel, still only charged half what Peugeot garage wanted.

Not thought of looking at a zafira.

We have one.

Can't wait until it gets written off.

The French have a saying. "If you buy a Renault, don't sell your bicycle."

I had a Megane and I second what everyone says about repairs costing a fortune. £30 to change a lightbulb in the headlamp, for example (and it was impossible to change yourself). Lots of special Renault parts that could only be got through the dealership garage. I was delighted when I wrote it off last year and got a Toyota instead.

Ours had an electrical fault that kept showing up as being the potentiometer when plugged into the computer. My dad said it wasn't (he is a car dealer) but the garage said it was so changed it and reset the ECU. This happened a few times and so we had a new ECU fitted. It was fine for a while so we sold it to SIL. It went wrong again about 18 months later and Renault found the original fault which was a frayed wire!

Have you thought about a Toyota Corrolla Verso or Mazda 5?

I have an 04 Megane scenic and I love it. We are looking to upgrade to a newer one.

It has lots of good family features, really roomy (it's a five seater not a seven) and has been very realiable and when it was needed bits doing to it, I have found it to cost no more than any other car would.

It is lovely to drive and feels very safe.

We've also had a Clio too, which again was great to drive and very reliable

I think you may get more negative comments on here than positive, as most people will only post when they have something negative to say.

We had one, ugly and middle aged. I hated it. We've got a 7 seater Qashqi and can't recommend it highly enough.

Electrical faults are very common. Mine had an airbag light that kept coming on for no apparent reason whenever the temperature rose about 20 degrees. Bizarre! Window winders failed on more than one occasion. Oh, and when the cam belt needed replacing, it cost over £500. Other people I knew were getting theirs done for less than £200. I'll never buy another French car.

A Rav 4 is not a 4x4 ! And no to the Renualt as well !

I have a 54 reg 1.9l diesel grand scenic, and i love it. DH drives my old car, which is a nissan, and i hate it. We have ongoing electrical issues with that car that will cost ££££ to fix. I would never have another Nissan.

The renault however is fantastic. My mechanic changed the headlamp bulb without too much hassle, and he seems to think i could easily keep it for years. I love having the extra room to ferry my DC's friends around too! (They have a fantastic safety rating btw)

A Rav4 is not a 4x4? I love my x reg 5 seat Scenic.

Yes, a rav4 is a 4 wheel drive.

The scenic I was going to look at had sold so didn't get it anyway!

Spoke to a mechanic friend who told me not to touch them

Shame because I really like them.

So the 7 seater search continues?

Anyone got a zafira??

We used to have a zafira but I wasn't impressed.
Back seat isn't 3 full seats if that's important.

I have 1.6 renault grand scenic.

I love mine. The only thing I don't like is how quickly it drinks petrol.

What do you want to know spefically?

I really wanted to know about reliability and running costs.

What mpg do you get in the petrol cece?

I would prefer a diesel tbh but considering all options.

HJ, why didn't you like the zafira? I am not keen on the old ones but the newer ones are okay. That's purely a looks thing though as I have never owned one