Has anyone got a new Renault Scenic or Grand Scenic with a petrol engine?

[SweetApril]

Hi there. After test driving at least half a dozen MPVs I've finally decided on a Renault Grand Scenic. Thing is I'm most interested in the 1.2TCe 130 bhp. This is apparently their latest petrol engine and is supposed to be marvellous. Trouble is the damn things are rarer than hens teeth. I can't find a single Renault dealer who has one that I can actually test drive. So I'm turning to Mumsnet for help! Has anyone got one or at least driven one? I just want to know if it has enough gumption and pulling power, basically. We would mostly be 2 adults and 2 or 3 children. Boot would be full for holidays etc but not all the time. All 7 seats would only be used occasionally and not for very long distances. The Renault salespeople keep telling me that new technology means small petrol engines are now more feasible for bigger cars and that the turbo and 130 hp make all the difference. But I still can't get my head round the big car, small engine thing.

I've test driven a Grand Scenic 1.5 and 1.6 diesel. They're both fine and we've been very, very close to buying the 1.6 but we want this car to last 10+ plus years and I'm worried about all the expenses that seem to be associated with modern diesel engines over time such as problems with the DPF filter (we do a lot of short journeys, not so many long ones), dual mass flywheel, cambelt and associated parts, some kind of filter (EGC maybe?) That's why I thought petrol might be the way to go but I'm feeling like the only potential Grand Scenic customer to have ever asked for such a thing.

If anyone got any advice/experience I'd be very grateful. TIA.

Hi SweetApril. How about calling Renault's customer relations number, which you can get from their website (go via the Contact link at the very top of the homepage) and see if they can team you up with the engine you want? It's in their interest, after all.

Hi, Alex. Thanks for replying. I didn't think anyone would! I've already tried Renault's customer relations but they weren't at all helpful. I even called twice in case the first person was having a bad day! Maybe it's not so much in their interest if they're not on commission I've also called lots of dealerships, many of whom have been as helpful as they can be, but I still haven't found a car to test drive nor even a salesperson who has experience of driving it with this engine.

I have the diesel, so my advice might be irrelevant!
The back 2 seats are really uncomfortably tiny and have no leg room, so much so that my 3 teenagers prefer to sit side by side in the middle. The very back seats are fine for under 10 year olds and short journeys, but you can't, as we used to do for long journeys with a Touran or Espace, have the middle middle seat down, one rear seat up and pack around them comfortably for holidays.

Thanks, Helpyourself. All advice is gratefully received! I'm hoping we don't have to use those rear seats too often but it's really useful to know that my DCs are likely to have outgrown them by the time they are 10. Out of interest, how come you can't do that packing thing with the middle middle seat down? Not sure we'd ever need to but you never know and I can't see why it wouldn't work. Is it because the middle seat must be upright when someone's in the very back seat? On the diesel test drive we had the middle seat folded down with DD in the very back seat until she spotted a warning notice which said middle seat must be upright. No idea why, it's the only MPV we drove with this warning.

But, anyhow, aside from this, can I ask if you like the car? Is it good in other ways? Have you had any problems with the diesel filter or any other mechanical stuff?

It's fine to put the middle seat down, it's just that the back seats are so uncomfortable and tiny that 5'7" would rather sit between his sisters than go behind. For occasional friends the back seats are fine and the boot is roomy.
Mechanically no problems, we've had it from near new for 18 months.
One strange problem! there's a gap between the handbreak console and the floor and my pearls slipped down- it took two engineers and an hour to take out the console and drivers seat to recover it!
We got the Bose sound system/ integrated sat nav and both are great.
And unlike the two diesels I've had before, I've never put petrol in it!

OK, that's a great help, thanks. We were looking at getting the Bose system too. I hope pearl recovery comes under warranty!

Do you mind if I ask a few more questions? Do you have the 1.5 or 1.6 diesel? Do you do many short runs? We do a lot and I'm paranoid this would be bad for a diesel car which is why we started to consider a petrol engine. Also, do you get good mpg? Sorry, that's quite a lot of questions. I won't be offended if you don't have time to answer!

We've got a 1.5 diesel Scenic. It does tremendous mileage per gallon - 60 - 70 mpg. DH uses it for both short runs to work etc and longer trips. I would be a little wary of purchasing a 1.2TCe if you were carrying several people/luggage etc. Even though the new engines are better than the old, I think you would find it underpowered.
The 1.5 diesel is fine ... though if we did lots of long drives e.g. across France we would want an even larger engine.

MPG in the city is around 35- lots of collects from the station, crawling round the south circular, 10 minute drive to work, moving the car round the block for parking etc.
DH took a photo of 100mpg, but that was coming down a mountain. I'll ask and come back later...

Sorry that MPG is exaggerating- worse ever mpg, think 4 hours barely out of 2nd, I'll check and get back.

I would be a little wary of purchasing a 1.2TCe if you were carrying several people/luggage etc. Even though the new engines are better than the old, I think you would find it underpowered.

130bhp and 151lbft of torque (and if it's like the older engine, that comes in at 2000/2250rpm) - it's not going to excite much, but it will do the job it needs to do, plus a bit.

Thanks, all. This kind of advice is really useful.

Lilymaid - that's very impressive mpg! I am wary of the 1.2 being underpowered. It's so frustrating not being able to try it out.

Helpyourself - You mean the 35 is exaggerated? I haven't the faintest idea whether that's good or bad for town driving in a big car! I have a smallish car atm which is fairly economical although I have no clue what the actual mpg is.

WMittens - That's exactly what the dealerships have said. That it will do the job fine. Although of course they would say that. I don't need an exciting car for now so that's no problem. When you say the older engine do you mean the Renault 1.4 TCe? I've read good reports about that but they don't make it any more and I'm struggling to find a used one to try. I've noticed on here that you seem to be very knowledgable on the whole subject of cars and mechanics. Do you reckon my concerns about the diesel, especially in the long term, are unfounded? There's a lot of talk about things like DPF filters being much better and causing fewer problems now that they have been around a while but there's also talk of modern diesel engines being far too complicated and more problematic because of that. It's so confusing. I wouldn't be so bothered if I didn't want to keep the car for a long time but I really want it to last a good many years.

35mpg was worse ever town driving. It's normally 40+, even on loud of small journeys, 10 mins to station, lots of waiting at lights barely out of 3rd type city driving.

Ah, right, thanks, Helpyourself. Your driving world sounds a lot like mine used to be - crawling round the north circ and a lot of moving round the block for parking.

SweetApril

Yes, I meant the 1.4 - with torque figures (and power figures to some extent) the numbers themselves aren't necessarily meaningful (especially if you don't have your own reference point). It is more useful to know how fast the engine is spinning when maximum torque is available, and how long it is available for (i.e. the wider the rpm numbers the better, e.g. max torque available from 2000-4500rpm is better than 2000-3500rpm; also, the lower it comes, the more 'relaxing' the engine feels rather than having to rev the nuts off it, so 2000-4500rpm is more 'relaxed' than 3000-5500rpm).

I don't think your diesel concerns are unfounded with the driving you describe - it's not the ideal scenario for a diesel engine. The new small-capacity turbo petrol engines like the 1.2TCe may have their own problems in the future and new diesels may be better than their predecessors, but I still think you're going to be better off with the petrol option - less to go wrong, simpler (possibly) to fix and likely as good on fuel (possibly better).

Cheers, WMittens. Very helpful explanation. It's annoying because I can get a nice six-month old 1.6 diesel ex demo or ex Renault manager's car for a fairly reasonable price. It doesn't look like the petrols are going to be as popular so I'm either going to have to buy new and take that first big depreciation hit or wait around for six months or more in the hope that a few petrol models will come on to the market. That's assuming I've found one to try out before then. It was time-consuming enough deciding which car to buy in the first place!