Scenic route
£43,000 (approx)
You can see why they wanted to revive the name The Renault Scenic was a massive hit with car buying families in the Nineties But that was that and this is this It’s a longish wheelbase long range electric family car The original Scenic is history and so are its one box profile and three individual folding and sliding rear seats Fair enough people gradually stopped buying those MPVs and unused seat mechanisms just add weight and cost
These days the sales are in crossovers and so doubtless Renault wouldn’t mind if you mistook this for one Actually it’s less than
mm taller than an ID Renault has another family electric hatch the Megane but people have complained it’s not roomy enough in the back and that it can’t go quite far enough on a full battery The Scenic is and can
The mile WLTP range looks good In Britain you could reasonably tilt for motorway and elsewhere and there’s a heat pump and battery conditioning to keep it up in winter Rapid charging is competitive
It night not have gymnastic seating but family amusing gadgets aren’t wholly absent Around the rear armrest cupholders are pivoting grippers that hold tablets and phones They can be set either across the car so both people can watch the same screen or at so each can see their own hooked to the four rear seat USBs Overhead optionally is a glass roof called Solarbay that needs no blind because it can be switched electro chromically in sections to be opaque There’s stretching room in the back and a good boot The ride is firmish think Kia EV rather than Hyundai Ioniq but it’s well damped so it’ll likely fend off sickness among the screen zombies in the back
Like the Megane it’s terrific to drive Maybe better being slightly calmer thanks to a longer wheelbase and heavier steering It’s well balanced and lively in bends It’s very light for a long range EV kg and that shows in its sense of fleet footedness Yet it doesn’t feel flimsy Performance is easily strong enough for most people the engineer remembered the R GT Turbo he drove in his s This is a match for acceleration Renault’s excellent driver interface helps You get physical buttons for the most urgent functions and a standard big customisable centre screen too Trim quality is pretty lavish And JeanMichel Jarre composed the pedestrian warning noise and other beep be beep beepb oops