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Renault Scenic IV, bigger-bigger-than-a-Captur-smaller-than-a-Kadjar. Renault Scenic IV, a new look, a new concept. But is it worth your money?

 The Renault Scenic has always been a small MPV, a sort of smaller Touran for people who want a family car but don’t really want a van with windows. It’s just that poor sales of the Scenic III eventually forced Renault to move the Renault Scenic IV into the crossover zone, even though they insist it’s still an MPV. It’s a tall car, with cross-over body elements and a look born of an experiment where they took the back of an Xtrail hit in the back by a truck and put a Captur nose in the front. A sort of VW Golf Plus, this generation of Scenic is an amalgam of parts and design.

Why buy a new Scenic?

Because it remains reliable, practical and sort of cheap. If you have more money than to afford just a Captur but too little for a Kadjar, the Renault Scenic IV may be the way to go. In terms of performance, technology, comfort and safety, the fourth generation Scenic is in tune with the rest of the group. Yes, you’re not going to drag race in a Scenic, but the level of technology (especially on the safety side) in this car requires a few IT programming courses to understand it all. Automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and automatic road mark detection are just some of the standard features on the Scenic. Basically, you don’t have to be behind the wheel or even in the car.

However, the combination of MPV and crossover has brought some problems, especially on the visibility front. Because of the aggressive design, everywhere you have too many pillars and too little glass. After having a trunk cut out with an axe, the French have gone for the glass and put in a window worthy of a dodgy club in a warehouse where the iron doors have only a small line where you can only see the eyes of the person inside. What’s more, the Renault Scenic IV is built on the Espace platform, not the Megane as before. That means you get a 50-metre-long windscreen tilted at 2 degrees, and with some rakish pillars. That means you never know where you are when you’re turning into a car park.

Renault Scenic IV Engines

Petrol

• 1.2 TCe of 115 and 130 horsepower – The seed of Discord between Nissan and Renault, this engine launched a monster argument between the two companies in 2018 and is still bickering in 2019. However, at Renault, the problems have been fewer, and at Nissan this engine leaks fluids faster than a student who drank too much and is now a bit sick. 1.2 TCe, the official engine of the “5-litre oil consumption”. Unlike the VW and Audi where the oil goes gradually, on this 1.2 TCe you lose all the oil instantly. At least you know one thing for sure.


• 1.3 TCe of 115, 140 and 160 horsepower – After the 1.2 TCe scandal, Renault came out with the new 1.3 TCe which has proven to be a reliable engine so far. However, the engine was launched 5 minutes ago so there’s still time for problems to develop. Especially it will be interesting to watch as it is one of the first petrol engines to have a particle filter.

Diesel

• 1.5 dCi of 95 and 110 horsepower – The same 1.5 dCi K9K we’ve become accustomed to and which has reached the end of its career. The specific problems have been rectified, so all that’s left is to change the timing belt every 4 years or 60,000 kms.


• 1.6 dCi of 130 and 160 horsepower – Another engine at the end of the line, this 1.6 dCi has eaten its way through the lineup honourably, with no issues or notable performance. 1.6 dCi – not great, not terrible. Great fuel consumption tho.


• 1.7 dCi of 120 and 150 horsepower – An engine launched 5 minutes ago to replace the old 1.6 dCi and so far it’s been trouble-free. We shall see.

Renault Scenic IV General Issues

• The EDC automatic gearbox is still a doubtful combination so a manual gearbox is recommended instead to avoid situations. Or atleast go for a 2nd generation EDC automagic, which got released somewhere between 2017 and 2018.


• In the middle of the dashboard, a surfboard has been glued, which controls absolutely all functions of the car. Looks like electrical problems might be returning to Renault’s garden. Particularly on the Renault Scenic IV, issues are noticeable on the climate control side.


• As I said earlier, the Renault Scenic IV has a windscreen of about 50 square meters and it is obviously impossible to responsibly stick such a windscreen. From here you will always hear crickets around the edges of the windscreen. But at least you can see everything in traffic from at least 2 kilometres away.


• Because we live in 2019, cars no longer have old-fashioned quality interior materials. So the plastic on the Renault Scenic IV won’t impress you to tears either.


• The seats behind the theatre set up inside the Renault Grand Scenic IV are rather shapely. You can admire them, you can look at them, but you certainly can’t sit in them if you’re more than 130 centimetres tall and weigh no more than 26 kilos.

Renault Scenic IV verdict

A car that had a unique image and lived alone and happily in a world where the competition was weaker than a 40 kg man. Yet now it becomes just another car in the brochure of a bored salesman who would rather sell you a Kadjar than a Scenic. Honestly, if you ask me, this is a car you only buy if you catch a promotion, a discount, or a somewhat advantageous offer. And apparently, I’m not the only one with this idea.

What engines do I recommend? For petrol, the only engine worth it is the fabulous 140 horsepower 1.3 TCe. As for diesel, everyone is still buying the 110 hp 1.5 dCi on the conveyor belt but the 1.6 dCI 130 horsepower version is just as good, if not even better. And there’s nothing wrong with that.