written by jrcann on 05/01/2006
Good Points
Very Practical. Never went to a garden centre without managing to get our purchases in (including fences and trellice!). Comfortably takes 5 adults with kit bags.
Bad Points
Lacks a little torque so tends to struggle on hills with four passengers or full load.
Doesn't cope with heavy mileage at all well. This car got very expensive!
General Comments
The Renault Scenic 1.6 16V Sport Alize was a really great car that did all the things we needed it to right up until the point when I started to drive 90 miles a day commuting. After that it started to get very expensive.
Within about 15 months the head gasket went, a piece of one of the timing belt pulleys broke off and dropped into the pully below resulting in the head having to be rebuilt with a complete set of valves, the water-pump was replaced and it needed new discs all round.
You can imagine the size of the bills!
I'd still recommend it if you wanted a really practical car that was also nippy. However if you do a lot of mileage I wouldn't get one, or get one with high mileage. Mine was OK up to 40 or 50k, but after I started putting the miles on it started to go downhill.