Renault Grand Espace 3.0 24V Privilege Review

Good Points
Space, comfort, reasonable to drive, good performance, good equipment. Fantastic for family holidays.

Bad Points
Rattles, expensive servicing. Moving seats around is back breaking.

General Comments
Bought the Renault Grand Espace with 50,000 miles and it has been reliable for the last 25,000 miles I put on it. Driving is a reasonable experience and the engine is pretty powerful so whilst it isn't sporty it certainly isn't sluggish.
I've just had the cambelt service (70,000 mile job) and it cost in all £2,000 so beware. Had the coil packs replaced not so long before that service which was also quite expensive.
Main every day complaint is about the rattles - everything rattles a bit and the trim isn't terribly well fixed. Oh and stuff always falls out when you open the rear doors.
Fuel consumption is predictably bad at about 24mpg; can be up to 28 on a run but comes down quickly. Though if you consider you get Range Rover type driving position, better than Range Rover performance for less fuel consumption it doesn't seem quite so bad (OK that's a bit weak perhaps!).
Automatic gearbox is OK but I think would be better as 5 speed.
All in all it does the people carrier thing well, has reasonable performance and has been reasonably reliable. And I think it looks pretty good too.