They seem to be very reasonably priced on the 2nd hand market!

[Edited on 12/1/15 by Surrey Dave]

BiL has a 55 plate, 1.6 petrol scenic, it's had all the usual consumables, about 5 sets of coilpacks in the last 3 years, had the dash go on fire, and the handbrake module works about half the time.

We had a 53 plate, 1.4 petrol scenic, which would randomly rev its tits off while driving and you'd have to turn it off and back on again to reset it, the handbrake mostly worked, but threw a warning light (MOT fail as of 2014, IIRC) Replaced every sensor, the throttle body, and cleaned everything fuel related. Kept trying to kill us so we swapped it for a 10-year-older audi.


Not saying they're inherently bad vehicles, but renault can't do electrics and like to put fancy electrics in their cars.

No. They're not. I've got a grand scenic and chuffed to pieces I am with it too. Def needs the rear parking sensor because it's a long old bus but what's not to like? Comfy, spacious, 7 seats, nice hifi, good AC. In fact the only issue is the brakes feel a bit under-spec'd for such a heavy car so I tend to use more engine braking. Which of course also helps the mpg....

I suspect the issue may be electrics- how the French love electrics.

But I'm very happy with mine. At home pootling around town or cruising on cruise control at a respectable speed on the motorway. And the tomtom built in is rather nice too.

I paid about £8000 for mine, couple of years old, 18,000 miles. Crazy money for so much car.

Looks like there are some bad ones out there too mind

I've got the 1.5dci. Crazy carting so much bus round on a 1.5 but it works for me.

Bloke who I car share with has a drv one. It's on its 4th ac pipe at 200 a go plus gassing. Handbrake has gone twice at 250 plus programming. Injector seals had to be done last year. That's just the stuff that I can remember

Oh and it rides and handles like a bouncy castle.

I'm not sure if I totally agree. Our Renault Megane 1.9tdi come very close to being the worst. Truly an awful car, and I won't mention the electrics.

Yes, they pretty much are.

With any make/model you can be unfortunate and get a bad one... with these youmight get lucky and get a good one.
On the other hand they're great for business. If everyone had them I'd be busy all the time.

I had a 51 plate Laguna that was terrible. It was always pinging the EML and took loads of faff to sort it. It also loved to snap suspension coil springs.
I now have a 54 plate Espace. I bought it with a knackered turbo which then turned out to be a knackered engine too. I bought it with these faults so can't really complain, however.......
since then:
the hazard light switch developed an intermittent fault which took a lot of finding! At random times in the night, the hazard lights would come on and flatten the battery. Once identified, a new switch fixed it.
The reversing lights illuminate whenever they feel like it. Never when reversing.
The temperature gauge is part of the digital dash display and it jumps up and down whenever it feels like it but...
The dash display sometimes comes on. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes ALL the symbols illuminate including all the redundant pixels! Sometimes the dash alarm beeps as if the occupants are not wearing their seatbelts, or the low fuel warning lamp is on. Sometimes the dash flickers. Sometimes the car looses power until it stops but thumping the dash gets it back into life!
The latest 'event' is the most bizarre: the dash goes off and at the same time, the clutch starts to slip. Not a constant slip and only in 5th or 6th gear!! You can put your foot down and you can feel the clutch slipping then gripping, like it's pulsing!! During this 'event', you can stop the car and spin the wheels setting off and I know the clutch has plenty of meat on it as it was new 6,000 mile ago!

I'm sure I can think of worse cars . Given time

My wife's had an '05 plate grand scenic for about 5 years.
I wouldn't go so far to say it's the worst car in the world...

Actually they do have a lot going for them.
They're cheap, comfortable, roomy, have lots of cubby holes, and if you take the back seats out you've got a van.

Downside are they're soft and slow, brakes are rubbish, interior trim is flimsy, and of course the biggest issue - endless electrical faults.
Mostly niggles like windows not opening, heater/blower missing a speed or two, but we've also had a couple of coil packs go, the instrument cluster blow up, and it occasionally flattens it's battery and leaves the wife stranded.

I wouldn't want one as my main car, but it's ok as a second one.