Scenic route

It was the first compact multi-purpose vehicle or people carrier of its size, no other manufacturer had anything like it. The public took to it with enthusiasm, with sales topping two million, 200,000 of them in the United Kingdom alone.

The Scenic shunted conventional estates into the background with its high driving position, a flexible interior when it came to shifting seats around, concealed floor compartments for tidiness and a basketful of handy extras.

But like all radical designs, it did not take long for other rival manufacturers to dive into the compact market with their own ideas. Hence, today, the compact people carrier shows off the badges of Nissan, Honda, Vauxhall and Citroen among many, with new entries from Ford and Volkswagen also now heading for the showrooms.

So if Renault was to continue to dominate and lead the way, its designers had to come up with something new, something that stood head and shoulders above all others in the crowd. Hence the headache.

Some would say that the compact vehicle is a van converted. Be reassured, there are no vans like the new Megane Scenic.

Mind you it owes much of its looks to the Renault Avantime and the Vel Satis... bold wheelarches, sharp metal creases across its rear end, short overhangs front and back and a wide road-holding stance. But unlike the Avantime, no longer being built, and the wavering Vel Satis, the Scenic is here to stay.

Its stand-out style and technology are not to be found anywhere else in the compact sector, while its equipment levels takes the new Scenic to greater levels.

There is a four-model line up starting with the Authentique followed by Expression, Dynamique and Privilege (in line with the rest of the Renault range), but each offers better value than the outgoing Scenic models.

It goes on sale later this year, but dealers will be ready to start taking orders in a couple of weeks. Prices start at £12,850 on the road, with the best-equipped and most powerful version costing £18,050 on the road. A package of optional extras for each of the models can add to the prices.

First thing the new owner will notice is the hands-free card for opening up the car, and for starting the engine. Like the new Megane saloon before it, the new Scenic uses sensors to detect the card in the owner's pocket or handbag, and unlocks the door once the user just touches the door handle. Once inside the card-holder only needs to press the starter button to fire up the engine.

At this stage it is only right to point out that although the hands-free system is standard on all top-of-the-range Privilege models it is a £250 option on all other Scenic versions; however, there is still a card which contains lock and unlock buttons and has to be inserted into the dashboard before the engine can be push-button started.

Another first for the compact people carrier is the arrival of an automatic parking brake, freeing up space between the front seats usually taken up by a handbrake lever. This is an electronic parking brake which releases automatically as the driver accelerates to pull away. Another nice touch is that the brake automatically engages when the engine is switched off. However the brake can be engaged manually by pulling a lever set in the dashboard, especially useful when the car has stopped at traffic lights or is making a hill start. It is absolutely great to use ... except that it is not available on the entry-level Authentique.

Inside and first impressions are of a very roomy car, helped by a panoramic windscreen and large dual sun roofs (a £600 option on entry-level models).

The driving position is excellent and, unlike earlier models, is more car-like because the angle of the steering wheel is no longer truck-like. On top of this the dashboard has a nice feel about, and it is good to look at, especially the digital instruments.

Space is always at a premium in family cars, and the new Scenic designers certainly know how to make the most of it. Among the lidded bins in the doors, the largest glovebox in the world, drawers under the seats and also the ever-so handy cupboards built into the floors, there is a centre-mounted dual-storage console between driver and front seat passenger that slides backwards and forwards on rails. It can be locked into position easily, but when unlocked its movement forward can mean more leg room for the person seated in the middle of the second-row seats, or when it is moved all the way back it means those in the second row can also reach into its storage compartments. There is plenty of boot space.

More new technology for the new Scenic owner will include automatic headlamps, automatic windscreen wipers, integrated F1-style fuel filler cap, electronic stability programme with traction control and understeer control, tyre pressure monitoring and Xenon headlamps with a speed function which varies the height and depth of the beam depending on the speed of the car.

With such a list of standard gear, new Scenic buyers could be forgiven for expecting the latest model to be more expensive than its predecessor, yet in most cases the opposite is true. Customers trading in a three-year-old Scenic for the new model will be in for a nice surprise ... a good example is the Expression version of new Scenic which is expected to be one of the best sellers when the car goes on sale in September.

A direct comparison with a three-year-old Scenic Alize shows that as well as providing more standard equipment the new car is £550 less expensive than the older car. Three years ago an 1.4-litre 16v Alize cost £14,000 on-the-road whereas the new Scenic Expression 1.4-litre 16v costs £13,850 and carries with it automatic parking brake, rear sun blinds, front fog lamps, CD player, adaptive front airbags, passenger airbag deactivator, front and back curtain airbags, deadlocking, emergency brake assist, keyless car entry, front underfloor storage, rear underseat trays and "See Me Home" headlamps, those that stay on for a short while after ignition switch off as a security extra. This works out at around £1,000 of extra value in equipment over its predecessor.

The four trim levels not only arrive with a choice of equipment but also with a strong engine line-up; 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol and a couple of common rail (economical and clean) diesels, 1.5-litre and 1.9-litre.

The entry-level Authentique range, six models altogether, are priced between £12,850 and £14,050 on the road, with optional manual air conditioning available for another £500. The Expression range, five in all, comes in at £13,850 and tops at £16,350 and also includes an automatic transmission; Dynamique offers seven specification levels with prices from £14,350 to £17,050 and features three most powerful engines matched to automatic and six speed manual gearboxes; the Privilege family of five models starts at £15,850 and closes at £18,050.

Updated: 09:05 Friday, July 18, 2003