Fine tuning needed Philip Nolan
The Grand Scenic has most things covered... except picking the right music
RENAULT GRAND SCENIC
IT drives me mad. In so many cars, you turn the key in the ignition – or, in this keyless case, push the Start button – and the radio comes on, just as you like it. Then you connect your phone with the USB cable and what does the car think? It thinks you want to play your own music. Not only that, it seems to select the first track very randomly indeed, and subsequently always the same one. Every bloody time.
For years, in cars, the favoured track was A’rebours from the Down In Albion album by Babyshambles. For reasons known only to itself, the Renault Grand Scenic took a shine to Is It Any Wonder? from Keane’s Under The Iron Sea, which only goes to prove that cars have just as poor taste in music as I appear to.
Honestly, the 20th time I heard the first few bars of the tune, I nearly put my fist through the infotainment screen.
And that would have been a shame, because this vertically mounted tabletstyle screen, first seen a couple of years ago on the Megane, really is a thing of beauty, very similar to that in the Volvo S90 I wrote about here a couple of weeks ago.
It’s the central control for radio, satellite navigation, phone, cabin temperature, fan speed, the whole lot.
Now I’ve written many times before about how I worry that the migration of so many functions to virtual controls, rather than physical knobs and dials, means you have to take your eyes off the road too often, and even a split second can lead to calamity (I don’t know what the driver was doing in the car that overturned in Crumlin this week after clipping a parked vehicle, but watching the video was a terrifying lesson in why complete attentiveness is vital). The bigger the screen, though, the less fiddly all this becomes, so I’ll give the Grand Scenic a pass this time.
It’s called Grand because it has seven seats compared with the five in the standard Scenic, and while the extra two are smaller, they’re perfectly fine for kids.
What this allows the Grand Scenic do is maintain decent proportions; it still feels like a car.
In its rival, the Grand Picasso, you feel disconnected from the road thanks to a vast space between driver and windscreen; here, there’s much more engagement with the surroundings thanks to a panoramic windscreen that still feels close.
Running the length of the car in my test model, there also was a panoramic sunroof that allowed light flood every seat.
It’s a very pleasant driver and passenger environment indeed.
The Grand Scenic also feels less flabby and less prone to the floatiness of the Picasso, making it a better driver’s car, even though it’s three centimetres longer.
As for comfort, well, the seats indeed are a thing of beauty, and a long journey wouldn’t pose any problems, I reckon.
Rear legroom is excellent too when only five seats are in use. As for cargo space, it’s vast.
Whenever friends hear I have a big car coming up, I’m often pressed into service to help with chores. Last Monday, I lifted the tailgate and hit a single button to lower two of the three rear seats fully flat and then, with three adults including me on board, we stuffed the rest of the available space to the rafters.
Sixteen full-size filing boxes and all sorts of other paraphernalia settled in with ease and I still could see through the rearview mirror.
It really was impressive, and if your needs during the week were mostly commercial, and leisure at weekends, I can see how this would appeal as a mini van too.
The Grand Scenic comes with the 20-inch alloys, tyre-pressure monitor, Visio System (lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition, automatic high/low beam) and automatic dual-zone climate control with air quality sensor as standard.
My test car in Dynamique spec added head-up display with adjustable brightness, rear parking camera with front and rear parking sensors, that sunroof with electric sunblind, R-Link 2 multimedia system, an 8.7-inch touchscreen, TomTom® LIVE services with Western European mapping, FM/ AM/ DAB tuner, Bluetooth audio streaming and hands-free calls, voice control, vehicle applications and 3D navigation.
That’s a lot of car for just under 35 grand, and if you need a seven-seater that still looks, feels and drives like a car, then you really should give it a test spin.
Just make sure there’s only one song, and one you actually like, on your phone when you plug it in.