Road Test

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Renault Grand Scenic 1.4 TCe Dynamique

Test date 10 September 2009 Price as tested £19,145

For High-class interior, comfortable ride, keen pricing and equipment

AgainstDynamically underwhelming, minor interior quibbles, notchy gearbox

Renault does not have the distinction of creating the family hatch-sized MPV market segment, but its Scenic and, latterly, the Grand Scenic are undoubtedly responsible for popularising it.

Cars like the Vauxhall Zafira and Volkswagen Touran owe their existence to the Renault. The original Scenic was a tall hatch with a great deal more practicality than a regular C-segment competitor, and it wasn’t just families that grew to like it.

In the UK, initial customer surveys found that just as many empty-nesters as parents with domiciled offspring were buying it.

Since then the Scenic has developed into a more mature MPV, and none more so than in this latest guise. The Grand Scenic is a seven-seater with two rear chairs that fold into the boot floor and a middle row with seats that slide individually and can be removed.

Yet for all their practicality, previous Scenics have failed to deliver on driving appeal – something Renault has attempted to rectify this time, aiming to give its seven-seat MPV saloon car dynamics.