Renault Scenic MPV (2009-2016) | owner reviews: MPG, Problems & Reliability

Tell us what you think about your car?

My first and hopefully last experience of owning a Renault! Bad points: 1.6vvt petrol is slow 6 speed gearbox ratios too short, great for an A/b Road but rubbish for around town or on the motorway Water drain issue from windscreen gullies. Blocked and let water into the car, flooded foot well and temporarily stopped heater from working. Clutch went at 50k Miles, OK these things happen but cost £500 to replace. Brakes expensive, cost £500 again for discs and pads. Radio failed and was a constant drain on battery. 1st breakdown. Had to get new stereo, cost £100. Car broke down again. Alternator failed. Cost £435 to replace. Good points Roomy Good for transporting furniture or doing tip runs

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

In general I'm pleased with the car and its versatility. Plus points include comfortable seating, a good driving position, huge boot space, and it's well equipped. Bad points: why fit low profile tyres which are very expensive to replace? Also an oil pump fault, which Renault is aware of, led to a replacement engine at under 60k miles. It was expensive and Renault made a poor contribution to the cost - their customer service is poor. In general though. I'm happy with the car although depreciation in four years is over £18k... Ouch!

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

I've now owned my Scenic X-Mod for just over two years. Over this period it has covered just under 20,000 miles with 100% reliability. We've had the three individual rear seats out when moving both my university-age kids in and out of their halls of res', and in that configuration the Scenic has the load capacity of a good-sized van...with far more comfort and refinement. As a family we all love the spacious, airy and comfortable cabin. The X-Mod is also higher set than the regular Scenic, so it offers increased visibility over the top of ordinary cars too. I suffer with lower back pains, so I'm glad to say the Scenic's seats offer excellent lower back support, making our long treks up to Edinburgh (and beyond) quite bearable and pain-free for me. In terms of reliability, well, she's been totally fault-free in the two-and-a-bit years since taking delivery. Visits to my local supplying dealer have been limited to two annual services and nothing else. This is my second Renault from the same Peterborough based Renault dealership, and I have nothing but praise for them: their attitude is a good one and servicing costs in line with any other main dealership. The 110bhp 1.5dCi engine is a real peach. I'm not a hard-charging driver so the engine's copious amounts of mid-range torque suits my relaxed style of driving, which also reflects in the excellent fuel economy: a 'worst' in the low 50s during the week driving the (daily) eighteen miles to and from work on a mix of winding country lanes, short stints of main road and some stop-start near my destination balanced with a best in the mid- to high-60s on long motorway hauls. Steering is light and quick enough, the gearchange is smooth and quick acting and the brakes strong enough to deal with what I've needed from them. The X-Mod has 3-mode GripExtend traction control. Even in the worst of past winters I've not needed to switch over to the 'off road/snow' setting as the standard fit Continental ContiCrossContact LX2 'M+S' tyres coped extremely well. And with nigh-on 20,000 miles covered on these tyres they still have plenty of tread remaining (6mm fronts/7mm rears), but despite that I very recently decided to buy new tyres for the Scenic as the tyres were becoming increasingly noisy (warm or cold made no difference) and grip on greasy (damp winter-gritted) roads had fallen off quite noticeably. I elected to try the new Nokian Weatherproof 'All seasons' tyres that are also graded as full winter tyres. Initial thoughts are..." why doesn't Renault fit these as standard to all its cars?" They're much quieter and softer riding too. In the past I've generally changed my car every two to three years without hesitation ...ah, well, not this time. Sorry Renault but this X-Mod is a 'keeper'! The new Scenic will have to be REALLY GOOD to tempt me away from this one... in a few more years!

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

We paid £6,500 for our Renault Scenic - it was 2 and a half years old with 20k miles on the clock and looked quite smart in silver. The car supermarket I bought it from had put the car through 114 tests and it had passed with flying colours. We drove the 10 miles home with smiles on our faces but sadly the smiles didn't last. Brakes: Unfortunately we didn't even get home from picking the car up before all the brakes started grinding. It made the car pretty much undrivable without earplugs and it was obviously dangerous as the brakes appeared to be completely worn out. We'd owned the car for less than an hour and it was obviously faulty so I asked for our money back as the car had obviously not undergone any tests at all. Car Giant refused but did pay to have all the pads replaced and two of the disks that were now damaged. Cambelt : A week or so later the engine started to make a very unusual noise. It turned out it need a new cambelt. It also needed new windscreen wipers as the current ones turned out to be completely worn out. Car Giant paid again. Eventually. Coil: Another week or so after this, the coil died and the car would no longer start. By the end of the first month our car had spent more time at the garage than with us. Car Giant kept on fobbing us off but eventually they paid again. Engine panel: It's not a big issue but every time we go over one of those small speed bumps, the plastic panel under the engine sounds like it's hitting the ground. We don't drive fast and we've fixed it more than once but the sound always returns. Oddly it only seems to happen in the mornings but I have no idea why. Brake squeal: The brakes still squeal. Eeeeek. The pads are fine and the garage can't seem to do anything about the noise. After a few years I've now just learnt to live with the sound. Eeeek. Child locks: Our car won't allow the child locks to be turned off. It might simply be that we're too stupid to work it out but the garage hasn't had any success in getting them to work either. Electric windows: Everything in the car is electric and French which means it will fail. Every electric window in the car has failed at some point. The issue is either a cheaply made plastic clip that snaps or it's a relatively cheap electrical regulator that collects water and then rusts away. Renault will then charge you approx £500 per window to fix their design issues. Obviously people have been complaining about this so they now pay kindly 75% of the cost leaving you to pay £120 (per window). This is for a job that should only take a trained mechanic 15 minutes and involves about £15 in parts! This also doesn't fix the problem but just replaces the poorly designed part meaning it will fail again in a couple of years. We did get 3 of our windows fixed before going on holiday - for some reason the drivers window was still working. We were actually looking forward to driving along in the summer and being able to open all the windows. Sadly we never got to experience this luxury as the moment we got home from the garage the drivers window broke and needed to be held in place with the GPS suction cup. A year later it's still held up by the suction cup. Water duct: The water ducts from the front window drain through a small hole that fills with leaves and crud. They then make this hole totally inaccessible to clear. Once blocked the water will then flow into the air duct behind the dashboard. It's a strange thing to listen to waves of water slosh about as your drive around. The car doors of most Scenics will also fill with water but for some strange reason our car hasn't had this issue (yet). Fan: The above problem also stops your fan as it's now submerged. This is a shame as the water also flows into your footwell which will rot the carpet and make your car smell of old socks. Air con: It worked for the first year but died thereafter. I never took it to be fixed as A) it would probably cost an arm and a leg, and B), they'd probably destroy something else in the car while trying to fix it. We eventually paid to have the air con fixed but sadly the garage gave up half way through. They could make the air con chill the air but only when the fan was in position 1 - unfortunately the fan doesn't work on position 1 so the cold air doesn't get to the cabin. You could keep switching alternately between 1 and 2 which would start the cooler and then blow that cold air into the car but this gets boring quickly. We were told that air blown in through the vents while driving along would also transfer the cold air - we tried this but didn't notice anything. Rear view mirror: A small thing but I think it demonstrates a lot of Renault's philosophy. The scenic has a large canopy like windscreen and the rear view mirror is attached to this. A few days ago the assembly fell off the windscreen and dangled by about 10 electrical wires. I have no idea what these wires do as the mirror has no lights and it's just adjusted manually - at least it was before it fell off - now it swings wildly around the cabin like a mad Christmas tree ornament. It seems it needs glueing back onto the windscreen and Renault rather apologetically told me it cost £80 to do this. Profit through failure! Electric handbrake: The car has an electric handbrake which always seemed pointless to me but it did seem to be one of the few electric things on the car that actually worked. Renault then decided to recall the car for a fix on the handbrake. I can only assume they'd noticed that something on the car was working and wanted to fix it good and proper. It failed 2 days after coming back from Renault and brought central London to a stand still. The clutch may also have been damaged in trying to move the car to the side of the road. I said what happened on a Renault forum and it turned out the same thing had happened to many others straight after the same recall. Renault, God bless them, inspected the hand brake and said it was fine - they even wanted to charge us £68 for the inspection!! Radio: Not really a fault with the radio but because of various other electrical issues the battery was disconnected which meant the radio locked itself and requires a password. Sadly I didn't use the radio for a week or two after the last fix and I have no idea where the password is. Renault have the code but will only give it to us if we pay £15. I'm told this is a security measure to stop thieves but what sane thief would want to steal anything electrical from a Renault?? The only person it really effects is the owner. So we just sit in the car with no music, no air con, no fan and a random number of windows that open (usually 0 but occasionally up to 3). Dashboard: Everything about the car is shown on the dashboard. The dashboard is electronic so, of course, that is now failing on us. It will work fine for a while but then will suddenly dim, or it will flash on and off or just stay off. I rang Renault about this and they said it was a common problem and wanted £600 to fix it plus a £59 diagnosis fee. I suggested this might be a bit much but they said having a dashboard last 10 years was quite good. Odd, the dashboard in my old VW Beetle has been working fine for the past 45 years. On the positive side of things, I've learnt how to do all sorts of mechanical things with my Renault while my old Ford never really encouraged me to do anything other than put petrol in it.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

Love the Scenic. I replaced my Clio for it as I have two rather big dogs and they do a lot of travelling with us. It's spacious, stylish and great to drive. It's my first diesel car and it's great on gas. I'm very pleased with it.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Love the Scenic. I replaced my Clio for it as I have two rather big dogs and they do a lot of travelling with us. It's spacious, stylish and great to drive. It's my first diesel car and it's great on gas. I'm very pleased with it.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

It is very practical and there is acres of boot space with the rear seats in place and sensible boot space with the rear seats up. Getting into rear seats is an absolute chore because to get in you have to fold the middle seats away and then tumble them forward and you only have legroom if you slide them forward all the way and that affects middle legroom, especially if your driver is 6 foot 2 and a half.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Generally reliable, but occassionaly requires expensive components to be replaced. E.G. electronic parking brake unit.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

No issues or breakdowns

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Fantastic build and road holding. It has travelled 24000 and still on original tyres.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

So far no major problems

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Very good and reliable

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Never broken down - that's really important!

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

WIPER MOTOR FAULTY AND HAD TO BE REPLACED.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

Hasn't let me down yet, despite two very snowy winters!

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

NEVER BROKE DOWN... always started

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

I have been very impressed with the Scenic. I always buy Renault as I admire their comfort, innovation, reliability and style. The Scenic lives upto this and has not let me down after over 60,000 miles. A lot of car for the money.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

No problems other than with drivers door window

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

MECHANICS GREAT. ELECTRICS WINDOWS AND DASH HAVE FAILED. HEADLIGHT BULBS NIGHTMARE TO REPLACE.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

full engine replacement , clutch replaced 7000 miles , clutch hydralics failed

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

no problems as yet

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Nothing has gone wrong (so far)

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Failures of known Renault electrical faults

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

It's been a money pit, have spent close of Ł3k on repairs and the thing is now only worth Ł1300. The last repairs were just over half the current value of the car!

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

Electrics beginning to play up with age

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

What is to say nothing so far has gone wrong. Only a broken wing mirror due to a road hog cyclist trying to fit through a narrow gap.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Fabulous never had a problem.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

NO problems except tyre wear on expensive tyre sizes

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Tell us what you think about your car?

it has never let us down has the comfort & load space of a van

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

SO FR NO PROBLEMS

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

No Red thumbs down

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

Tell us what you think about your car?

Renault Scenic MPV (2009-2016): owner reviews

‘The Renault Scenic isn’t as new as some rivals, but it’s a practical, comfortable and well-equipped MPV, made all the more appealing if you can negotiate a discount.”

Reviews

Owner Reviews

Common Problems

Continue reading

Most Popular

Tips & advice

Car dashboard warning lights: what does each symbol mean?

Electric car charging stations: public networks, charger types, apps and maps

PCP vs HP – which type of car finance is right for you?

Average speed cameras: how do they work?

Best cars

Top 10 best car interiors

The 10 best electric cars in 2026

Top 10 best cheap-to-run cars 2025

The UK's top 10 fastest hot hatchbacks 2025

carbuyer news & reviews

Signup today for regular updates