Road Test: Renault Grand Scenic 2.0 dCi Dynamique 5dr Auto

The Scenic created an entirely new niche in the car market when it was launched. But it's now a mainstream vehicle, so to 'niche-it-up' a bit, Renault has launched a five-seat version in the Grand Scenic body shape.

So you get a car the size and wheel-base of the seven-seat Scenic, but with no rearmost seats. Eh? Renault insists that customers want the bigger boot volume that this generates. The five-seater is up by 80 litres compared to the seven-seater, but I can't help but feel that you'd just pick the latter and get the bonus of the extra rear chairs.

Even if it is £250 more expensive. After all, you can still fold those rearmost seats flat into the floor if you need the loadspace. All this is part of a facelifted Scenic range, with the other significant development being an all-new two-litre dCi engine. This is more like it. No clever-dick marketing here, just plain, decent engineering.

The 148bhp oil burner is a cracker - it's so quiet that on the move you really can't tell it's a diesel and the new six-speed automatic suits it well. It's super smooth and it's got enough ratios to make sure that the engine is never straining. Jump from the old 1.9-litre dCi into this and there's a world of difference between the two - that's some compliment given that the old diesel isn't exactly rough.

The key thing here is the new auto. With the older engine, you'd plump for the manual every time rather than the limited four-speed self-shifter. This new 148bhp engine gives you a genuine choice to make between manual and auto - apart from if CO2 issues concern you. The latter boosts it from 154g/km to 190g/km. There have also been styling tweaks to the exterior, but you really need to park the old and new next to each other to be able to tell the difference.

This is still recognisably a Scenic. Interior tweaks are just as minor, but given that the Scenic had one of the most family-friendly cabins, that's little cause for complaint. With the five-seater Grand Scenic, the trio of back seats are 20mm lower because the floor is lower, but all the underfloor cubbies are still present, so your children can act all dog-like and bury their sweets there for later consumption.

Yet again, Renault has moved the game on with diesels; this diesel is the Scenic to have. As for body-style, it depends how much you value difference for its own sake.