by David Finlay (12 Jan 10)

My, how times move on. It used to be the case that "Renault Scenic" meant "compact MPV" in almost the same way that "Hoover" meant "vacuum cleaner", or "Transit" meant "van", but those days are long gone. It's safe to say that nobody who is interested in a compact MPV these days could complain about a lack of choice. But the Scenic is still around, and its latest form - as introduced in 2009 - it's also still rather good.

Excuse a slight vagueness in the last paragraph. The Scenic was actually revised twice in 2009, once in Grand form as reviewed here and only later in the case of the shorter version. The Grand is now available in the UK only in seven-seat form, which suggests that that is what customers - at least here - are looking for, and as with several other vehicles of this type the two seats which make up the third row are difficult to access for full-grown humans. For reasonably fit children the problem isn't so acute, and Renault scores points for giving decent room in the other two rows for five adults, which not all manufacturers do.

With all seven seats in place there is naturally not much room for luggage. The official figure is 208 litres, which is 48 more than a MINI offers, but realistically you would probably get more stuff into the boot of a MINI than you could squeeze between the rear seats and tailgate of the Grand Scenic. With the middle and rear rows folded, though, the capacity shoots up to over 2000 litres. (The non-Grand Scenic falls more than 200 litres short, though it's also about £1400 cheaper.)

As well as being spacious, the Grand Scenic is rather attractive - well, I like it, anyway - and it's quite nice to drive. There is no drama to it, but it rides well and handles pleasantly. I also like the 1.9-litre dCi turbo diesel engine, and regret to some extent the fact that this now rather aged unit is shortly going to be replaced by a 1.6, even though there can be little doubt that the 1.6 will be even better. But nobody who gets the 1.9 should feel shortchanged. It's not quite as wonderful as the superb 1.5 dCi, but it pulls strongly from as little as 1000rpm (a speed at which other turbo diesels go into a sulk and refuse to co-operate until you've changed down a gear or two) and its noise is well insulated from the driver and passengers.

The test car was in Dynamique specification, which is second from the top (below Privilege but above Extreme and Expression) and more popular than any of the others. Dynamiques get automatic headlights and wipers, Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control, a hands-free keycard, a leather-rimmed steering wheel, a Multi-functional TunePoint (for your portable music-carrying device) and a speed limiter, none of them available as standard on the cheaper models. If you want dual-zone climate control air-conditioning, folding door mirrors, rear parking sensors or a sliding centre storage unit you need to pay extra for them as options or buy a Privilege instead.

All Grand Scenics apart from the Extreme have a rear parking camera as standard, which is just as well because rear visibility isn't great and reversing can be a bit of a trial. The test car also had the Carminat TomTom satellite navigation system, which has a small screen mounted rather far from the driver but is otherwise entirely capable (and, at £450 as an optional extra, impressively cheap). There's a choice of 2D and 3D displays, and I liked 3D better because it includes a rear view of the car as it wends its way through the digital countryside - not a significant feature, I'd be the first to admit, but a pleasing one all the same.

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Price: £21,492
Capacity: 1870cc
Power: 130bhp
0-62mph: 10.7 seconds
Maximum speed: 121mph
Economy: 57.6mpg extra urban, 50.4mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
Towing capacity: 1300kg braked
Renault figures.

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