1.9DCI Grand Scenic

Garbage Garbage Garbage

Puchased this piece of junk new in 2005.
Liked the panoramic roof and found it very practical with a couple of kids, dog, golf clubs etc.
Everything else has been a disaster.
Both front windows failed early on (seems to be a compulsory problem!), one of them up a mountain in Spain. Both fixed under warranty.
A few days after the 40k service (always had it serviced on the dot by the dealer) the oil filter came unscrewed. Fortunately this was at home and I spotted the oil slick on the driveway. If it had happened on the motorway, the engine would have been toast. The dealer refused to admit that the filter might have been incorrectly installed during the service, but no damage was done so.....
And I didn't have to wait too long for my toast....
60k miles and the engine and turbo blew. Was driving at 60mph, sudden rumbling and loss of power. A major bearing somewhere deep in the motor distintegrated. A common issue (lots were fixed under warranty in the early days of the model).
So I contacted Renault Customer Service. An oxym**** - they have no idea of what 'customer' or 'service' are. I waited 8 weeks for decision - by which time I'd had to pay for a new engine & turbo 'cos I needed the car - and the answer was 'tough luck'.
Then the catalogue of electrical faults began, and the interior was getting pretty rough too. The polymer coatings on the interior plastics (e.g. the handle to pull the door closed, the fascia etc) start to rub off. The seats cannot be cleaned and the seams on the seats start to fray.
The electrics : OMG! Frequent alert messages on the dash message panel that come and go, a warning that the main computer may soon need replacing ( there is known drainage issue in the bulk-head between the screen and bonnet. The drain holes get blocked and then the water gets into the dashboard electrics !).
And then the last straw: the electric window. One window wound itself down and blocked. The dealer said "Ah, that's simple. Book it in and we will sort it." The 'simple' issue was finally fixed on the FOURTH visit. Which took 2.5 days. One day to strip the car, half-day to trace the fault, one day to rebuild the car. Just to fix one window. And, according to the forums, this is a common fault.
When I collected the car the dealer advised that the air-con was not working (yes, I know, yet again!), another window was not working ("probably just the switch sir". Yes, probably....), and the central glove box/arm rest was electrically dead (yes, since two years). "Do you want to book the car in to fix these faults sir?". No I didn't. I drove directly to the Mazda dealer and traded that piece of **** in.

Summary: 100k miles, dealer-serviced from new, 6 years old, looked very tatty inside and I had zero confidence that it would ever get me to where I wanted go to. It will be a cold day in hell before Renault get another cent out of me.

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