Renault Scenic E-Tech Tested: Family EV Range and Real-World Review

Marek Drives in English

Can Renault’s quirky electric MPV make family life easier—and is it a convincing road-trip EV? This Renault Scenic E-Tech test drive reviews its distinctive design, roomy rear seats, practical boot and comfortable ride, alongside the details that matter in everyday use.  The review explores cabin storage, Android Automotive, driving range, energy consumption and charging, including the long-range 87 kWh model’s performance on faster roads. It also weighs the Scenic’s family-friendly strengths against visibility, interface and charging-stop compromises, with pricing for the tested version.  A practical electric car review for families comparing electric MPVs, spacious EVs and long-range family cars. Find real-world Renault Scenic E-Tech driving impressions, range and charging context, interior practicality and buying considerations in this English-language automotive test drive.

Transcript

00:00this is the new renault scenic e-tech an electric family car is it any good as a car and

00:07Does an Eevee make sense for the family? Let's find out

00:59The renault scenic started life as an inflated megane while in the first generation the cars differed mainly in height

01:06from the second generation

01:07onwards the scenic was increasingly larger than the megane especially in the grand scenic version

01:12more than a quarter of a century later the new scenic could pass for a grand scenic

01:17measuring 447 centimeters in length the scenic e-tech is 27 centimeters longer than the megane e-tech

01:24and at 278.5 centimeters it has a 10 centimeter longer wheelbase the width has increased by

01:32almost 10 centimeters to over 186 the scenic is also six and a half centimeters taller than the megane

01:41over the years i poked fun at the french car companies for their quirky approach to certain features

01:46but apart from the sedans based on small cars the rest of the french car fleet

01:50is just beautiful to look at and the design is often timeless will this be the case with this scenic

01:57if i focused on the design alone i'd park this car outside my house and i'd be telling every neighbor

02:02even that grumpy guy who lives down the street and his angry looking wife that the scenic is the pinnacle

02:07of the french design school unlike the german box on wheels they drive and spoil their children's taste with

02:14all right all right there turan eats the scenic for breakfast but at least the scenic is beautiful

02:20because it's a reno there is no keyless but hence free unlocking this means as i approach the car the

02:28door handles pop out and the locks unlock and when i walk away the car locks and the handles retract

02:35but i turn everything off because of the way my driveway is located in order to open the gate i

02:42pass by

02:43the car which unlocks and then locks the same thing when i'm going back and forth into the house to

02:48bring stuff into the car it locks and unlocks multiple times that's why i prefer keyless which

02:54means touching the door handle rather than hands-free but to each their own

03:03the problem with disabling the hands-free unlocking system is that you have to take out remote control

03:07press a button for the door handles to pop out because otherwise you have to get them out like this

03:13which is not very convenient there are no proximity sensors on the door handles and all these are small

03:20things but they spoil the first physical contact with the car such as an attempt to open the door

03:25or the boot the boot looks huge the reno quotes a vda figure of 440 liters and its own measurement

03:33of 525

03:35liters as well as 1449 and 1670 liters respectively with the seats in the second row folded i don't know

03:43how renault came up with 525 liters but since they managed to miraculously add 90 liters to the clio

03:50who's going to stop them clearly i'm the only one who notices such transgressions

03:56in any case the boot is noticeably larger than in the megan making it usable for a family even if

04:02the

04:02loading lip is too high and there is no flat cargo space with the second row seats folded in fact

04:08there

04:08is even a second hump just before we get to the seats however there is an underfloor storage compartment

04:14in which a repair kit and two charging cables fit easily it's a pity there is no frunk but it's

04:21pretty

04:21cramped under the bonnet why would i need a frunk because i usually take luggage with me on longer road

04:27trips and i don't necessarily like to take it all out to access a type 2 charging cables

04:32sometimes i stop somewhere for a few hours and i could use cheaper ac charging which often requires

04:39your own cable here in europe and in case of the scenic e-tech that makes a lot of sense

04:46because

04:47it's got an onboard ac charger which can accept 22 kilowatts so during a museum tour or on a longer

04:54shopping stop you don't have to pay extra for dc charging and you're not occupying a plug which

05:00someone else might need more than you in the boot there are a couple of shopping bag hooks and a

05:0712

05:07volt outlet the finish is on the budget end of the scale look at how wide the door opens now

05:18whereas in

05:18megan e-tech the rear space was about okay ish in the scenic e-tech it's clear it's a family

05:26car first

05:27of all the backrest splits 40 20 40 door tight ish but still door pockets there is plenty of legroom

05:34and headroom the panoramic solar bay roof is a 1500 euro option but it brightens up the interior

05:41by using variable opacity solution reno engineers say they gained about three centimeters of headroom versus

05:47traditional blind mechanism and also no blind mechanism saves between six and eight kilograms

05:52but that's nothing compared to one of the most interestingly elaborate analog armrests i've seen

05:58yes there are some key usbc ports here in the storage compartment but the most interesting thing

06:05are these fold-out cup holder mobile device holders where you can mount your device either

06:12at a 45 degrees angle so only you can see it or perpendicular maybe even in two of these if

06:18it's

06:18a larger tablet so both passengers can watch the same thing there are also ac vents usbc ports and

06:26the floor is flat there are isofix points anchor points on the side seats as well as on the front

06:34passenger seat

06:37the cockpit is largely a copy of what we've already seen in the megan e-tech of course there's a

06:43bit more

06:43space but the instruments or storage compartments are the same the scenic e-tech is another renault model

06:49running the android automotive operating system in theory it sounds great because most of us use at

06:55least google maps and maybe even android auto the problem is that in nearly three years since i first

07:01encountered android automotive in the volvo xc40 the system has evolved very little if at all at least

07:08not in a way that is visible to me the user

07:13now i have a separate android automotive video on this channel where i go more into detail but i'll give

07:19you the short version here for some reason android auto is still present within android automotive now

07:27since i have to log in to android automotive using my gmail account i could just as well use all

07:33my data

07:34stored up in the cloud to run the apps on the car screen but for some reason for example my

07:39podcast app

07:41doesn't seem to work in android automotive so i have to go to android auto to listen to my podcasts

07:47now android auto doesn't have route planning with charging which is quite important in an ev meanwhile navigating

07:56through android automotive means i can't pick up phones in android auto well i have to go to android

08:03auto to pick up phones and if i'm navigating with android auto without charging i don't have a map on

08:10the

08:10screen so i just have to keep switching between the interfaces generally speaking android automotive

08:15doesn't add anything except route planning with charging stops and even that's not done very well at least

08:21not here in poland the route planner picks chargers quite randomly filtering by charging network may work

08:29better in western europe but not here in poland where i recognized only two companies on a long list of

08:35what seems to be mostly payment operators rather than charging networks at least i can filter by power output

08:42and a connector type while driving chargers are not displayed on the map meanwhile in cars of other brands

08:49the navigation often shows chargers in the vicinity which comes in handy when i want to take a break

08:54and i would also like to take this opportunity to charge for five or ten minutes you have to go

09:00into

09:01the points of interest select chargers and only then you'll see several in the vicinity also missing is

09:07the possibility to set the battery state of charge at destination the system assumes there should be about

09:1210 left at the destination and plans the route accordingly even if the chosen destination is a charging station

09:19there is also the my renault app which can be used to plan a route but it also lacks the

09:24above mentioned

09:25parameters the app works with a delay for example for half a day it showed that the car was plugged

09:31in

09:31but not charging even though i unplugged it a long time ago or the charging history appears several hours

09:38after the charging is completed while i appreciate i can choose one of three ev warning sounds for

09:48pedestrians one of them is composed by jean-michel jar for some reason i cannot set the ac charging power

09:56limit

09:57now why would i want to do that i found myself in a rather specific situation where the car would

10:03take

10:03in more power than the source was able to give resulting in tripping the circuit breaker now it

10:09is a very peculiar scenario but if you're using some dodgy camping side charger you may want to have some

10:16control over the power you are drawing enough about android automotive and the car settings let's talk

10:22practicality there are okay door pockets the cup holders are clearly designed by the french these people

10:29don't understand what they are for and yeah one of them is located so low and deep under the center

10:35console that it's difficult to reach even for the passenger the wireless charger works only sometimes

10:40i tried it with two phones with and without protective cases and yeah works only sometimes is all i can

10:48say

10:50there is a little tray in front of the armrest and in it are two usb-c ports not the

10:55best placement if

10:56you ask me and the cubby underneath it is too small for say a passenger's phone storage under the armrest

11:05is deep but not very big the glove box is also on the small side and something that always baffles

11:11me

11:11three stocks on one side behind the steering wheel there's the gear lever the wiper stock and the

11:16multimedia joystick and someone thought this was a good idea

11:39first impressions behind the wheel are positive

11:42the seats are cushy soft the suspension is comfortable the dynamics are decent but after a

11:48while i noticed i'm sliding down the seat all the time i know it because i can barely see anything

11:54in

11:54the rear view mirror visibility is poor in general due to thick a pillars and those headrests in the back

12:01which don't fold or go down any lower i tried raising the seat to slide less but i was only

12:08more

12:08uncomfortable the problem with rear visibility can be solved using the virtual rear view mirror but

12:14here i encountered another problem on a sunny day diffused light coming in through the panoramic roof

12:21makes the screen difficult to see so it's back to traditional mirror never mind storing the driver's

12:29seat position because apparently it can be linked to a driver profile but honestly do you have separate

12:35driver profiles for you and your spouses let me know in a comment section

12:43on the plus side beside comfortable suspension and decent dynamics the scenic e-tech is just pleasant to

12:49drive i'd like to say it's stress-free but we'll get to that in a moment soundproofing is great and

12:56there's only some wind noise at high speed the speed is electronically limited to 170 kilometers per hour

13:02this is renault's way of protecting the battery and keeping energy consumption reasonable

13:07speaking of energy consumption renault promises around 17 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers combined

13:12for the long-range 87 kilowatt hour battery model there is also a 60 kilowatt hour comfort range version

13:18which should use around 16 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers

13:26in the city i managed to get as low as 15 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers but on the dual

13:31carriageway

13:32with the cruise control set to 120 kilometers per hour the scenic e-tech used around 22 kilowatt hours

13:37per 100 kilometers this is about four kilowatts more than the megan e-tech there is four stage recuperation

13:44level of which is controlled with the paddles by the steering wheel but this is not true one pedal

13:51driving and there doesn't seem to be active or adaptive recuperation which would adapt to the

13:58road conditions i haven't found those settings renault's claimed wltp range of up to 625 kilometers

14:05is realistic in good weather mostly around town however on the dual carriageway results also

14:11seem to match the renault online range configurator or calculator figures on a warm summer day the

14:18range is in the high 300s and it's achievable especially since renault's state of charge at

14:24destination estimate is very conservative on a 360 kilometer road trip i cancelled an unwanted charging

14:29stop and my state of charge at destination estimate increased from minus one percent to twelve

14:36percent when i reach the destination so better safe than sorry however i am curious to see the winter

14:41results a standard heat pump will certainly help in its press materials renault talks a lot about

14:48sustainability there is no leather in the car many components are recycled 50 per 54 percent of

14:55component suppliers are from france and half of them operate within a 100 kilometers radius of the factory

15:01on top of this renault says servicing the battery is relatively simple each of the 12 modules can be

15:07replaced in one of europe's 20 specialist service centers and modules which cannot be put back into

15:12cars can still be used as part of stationary energy storage solutions for up to 10 years says renault

15:23the driver aids are okay but not perfect i like that the adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist work

15:28in traffic jams but every now and then something beeps and i'm unable to identify what it's all about

15:34also twice i had a false positive reaction from the front collision mitigating system luckily there was

15:41no one behind me or i would have been rear-ended the isa can be deactivated by switching to personal

15:47mode two clicks on a button on the left side of the steering wheel same as in the dacia duster

15:53the scenic e-tech long range weighs around 1850 kilograms and 100 kilograms less in the comfort

15:58range version it can tow up to 1100 kilograms the promised time from 0 to 100 kilometers per

16:06hour is 7.9 seconds i got 8.2 seconds

16:15charging the scenic e-tech can take up to 150 kilowatts and i saw as much on the charger display

16:22for

16:22some reason the on-board computer only shows ac charging power but not dc the peak is relatively

16:30early in the charging curve so by 60 percent state of charge you're below 100 kilowatts renault says

16:36charging from 15 to 80 percent takes almost 40 minutes and from what i saw on the display the last

16:4320 percent would take 15 minutes i suspect this is all great for battery longevity but on longer trips

16:50you'll be making frequent stops

17:11prices of the renault scenic e-tech start at 41 400 euro for the evolution trim

17:16comfort range model upgrading to long range means jumping up a trim level the cheapest techno long

17:22range costs 48 900 euro this test car is an iconic long range with options it costs 56 950 euro

17:33i don't know why but i like the renault scenic e-tech just as i like the megan e-tech

17:39now i'm not into evs but

17:41i feel an irrational urge to have an electric renault i guess they're not that bad then and what do

17:47you

17:47think about the renault scenic e-tech is this going to be your next car or maybe even your first

17:52ev let

17:52me know in the comment section below if you like my sarcastic down to earth and possibly mildly amusing

18:00car reviews join me every friday at 3 pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like

18:07this video as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the

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