Test drive by Renault Scenic since 2009 minivan
Friend of human
HEARY will be set up models, the birth of which was perceived as a revelation. The MEGANE Scenic model presented by Renault in September 1996 is one of them. Whether we want it or not, but a long hood as an inevitable design solution is gradually gone into the past. At the same time, the modern car must certainly be beautiful and ergonomic. Like Renault Megane Scenic. Having occupied a place on the road no more than a regular Megane, this machine offers its passengers the highest level of comfort and space organization. In this sense, in his class - the lower average - there is simply no one to put next to him. 
The method by which this has been achieved is so simple and elegant that it is even strange why no one had thought before. Revelation - a single -volume body was put on the Megane platform. The length and width of the car remained unchanged, while the height increased by 200 mm. The SCENIC body is hardly classified. This is clearly not a mini-wen. Perhaps the most appropriate here would be the definition of a station wagon of increased capacity, although I simply do not want to apply this official term to indicate a sympathetic model. Scenic resembles me an obedient animal. Cute and friendly. Biological associations primarily give rise to a smooth design of the body and salon.
Inside - a lot of voluminous messes. According to the boxes hidden under the driver's seat and legs of the rear passengers, you can easily shove the whole mountain rubbed during a suburban walking - as an option. Under the rear seats, across the entire cabin, there is almost a cellar for, for example, sports equipment. Under the torpedo and behind the backs of the seats are nests in which bottles and banks with drinks are laid. 
The largest glove compartment - the rear compartment or trunk - holds several suitcases. You can get into it through the high fifth door starting from the bumper, which ensures the convenience of loading. Opening, this door lifts the luggage shelf a little, designed for lightweight things. When transporting large dogs, bicycles and refrigerators, the size of the trunk can be increased by folding or even completely removing three rear seats in any combination. In the passenger version, any of them turns into a convenient table, but usually two shelves, leaning back from the backs of the front seats - as in an airplane. The rear passengers are provided with unheard of comfort - each of them can move its chair, equipped with a headrest, lateral support and seat belts regardless of the neighboring ones. To the convenience of the extreme - also ceilings, the light of which can be directed at their discretion. 
It’s good at the back, but the front is more interesting. The driver of Scenic sits a little higher than the driver of a car - due to the seats raised relative to the floor, dictating the landing like on a chair. It is not deprived of komfort. This is facilitated by: the possibility of a longitudinal, with a large range, moving the chair upholstered with a soft cloth (moves are carried out under the front edge of the pillow of a rod-clavy); Bending the back with a handle and an emphasis adjustable in the same way in the lower back. The pillow on the corner of the inclination is not regulated, and it could have been a little more authentic - this is perhaps the only drawback of the driver's seat. The steering column - with a variable angle of inclination, but thick, warm, elastic to the touch the steering wheel in any case is located lower than in a regular passenger car. This, however, does not create inconvenience, you just need to get used to it a little.
The torpedo is covered with gray-blue plastic, against which the uterine control places are highlighted with a matte-black and analogue arrow speedometer, a tachometer, a combined indicator of temperature-pressure in the engine and gas level in the tank. The latter are covered by an anti -clinic visor. There, under the visor, the digital clock with a street thermometer and the receiver scale are driven. Having called the speedometer analogue, I gave up a little, since its odometer is still digital.
At the length of the outstretched arm are: climate control, the emergency alarm buttons and locking doors and a radio, which I sometimes touched the shutdown button (the left knee of the passenger rested on the alarm and blocking buttons). But the radio was remembered not only by this. It is made stylishly, and its control is duplicated by the buttons on the steering wheel - simple and understandable. In the same place, under the steering wheel, - the levers of light control, wipers (front and rear) and washers of glasses. There are only two levers, they have rotary rings with beaks that help to determine the position of the switches to the touch. The door armor is faced with the same plastic with torpedo. In the middle is a fabric insert. On the armrest there are buttons to control the windows, left and right. The buttons have a backlight that lights up when the outer light is turned on. At the junction of the door and torpedo, the mirror mirror control fungus sticks out.
Review is not the best. Wide front racks, strips of dirt, inaccessible to the wipers, and a salon mirror, glued exactly opposite the eyes and therefore overlapping the right half of the windshield. But a strongly sloping hood practically does not fall into view.
There are a great many options for interior decoration, up to the on -board navigator, not to mention various radio, lighting options, upholstery, hatches in the roof, etc.
Speaking of the salon, one cannot fail to mention its smart light, which turns on simultaneously with the outer unlocking of the door locks, and when the door is closed and the ignition is turned smoothly. When the owner leaves the car, the inner light burns for another fifteen seconds.
In addition to pillows and seat belts, an amplifying frame consisting of strong boxes and inscribed in body panels is responsible for the safety of passengers.
From the attacks, cell inserts and bars welded into the doors should be saved.
Like his whole family, Megane Scenic has a front -wheel drive, rack, with an amplifier, steering, Macpherson front suspension and a torsion rear. The engine is a two -liter 114 -horsepower four. The five -speed manual box has slightly large gear ratio than Megane Classic. The motor is very burdened, which allows you to confidently move and even accelerate in the fifth gear, starting with 40 km/h and at 1100 rpm. On the tachometer. The dynamics, however, is worse than that of the sedan (do not forget that Scenic is 160 kg heavier), but still very, very worthy. The control process is pleasant and does not tire at all. In the turns of Scenic, much less is heated than could be expected from such a high car.
The behavior of the car on the road is so predictable that it is practically not required to get used to it. In addition, we did not notice any differences in the passenger version in controllability - the same sharp steering wheel with good feedback, small moves and a clear fixation of the box lever, the exact operation of the clutch and brake pedals, a balanced suspension. But for some reason, the pleasure of managing Scenic brought even more than Classic.
SCENIC owners offers a lot of necessary and not very necessary things - from wrist watches with the corresponding logo to trunk. Moreover, the abundance of the latter (upper, rear, for bicycles, for skis, for surfing, etc.) suggests the main purpose of the car. The parting was sad. In a few days spent with Scenic, we got attached to it. You get used to good quickly. Every morning he responded to the IR-signal of the key, affably clicking in locks and helpfully including light in the cabin. But everything someday ends ... Did you accidentally have to part with your favorite dog?
Alexey Strelkov
A source: Motor magazine [No. 3/1998]
