Price: £21,605
Top speed: 118mph
0-62mph: 11.4 seconds
MPG: 48.7
CO2: 140g/km
The Renault Scenic holds a special place in the heart of anyone who has ever had to wrestle a batch of wriggling kids, plus all their kit, into a car that’s way too small. As if sent down from some mist-shrouded summit, the first Scenic rolled into our lives 20 years ago. It was immediately named 1997 European Car of the Year and earned a devoted following among stressed-out parents. It was the first time any of us had heard the acronym MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle) and it was also the first car to break the long-standing binary divide between saloon and estate. Like many things these days, the Scenic was fluid, a bit of both, and the best of both. It was a saloon with estate-like storage; an estate with saloon-like handling. It established new levels of expectation among our children as regards space, light, windows, leg-room and not having your brother’s sharp elbow jabbing into you.
A generation later, and those kids are grown up and buying their own transporters. This fourth-gen Scenic has been designed with them in mind. It comes in two sizes: five or seven seater. Both are among the more outrageously styled cars currently on the road – all wavy lines and undulating panels. It also has enormous wheels – 20-inchers fitted as standard – the same size as Bentley’s Mulsanne. Thankfully, they don’t interfere with the ride, which is firm, unflustered and fairly workmanlike. This is a family car, not a racing car. Various engines are on offer: the smallest is a petrol 1.2-litre 115bhp; the most powerful a diesel 1.6-litre 160bhp. Consumption is excellent (from 48.7 to 72.4mpg).
But it’s the interior that will sell this car. It’s light, open and clever. Despite having a large boot, the cabin still accounts for 80% of the car’s entire volume. The rear seats slide back and fold flat at the touch of an electric button. Storage solutions are everywhere: there are space wells in the floor; the central armrest slides back and forth and has a generous cubby in it; there are fold-down tables for the kids in the back.
Up front, there’s a portrait-style touchscreen on which you can swipe away merrily to control the endless safety features and driver aids. Keeping you and your family safe is a priority and the Scenic comes with lane departure warning, fatigue alert, blind spot warning and an autonomous emergency braking system.
If you’ve got kids buy one; if you’re planning to have kids buy one; if it’s just you… don’t be stupid. Buy a soft-top roadster and enjoy the sun.
Kill your speed
As many of you will be aware, new speeding fines are to be introduced on 24 April, for the most serious offences. Aviva has looked back over the history of the rules of the road to unearth some of the quirkiest speeding facts:
1) The current maximum speeding fine for serious offences is 100% of the driver’s weekly wage, capped at £1,000 or £2,500 if travelling on a motorway. From 24 April magistrates will be able to fine up to 150% of the motorist’s weekly earnings.
2) The 1865 Locomotive Act imposed a speed limit of 2mph in the city and 4mph in the country on all road locomotives, including automobiles. The act – also known as the Red Flag Act – also required that a person holding a red flag walked in front road vehicles pulling multiple wagons.
3) The first person to be charged with a speeding offence in the UK in 1896 was Walter Arnold of East Peckham. He was fined one shilling, plus costs after being caught travelling at 8mph in a 2mph zone.
4) Mr Arnold was caught by a policeman travelling on a bicycle.
5) In 2010, a 37-year-old Swedish motorist driver was caught driving at 290kmh in Switzerland. He was 170kmh over the speed limit in his Mercedes.
6) In 2013, a 16-year-old was charged for riding on a bicycle in Richmond Park at 37 mph. He was handed a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £85 in costs.
7) The first UK speed camera was installed in 1991.
8) In 2014, a 23-year-old driver was caught travelling at 149mph on the M25.
9) Speedometers were made compulsory for new cars in 1937.
10) In 1988 the current driving penalties points system was introduced in the UK, replacing a licence endorsement system.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@MartinLove166
