I love my missus' renault scenic!

[robchalmers]

Right - just got back from a weekend at disneyland paris with my kids this morning (@2am) and for this little road trip we used my fiancee's 1.4 16v(90hp) renault scenic which is the base of base models! the weekend took over 1000miles of uk and french motorways and i was stunned the old girl took it so well, the car not my fiancee, she slept most of the way!

even with the DVD screens and phone chargers running constantly off the 12v and cruising at 70-82mph I managed 41 mpg UK from warrington to dover, 42mpg calais-paris-calais and roughly 40 dover to warrington. I'll convert those to MPG US soon

Now I've been a fan of the scenic for a while - I've had a 1.6 8v gasser, and the 1.9dci diesel and they are great flexible work horses but I was expecting the little petrol to guzzle under the weight of the kids rubbish/luggage. But exactly the opposite was true!!

who knows I may by another!!!

[SVOboy]

If only we had such efficient vehicles on this side of the pond

[robchalmers]

warrington - dover 35.97 mpgUS
calais-paris-calais 35.07 mpgUS
dover warrington 35.10 mpgUS

all of these cruising at 70-80mph with a huge drain on the 12v, luggage and kids on board. its a minivan with a tiny 1.4 NA gas engine

[groar]

Congrats

I never drive a gas scenic.
I can achieve 50 mpg at 80 mph in our 1.9 dCi (common rail turbo diesel) but as soon as there is wind or it's hilly or it's cold, then Highway EPA (48 mpg at 75 mph) is difficult to achieve even at 68 mph.

How old is your scenic ?
In our 2001 scenic, a 12V load (20-30W computer + 50-70W coolbox) or one additional passenger is noticeable on the highway. At the opposite, on country roads the AC isn't noticeable.

Since I'm hypermiling, I prefer our old megane classic (4 door) while my wife prefers our scenic

Denis.

[robchalmers]

the scenic is a 2000 series 1 phase2 version - so basic it even has plastic bumpers.

my old Dci (S1P2) also suffered when you loaded the electrics up the best I got from that was 45mpgUK then again it was slowly chewing its turbo at the same time! my 1.6e RT Alize was quite good as it would return 42mpgUk no matter how you drove it or loaded it!!

love the space of the scenic, it was perfect at enduro events where I could use it as one-man camper!

[robchalmers]

Just completed this year family holiday, 1574miles from warrington-dover-calais-le Mans-St Jean de Monts and back. provingit wasn't a fluke on the way down i hit 41mpg, cruising at 81mph full loaded, and 42 on the way back. but the return leg did involve alot of country lane work as we got lost after the battery died at a rest halt and the car was recovered(in the opposite direction, grrrr) to a garage. I then did 253 miles without switching off the engine (3 toll/toilet stops) to get to Calais, then 289 with another 3 stops to top off an epic 20hr return leg with a night drive on the deserted british motorway beforethe sun came up as i pulled onto the driveway at 3:55am.

both outer CV joints are fubar'd and sound like heavy castenets on anything more than 15deg of lock but..... The old girl brought us home!

[Arragonis]

Congrats - nice trip. Night driving on the motorway is ace, nobody but you and the odd truck or two, and these days very few police ;-)

[robchalmers]

It was great practise for the British 24hr kart race I'm doing in a couple of months, the dark, the sleep deprivation, the concentration etc

[diamond]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Congrats - nice trip. Night driving on the motorway is ace, nobody but you and the odd truck or two, and these days very few police ;-)

So humorous but I think it is true