It's the Scenic route to the space race

Renault Megane Scénic IIThe race to space was surprisingly driven by the French. It all began 19 years ago outside Paris when a small car firm, Matra, proposed a concept to Renault that would bring together the minibus and the motor car.

With the Espace came not only a new three-letter abbreviation to the motoring lexicon - MPV for multi-purpose vehicle - but a complete revolution in the way middle-class families viewed their motoring needs. Today, it seems to border on bad parenting to arrive at the school gates in anything other than a fully-fledged MPV or a decent-sized four-wheel-drive off-roader.

However, as family sizes shrink to the extent that Europe faces extinction, the upcoming generation, spoiled with a wealth of spaciousness in their youth, demand similar airy cabins in their own cars, despite the absence of offspring. So it was that Renault again returned to the issue of building a car with an element of the minibus. Only this time they knew that there was a market for the concept, if not for the third row of seats. Hence the arrival of the Scénic.

In fairness we were always a little perplexed by the popularity of what could be referred to as a big-roofed saloon. Even more so after learning that Renault reckons most Scénic owners don't have children.

While we might accept this as fact on the continent, here Scénics can be seen three deep outside schools. Perhaps they get the car first and then adopt the family. Or perhaps they just loiter outside schools to justify their choice of car. Either way, one seems to go with the other before too long.

Our problem with the Scénic lay in the fact that it lacked the seating advantages of its main competitor, the seven-seater Opel Zafira. Yet the first mover had the advantage, and the delay by rivals in getting their own compact MPVs off the drawing board, gave the Scénic a strong presence in the market. The previous model represented just about a third of all Meganes sold here.

The arrival of the new model, Scénic II, could not have been better timed. It comes in time for the new year sales and ready to take on the new VW Touran and the soon-to-arrive Ford Focus C-Max. While the Ford sticks to a five-seat format, the Touran offers the option of seven.

Renault, however, will not lag for too long in this regard - a new seven-seater version, the Grand Scénic, is due for launch early next year. Keeping ahead of the game seems to be working for Europe's fourth largest car maker.

So can the new Scénic retain its market presence against the new competition? Frankly, you can't help feeling a little pang of disappointment when you see it. Given the originality of the first Scénic, many were hoping the French firm would do it again, perhaps this time incorporating the principles of a double decker.

Yet it seems Renault's principal concern was to get the quality and finish right. Earlier this year Renault boss Louis Schweitzer reportedly brought his managers together - nearly 12,000 of them - in a sports stadium in Paris and gave them a strongly worded lecture on the need to improve quality. He didn't mince his words by all accounts and the result was a delay in the launch of both the Espace and Scénic as efforts were made to ensure he didn't have to call them back again. Early problems with electrics in the earlier model have apparently been ironed out on this one.

Apart from that momentary regret about the lack of an upper deck, the new Scénic is streets ahead of its predecessor in design terms, combining elements of the distinctive rear end styling of the Vel Satis and Avantime. It can proudly "shake that ass" alongside the more prominent derriere of its hatchback sibling, the Jennifer Lopez of the car world.

Overall, it looks like a much closer relative of the new Espace than the original Scénic, if not quite as daring or debonair. Inside and the huge expanse of glass combines with the high roof to give the feel of a very airy car. The optional glass panoramic sunroof makes all the difference, adding up to a car that feels much larger than it is.

However, the glasshouse effect fails to help the driver when reversing. The rear window sacrifices some practicality to design.

There's ample room in the back for adults. With the middle seat removed, the remaining two can be adjusted to make it a proper four-seater.

Up front and the attention to increasing open space has meant that models above the Authentique specification get an automatic parking brake, which releases once there's enough torque to pull away, but can be switched on manually by pulling a small lever on the right of the steering wheel. While it initially requires a degree of trust in Renault engineering, we were actually quite taken by the ease of this system. After all, Scénic owners are not prone to practising handbrake turns. Placing the gear lever on the central console has also left room between the two front seats for an optional storage compartment. Whether one has enough knick-knacks to fill all the various cubbyholes remains to be seen.

The Scénic II has moved away from traditional dials towards a more Espace-style central digital display - all very sci-fi, if a little cluttered, but the basics are there for all to see and it's quite clear. The only problem is, of course, that the whole car will be tracking your speed.

Controls are exceptionally well laid out. The two stumpy stalks fall to your fingertips as quickly as the message goes from your brain. The Scénic also features the keycard system first introduced on the Laguna. It also carries forth Renault's impressive safety record - the first mini-MPV tested by Euro-Ncap to get the full five stars for front and side impact.

What the new Scénic makes up for in spaciousness it sacrifices in driver enjoyment, though it's hardly the car of choice for those looking for performance.

In keeping with our general impression of French cars, it's a soft drive; pedals are light to the touch and it's an easy car to drive in town. The turning circle is impressive, if the steering is rather lifeless. We managed of 31.6 mpg over a mix of motorway and city driving.

Road-holding is decent, but the range of engines seems too low-powered. We would be concerned that the upcoming seven-seater Grand Scénic may be seriously underpowered when you add on the extra weight of another row of seats. It was this worry about weight which Ford attributes to its decision to stick with five-seats for its Focus-based MPV, the C-Max.

We drove the 1.6-litre Scénic. While it handled itself well in town, it was working hard in the motorway tussles as we looked in the larder for another gear. Interested parties should take a spin in the much-improved diesel models.

With reports of population decline across Europe, perhaps the profusion of MPVs is just what's needed to spur on the younger generations to fill up the back seats, and keep the retirement age below three figures.