2000 Renault Scenic RX4 Monaco review from UK and Ireland

Noisy cam belt at 18000 miles. Fixed by local Renault dealer (after 3 days!).

Central locking failed on one door. Fixed same day by Renault dealer.

2 ignition coils failed simultaneously at 20000 miles. Fixed it myself, but coils are over £50 each!

Currently suffering from a strange squeak when turning left at under 40 mph. Brakes? Ball joints? Bearings? Prop shaft? Someone please tell me!

Update 28/02/2007 (period from 34,000 to 103,000 miles):

The squeaking noise turned out to be the prop shaft on the way out. Renault dealer in Stockport replaced it within 24 hours, but it wasn't cheap (£650 fitted). Apart from that there have been no problems and I still love the car.

Wonderful driving position with extremely comfortable seats.

Not exactly neck-snapping performance, but totally acceptable for a vehicle weighing in at close to 1500Kg.The ability to deal with 90% of what a Range Rover can do for 30% of the price is good too.

32 mpg on long runs isn't tragic.

OK...so we'd all like it to be available with a 240 bhp V6 3.0 litre... but what we've got isn't bad. Just a shame that repairs at Renault dealers are so expensive and take so long.

Update 28/02/2007 (period from 34,000 to 103,000 miles):

It wasn't until I bought myself a Citroen Xantia as a runaround that I realised just how good the road holding on the RX4 really is. It pulls off of wet roundabouts without the slightest twitch. Even in the ice the handling is totally predictable. You have to be a card-carrying idiot to lose control of one of these.

If you're new to the vehicle then the greater body roll compared to a conventional car may take some getting used to, but after nearly five years and 90k miles I don't even notice it.