Cars used to be simple: two seats up front, a bench for two or three in the back and, of course, a boot but now MPV manufacturers are trying to outgun each other with versatility.
Now these vehicles can morph from bus to panel van and several things in between.
One such is the Renault Grand Scénic that has seven seats in its cabin but they can fold and adjust in ways that would make a Rubik's Cube aficionado happy.
This Scénic reached South Africa in November. It's 18cm longer than the normal Scénic, has two more seats and is the fourth change in body style. It competes with family haulers such as Fiat's six-seat Multipla and seven-seaters from Opel (Zafira), Toyota (Corolla Verso) and VW (Touran).
Engines from the Mégane range - a two-litre petrol and a 1.9-litre turbodiesel - feed power to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. There's a four-speed auto available for the two-litre.
The Grand Scénic has borrowed many styling cues from the Mégane hatch and looks quite trendy as mom's taxis go. Its tail also has the notch that looks all avantgarde yet somehow fails to limit luggage space.
Cargo space is unlikely to cause a Grand Scénic owner a headache. If you whip out all the rear seats you can cram in just about anything short of a Citi Golf. OK, not really, but the maximum volume of 1920 litres is serious stuff when compared with the standard Scénic's 480-1840 litres.
There's still 200 litres when all the seats are back in, more if the rear - not the most comfortable - pair are folded into the floor.
To go into panel van mode the middle seats must be unclipped - and left at home. That part's easy but putting them back requires practice and a bit of swearing. Renault has tripped up here; the Zafira and Verso are user-friendlier with all their rear seats able to hide beneath the floor.
In addition to shape-shifting seats, MPV designers are obsessed with creating pockets, nooks, crannies and shelves for the odds and sods that take up residence in most people's cars.
Should you ever need to store your entire CD collection, ant farm and Trixie the poodle, the Grand Scénic has bins under the seats, in the floor and even in the wheel arches. A sliding centre console (extra-cost option) can be electrically unlatched to slide front to rear and within reach of the front or middle passengers.
The rear parcel shelf can be set at three levels.
The cabin feels plush and upmarket. The finishes are neat, the build relatively solid and the fascia is one of those soft-touch items that feel expensive. There are six crash bags and self-tensioning seatbelts.
The driving position's more natural than the previously required bus-like posture, the gear lever is plugged into the fascia and the steering's adjustable for reach and rake.
The odd side to driving the Grand Scénic is having no instrument panel ahead of the steering wheel. The speedo, gauges, trip data computer and other readings are in a digital display in the middle, on view to all occupants.
Automatic handbrake
One of the handier features is an automatic handbrake that engages when you switch off the car and releases as you move off. There are also windscreen wipers and headlights that, respectively, switch on when rain falls or the sun sets and the audio system can be controlled from the steering column.
There's even a child-minding mirror above the normal mirror.
As with most other Renaults, the Grand Scénic is not started with anything as archaic as an ignition key. Instead, there's an electronic key card with buttons to remotely unlock the door and/or boot.
The clever bit of plastic can store lots of information about the vehicle, including its factory identification number, fuel and oil levels, distance travelled, tyre pressures and time to next service.
Renault dealers equipped with the necessary diagnostic equipment can access this information.
The Grand Scénic's 1.5 tons makes off-the-mark performance lean towards pedestrian for a two-litre car: 0-100km/h in 12.6 seconds. There's little to criticise while cruising, however - the Renault easily holds its own in the fast lane (or what would be the fast lane if it weren't perennially occupied by the slow and dim-witted).
Six smooth-shifting gears give plenty of scope to whip past slower traffic or crest steep hills and top speed is 195km/h.
The general refinement is good and distance dissolves without intrusive noise.
Extended wheelbase
The car has variable power steering that feels light at plodding-around-town speeds but gets heavier as the pace increases. The turning effort through a fast bend doesn't have what enthusiasts would call feel and precision but, given its family utility role, the Grand Scénic gets around pretty well - more like a car than a bus.
Its extended wheelbase makes it very stable without much body roll. It's all safe and predictable with understeer-on-the-limit handling. Traction control is another extra-cost option.
Ride quality is comfortable but a rough road will show up interior rattles and a predisposition to steering-column judder
The anti-lock brakes perform well and ignite the hazard flashers in extremis but the pedal's a bit sensitive in ordinary braking.
SUMMARY
Clever packaging and hip styling give the Grand Scénic big family appeal, as does the fact that it scored a maximum five-star rating in Europe's NCAP crash test.
It also has the biggest load capacity in its class. - Star Motoring