Life after Vauxhall Zafira
Having successfully leased a Vauxhall Zafira in 2003 through Newgate Finance for three years we felt, as a family of four, that nothing would replace the comfort and flexibility of this tremendous car and another Zafira would be the order of the day. Unfortunately Zafira’s were not on the menu when we came to renew our leasing arrangements and so the Renault Grand Scenic entered our lives. The hand over of the cars was very smooth, a fond farewell to the Zafira and taking ownership of our new Grand Scenic during the summer of 2006.
Six months later and we are truly delighted that we have found not only a replacement for the Zafira but a car that offers, for us, some really helpful ‘extras’. The seven seat option is easy to arrange and seems to offer greater interior storage when all seven seats are in place – partly due to the shape of the boot and Renault’s infamous ‘back end’. All of the seats are easy to alter, flip or adjust so that the car can become a spacious ‘van’ for those trips to the recycling centre or collecting the Christmas tree! With five seats the middle seatbelt takes a little getting used to as it comes from the ceiling of the car by the centre point above the rear door! One of the great ‘extras’ though is the fact that the floor in front of the middle seat is perfectly flat giving lots of space for the middle passenger’s feet. The Grand Scenic has not got a ‘standard’ handbrake, hence the flat foot space for all of the rear passengers and the flat storage between driver and front passenger. This we have found really useful for storage on long drives, for use during family picnics (in the car during the finest weather of the British summer!) and for reaching back to or swapping places with children - when safely parked of course. With children in the back it does make it very easy for them to exit either side of the car, a helpful safety feature when parking on busy streets. During journeys the driver can use a helpfully situated additional integral mirror to safely keep an eye on passengers and, if necessary, keep the peace with diversionary tactics to prevent world war three erupting or make that important stop to avoid anything else erupting in the car that might spoil the upholstery. I thought that not having a conventional handbrake would be really hopeless and was something of a ‘fad’ but now I’m completely won over by this system that enables me to keep a focus on driving rather than having to worry about releasing the handbrake on hills, at traffic lights – it releases itself automatically as the engine takes the strain. It did take some getting used to though, my hand flapping in the spacious area between the front seats for the ‘missing’ handbrake rather than simply applying the brake using the lever on the dash, to the right of the steering wheel.
General storage is another great extra that we have found useful. There are the usual trays under the front seats, compartments in the boot area and a large glove compartment in front. A favourite with our boys however, is the storage in the floor in front of the rear passenger seats, two great hideaways for endless toys as well as a rug and small pillow each – for those long journeys. In the front the need for a pillow is not there as the headrests can be adjusted with the rest itself actually in two parts, hinged at the top, not that the driver needs encouragement to nod off but support for the back of the head is comfortable. Added comfort, and some entertainment, for the boys in the back is provided, not by in car dvd or psp, but by the simple and integral sunshades built in to the doors and easily raised or lowered, depending on the weather or the desire to be seen by friends! Gone are the days of wrestling with those ‘pop up’ shades and suction pads that always used to fall off a few miles in to a journey. The boys have also enjoyed using the handy ‘flight trays’ on the back of the front seats that have been great for toys, books or munchies.
At night the interior lights are easily reached by all seated within if required. Safety is a strength of the Grand Scenic with even the doors, when open, displaying courtesy lights too – making our open doors visible to others and guiding us safely on board! The dashboard indicates when car doors are not properly closed and the driver can also, at the press of a button, child-lock the rear doors/windows or even secure the whole car when safety is a concern. The standard in car cd/radio is also perfectly good for our needs, includes LW for cricket fans, and is easily controlled by the driver using the finger-tip controls on the steering column.
So, having thought that the Zafira would be irreplaceable we have been proved, pleasantly wrong! The highlights for us of the Zafira were the comfortable driving position and the flexibility to take Grandparents or lots of children out in one car – be it our children’s friends or a school football team (six-aside). The Grand Scenic offers this as well as the extras mentioned above and perhaps greater visibility through it’s huge windscreen area, without the section of windscreen that we found continually ‘unwiped’ due to the settings of the Zafira’s wiper blades. The Grand Scenic, to us, feels more roomy than the Zafira and, once used to the new shape, manoeuvring the Grand Scenic is just as easy even though it is a slightly bigger car.
Is there anything that we miss from the Zafira of 2003 or would want to change? As far as missing things from the Zafira of 2003, the Renault Grand Scenic seems to offer it all so no, nothing missed. We have a 1.6 litre Renault whereas the Zafira was a 2.0 litre diesel, so we miss that extra power when driving and find the smaller engine a little sluggish at times, but that was our choice and fuel economy is generally very good, not that we are particularly ‘geekish’ about the facts and figures of this however, another extra is the ‘on board computer’ that tells us the fuel economy, mileage and most helpfully the range left for the fuel that we have, which combined with the very noticeable audible bleep (that we encountered, just the once!) is great for ensuring that running out of fuel should be a thing of the past. Economy is also helped by the 18 month service interval. The rear window of the Grand Scenic appears small, but there is no loss of visibility. Finally, the Grand Scenic doesn’t have a key! This however is not another fad but the key card that is a handy innovation (I personally find the key card easy to carry around but harder to lose). It would, perhaps, be helpful to have something that distinguishes more clearly between the three buttons that lock/unlock the car or boot. This is possibly one of the very few changes that we would like to make to an otherwise very pleasing family car that is ideal for teachers with the tremendous flexibility available within.
There is life after the Zafira – a car that we recommended wholeheartedly to others and saw several acquired as a result! The Grand Scenic has met our needs and given us even more than our old Zafira. The Grand Scenic, despite our initial ‘trepidation’, is a car that I look forward to getting in to at the end of school day, is comfortable for long journeys and is tremendously flexible for use by the family or at work. The Grand Scenic is a great car that, as a family, we would wholeheartedly recommend and we look forward to driving ours for many months to come.
Having successfully leased a Vauxhall Zafira in 2003 through Newgate Finance for three years we felt, as a family of four, that nothing would replace the comfort and flexibility of this tremendous car and another Zafira would be the order of the day. Unfortunately Zafira’s were not on the menu when we came to renew our leasing arrangements and so the Renault Grand Scenic entered our lives. The hand over of the cars was very smooth, a fond farewell to the Zafira and taking ownership of our new Grand Scenic during the summer of 2006.
Six months later and we are truly delighted that we have found not only a replacement for the Zafira but a car that offers, for us, some really helpful ‘extras’. The seven seat option is easy to arrange and seems to offer greater interior storage when all seven seats are in place – partly due to the shape of the boot and Renault’s infamous ‘back end’. All of the seats are easy to alter, flip or adjust so that the car can become a spacious ‘van’ for those trips to the recycling centre or collecting the Christmas tree! With five seats the middle seatbelt takes a little getting used to as it comes from the ceiling of the car by the centre point above the rear door! One of the great ‘extras’ though is the fact that the floor in front of the middle seat is perfectly flat giving lots of space for the middle passenger’s feet. The Grand Scenic has not got a ‘standard’ handbrake, hence the flat foot space for all of the rear passengers and the flat storage between driver and front passenger. This we have found really useful for storage on long drives, for use during family picnics (in the car during the finest weather of the British summer!) and for reaching back to or swapping places with children - when safely parked of course. With children in the back it does make it very easy for them to exit either side of the car, a helpful safety feature when parking on busy streets. During journeys the driver can use a helpfully situated additional integral mirror to safely keep an eye on passengers and, if necessary, keep the peace with diversionary tactics to prevent world war three erupting or make that important stop to avoid anything else erupting in the car that might spoil the upholstery. I thought that not having a conventional handbrake would be really hopeless and was something of a ‘fad’ but now I’m completely won over by this system that enables me to keep a focus on driving rather than having to worry about releasing the handbrake on hills, at traffic lights – it releases itself automatically as the engine takes the strain. It did take some getting used to though, my hand flapping in the spacious area between the front seats for the ‘missing’ handbrake rather than simply applying the brake using the lever on the dash, to the right of the steering wheel.
General storage is another great extra that we have found useful. There are the usual trays under the front seats, compartments in the boot area and a large glove compartment in front. A favourite with our boys however, is the storage in the floor in front of the rear passenger seats, two great hideaways for endless toys as well as a rug and small pillow each – for those long journeys. In the front the need for a pillow is not there as the headrests can be adjusted with the rest itself actually in two parts, hinged at the top, not that the driver needs encouragement to nod off but support for the back of the head is comfortable. Added comfort, and some entertainment, for the boys in the back is provided, not by in car dvd or psp, but by the simple and integral sunshades built in to the doors and easily raised or lowered, depending on the weather or the desire to be seen by friends! Gone are the days of wrestling with those ‘pop up’ shades and suction pads that always used to fall off a few miles in to a journey. The boys have also enjoyed using the handy ‘flight trays’ on the back of the front seats that have been great for toys, books or munchies.
At night the interior lights are easily reached by all seated within if required. Safety is a strength of the Grand Scenic with even the doors, when open, displaying courtesy lights too – making our open doors visible to others and guiding us safely on board! The dashboard indicates when car doors are not properly closed and the driver can also, at the press of a button, child-lock the rear doors/windows or even secure the whole car when safety is a concern. The standard in car cd/radio is also perfectly good for our needs, includes LW for cricket fans, and is easily controlled by the driver using the finger-tip controls on the steering column.
So, having thought that the Zafira would be irreplaceable we have been proved, pleasantly wrong! The highlights for us of the Zafira were the comfortable driving position and the flexibility to take Grandparents or lots of children out in one car – be it our children’s friends or a school football team (six-aside). The Grand Scenic offers this as well as the extras mentioned above and perhaps greater visibility through it’s huge windscreen area, without the section of windscreen that we found continually ‘unwiped’ due to the settings of the Zafira’s wiper blades. The Grand Scenic, to us, feels more roomy than the Zafira and, once used to the new shape, manoeuvring the Grand Scenic is just as easy even though it is a slightly bigger car.
Is there anything that we miss from the Zafira of 2003 or would want to change? As far as missing things from the Zafira of 2003, the Renault Grand Scenic seems to offer it all so no, nothing missed. We have a 1.6 litre Renault whereas the Zafira was a 2.0 litre diesel, so we miss that extra power when driving and find the smaller engine a little sluggish at times, but that was our choice and fuel economy is generally very good, not that we are particularly ‘geekish’ about the facts and figures of this however, another extra is the ‘on board computer’ that tells us the fuel economy, mileage and most helpfully the range left for the fuel that we have, which combined with the very noticeable audible bleep (that we encountered, just the once!) is great for ensuring that running out of fuel should be a thing of the past. Economy is also helped by the 18 month service interval. The rear window of the Grand Scenic appears small, but there is no loss of visibility. Finally, the Grand Scenic doesn’t have a key! This however is not another fad but the key card that is a handy innovation (I personally find the key card easy to carry around but harder to lose). It would, perhaps, be helpful to have something that distinguishes more clearly between the three buttons that lock/unlock the car or boot. This is possibly one of the very few changes that we would like to make to an otherwise very pleasing family car that is ideal for teachers with the tremendous flexibility available within.
There is life after the Zafira – a car that we recommended wholeheartedly to others and saw several acquired as a result! The Grand Scenic has met our needs and given us even more than our old Zafira. The Grand Scenic, despite our initial ‘trepidation’, is a car that I look forward to getting in to at the end of school day, is comfortable for long journeys and is tremendously flexible for use by the family or at work. The Grand Scenic is a great car that, as a family, we would wholeheartedly recommend and we look forward to driving ours for many months to come.
