Renault Scenic 1.6 - a muddy drive?

[ScotHill]

Test drove an 8 year old Scenic, and it felt like a muddy and distant driving experience - a lot of travel on the brake pedal before any effect; basically very little movement in first gear unless the accelerator was right down (2nd gear was much better); responsiveness of the steering wheel wasn't very immediate, and the full-lock came on very early when doing manoeuvres.

Compared to getting back into a Honda Jazz which was like driving a go-kart, every movement of the steering wheel or pedals had an immediate effect.

Did I just get a bad example of the model or will they all be like that? I remember online reviews saying the driving experience was the main drawback about the car, which otherwise seems perfect for families who don't want a massive SUV/4x4/moon buggy.

[ScotHill]

To fill in the deafening silence, from what I've gathered by reading up since, the 1.6 petrol (2013-2016) is an older engined-model and kind of renowned for being a bit crap, the 1.2 Turbo almost being a totally different car, which is borne out by the couple of test drives we've had.

[ScotHill]

Thanks for confirming - yeah it'll be a petrol engine whatever the car, we don't do the distances to justify a diesel.