Anyone own an old Picasso or Scenic?

[Origin Unknown]

Our 3rd child is due in September . My wife currently has X-Type Jag which won't be big enough for 2 car seats and a 10 year old. She’s not really fussed about cars so she’s happy to get rid of the X-Type and swap it for a c.2K Scenic or Picasso. I'm expecting a 10 year old stheap for this sort of budget but what are real world running costs of these? Journeys in the car will be dropping kids off at child minders and driving the 15 mile round trip to work. Maybe the old longer trip but that will be it.

Any helpful opinions on these? Anything less hateful to consider that will take 2 car seats and have enough space for a 10 y/o in this budget range?

[Slinky]

If it's a scenic, DON'T get an auto..

[gareth.e]

While I can't really answer any of the questions..

My brother was given an 8 year old ish Picasso (nothings gone wrong in 6 months so far) and he doesnt mind it!

plenty of space, but I would hate to own one!

[Hugo a Gogo]

can't you get two car seats in the back and a 10yr old in the front? or is it illegal?

Mondeo has a wide back seat, will take 3 child seats, but isn't it exactly the same as an X-type?

[Graebob]

Boss at work had a Picasso before a CMax and now an S40, so I got a chance to drive it a bit, including a 400 mile round trip once. They are awful, tedious, cavernous, devoid of soul, flakey and generally ste.

However, I'm 26, have no kids and no reason to own one. Boss (40+, married with 3 kids)loved it because of all the reasons I hated it; it's huge inside, so you can fit in loads of child related tat, it's devoid of soul so you don't thrash it everywhere and it's squishy and comfortable when driving somewhere loaded up, it's flakey so he doesn't mind the kids scratching it.

Good buy as a family wagon imo. He had a HDi manual and the only thing that went wrong in the 3 years was an undertray which kept falling off on long motorway runs.

[jjones]

suspension/brake issues on the scenics (suspension wears fast on the joints, brakes have a nasty habbit of squealing and binding), we had a 1999 1.6 manual and it did about 35mpg i seem to remember.

have seen rust issues on picassos on the sills so have a good poke around

was a good car other than the suspension/brake niggles in that there was plenty of room and getting the children in and out was easy. added advantage of removing the seats and having a good sized van for taking rubbish to the tip.

[SubaruSteve]

How about a Volvo V70?

I have nothing against Picassos though and know plenty of people who have had perfectly acceptable service from them. Stick to the standard A/C models though as the climate control system can be a pain sometimes.

[Chrisw666]

Might be more expensive but a Cmax is a better built car than either of those.

[Deluded]

Why not look into a Mazda Premacy of the same age?

[Goldmember1]

When looking for an allrounder vehicle for personal and use through my busines ( at that time large tube tvs ) I bought a V reg 1.9 dTi Scenic that was 1 yr old , and I actually enjoyed it!

Owned it for 3 yrs , 60,000 miles no problems UNTIL gearbox started to go wrong , rumbling etc .. bearings ..Eventually got rid of the car 'cos it's a MAJOR job due to its shape and was gonna cost well over £1000.. Have heard that this is common problem.

Other opinions ..

The 1.4 petrol engine .. Terrible , avoid! .. wouldn't pull you out of bed!
" 1.6 " " .. Isn't much better , quite weak but bearable.
" 2.0 " " .. Quite good fun .. if u can say that about a scenic
" 1.9 tDi Diesel ( 1 I had ) .. As I said I enjoyed it , pulled very well , and did everything it was meant to , average 40/44 mpg . Was replaced by the 1.9 dCi Commonrail diesel .. bit quieter and more refined.. the one to go for imo if u can.

Cant help much more than that as the gearbox thing put me off French cars ( esp getting treated terribly by the garage ( a man's name that justabout sells every marque all over the UK ) I bought it from .

Oh , and the seat configuration options are excellent , fold down , flip up , take out etc .. brilliant, great for families and comfy too .

Hope that helps ,

Steve

[robsco]

Both are unpleasant, but please stay away from the Scenic. Particularly the auto.

[Goldmember1]

Slinky said:

If it's a scenic, DON'T get an auto..

Oh , and this !

[deveng]

Graebob said:

Boss at work had a Picasso before a CMax and now an S40, so I got a chance to drive it a bit, including a 400 mile round trip once. They are awful, tedious, cavernous, devoid of soul, flakey and generally ste.

However, I'm 26, have no kids and no reason to own one. Boss (40+, married with 3 kids)loved it because of all the reasons I hated it; it's huge inside, so you can fit in loads of child related tat, it's devoid of soul so you don't thrash it everywhere and it's squishy and comfortable when driving somewhere loaded up, it's flakey so he doesn't mind the kids scratching it.

Good buy as a family wagon imo. He had a HDi manual and the only thing that went wrong in the 3 years was an undertray which kept falling off on long motorway runs.

I think you sum it up perfectly: it's a car that even the owner doesn't like as a car. It's something that you don't mind the kids throwing up in, you dont mind if they open the doors into bollards etc etc

[Xavier259]

If you can get past the looks what about a Fiat Multipla with the JTD engine?

Failing that there's always the Alhambra/Sharan/Galaxy trio?

Or something van based such as a Berlingo/Doblo etc.

[EDLT]

They are awful cars imo, the C-max and even the Zafira are better built. Beware of ex-taxis too.

[neelyp]

Chrisw666 said:

Might be more expensive but a Cmax is a better built car than either of those.

Don't think you could get three car seats in the back of a C-Max.
The Picasso has three full size seats in the back, most MPV's of this size have 2.5 seats.

They're ste as drivers cars but great at what they are meant for.

[Si 330]

We have 3 children and have used an x type Ok with 2 full child seats and one booster.

[edthedead]

We had a mk1 scenic for about 6 months, it was definately a manual and I think it was a diesel (I have pretty much wiped it from my memory)... it was cheap but crap!

In the short time we had it both rear springs broke and it caught fire in the steering coloum cowling... never, ever, again!

A friend has also just brought a mk2 shape one and has had it about a month, I think it is a petrol.... so far it has broken down twice leaving him stood on the hard shoulder wishing he had taken most peoples advice to avoid them!!!

[uncinquesei]

there's a bunch of them (not sure of collective noun for Picassos, a gallery maybe?) at swansea auctions this week. They're getting cheap too, I know it's only a guide price, but even so...
http://www.smva.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?lot=119&amp...
http://www.smva.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?lot=133&amp...
http://www.smva.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?lot=155&amp...
http://www.smva.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?lot=192&amp...

and this - always liked these...

http://www.smva.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?lot=248&amp...

[andymach23]

We had a mark 1 Scenic, 1.6 petrol, year 1998 which we bought at a couple of years old and kept for about 8 years.

The car was really well designed and very spacious but the build quality was ste. The rear arches had started to rust at 2 years old and got steadily worse. Problems with poor running. Electrial issues. Heater issues, trim falling off and finally the head gasket went.

The only concillation was that Renault Forums was very good.

Totally put me off Renault.