Renault Scenic

The 1.5 and 1.9 dCi diesel engines in the 2003-2009 Scenic (Mk2) are known for a sticking EGR valve. Owner reports on Honest John describe soot clogging the valve, then oil getting drawn into the intake and the turbo bearing failing as a result, particularly on cars used mostly for short, low-speed runs. It tends to surface from around 60,000-90,000 miles. An EGR valve alone is £150-£300; add a failed turbo and you're looking at £700-£1,200. There's no factory recall for it, it's a known weak point rather than an acknowledged defect.

Reported 60-90k miles on 1.5/1.9 dCi · sources: Honest John reader reports

On the Mk2 Scenic (2003-2009), the digital instrument cluster can fail outright, sometimes from as little as four years old, with symptoms from a stopped clock to a totally dead display. Honest John's reader reports say it came up often enough that some dealers replaced clusters as goodwill even out of warranty, though Renault never issued a formal recall for it. Expect £150-£200 if a dealer plays fair, more if you're paying the full rate yourself.

From ~4 years old · sources: Honest John reader reports

A repeated complaint on the Mk2 Scenic: the plastic clips in the window regulator wear out and the glass drops into the door card, usually a front window first. Honest John's owner reports treat it as a known issue for that generation; garages tend to fit a whole regulator assembly rather than just the broken clip, at roughly £200-£300 a corner. Later Scenics (2016 on) get reports of window rattle rather than drops, which suggests the same general area was never fully sorted.

Reported across Mk2 and Mk4 generations · sources: Honest John reader reports

Cars fitted with the electric parking brake, rather than a manual lever, can develop faults from around four years old. Honest John reader reports put a typical fix at roughly £600, and the Bowden cables inside the mechanism can also fail on their own, which is enough to fail an MOT even if the rest of the brakes are fine. Only relevant if your car has the electric brake switch rather than a handbrake lever.

From ~4 years old · sources: Honest John reader reports

On the current-shape Scenic (2016 on), Honest John reader reports include a Grand Scenic that went back to the dealer five times in under six months for various electrical faults, with warning lights that kept returning. The touchscreen also runs the heater controls, so a flaky screen can leave you unable to adjust the heating, and Honest John flags failed screens as expensive to fix once out of warranty. Nothing here is covered by a recall, it reads as general electrical/infotainment flakiness rather than one specific part.

Reported from new on 2016-on cars · sources: Honest John reader reports

Owners of the current-shape Scenic (2016 on) have reported unusually fast wear on the outer edges of the front tyres, one 2016 car needed replacements at just 18,500 miles, which normally points to suspension geometry or alignment being out rather than simple mileage wear. The standard 195/55 R20 wheels make it worse, less sidewall to absorb small setting errors. This lines up with the measured MOT data for this segment, where suspension is the standout fault category; the tyre-wear pattern is a more specific, buyer-checkable version of that same weak point.

Reported from ~18k miles on 20-inch-wheel cars · sources: Honest John reader reports, measured MOT fault-rate data