If you had £6k or £7k and were in the market for an MPV, which of these would you get?

Which one is the better car?

Zafira : It seats 7. It's flex 7 system made it a class leader when it was launched and all the press rated it better than the scenic from it's time.

Zafira, better built, feels more solid, and the 2 rear seats design is nothing sort of genius.

If you can,choose the 2.2 Auto,accelerates like stink and road holding not to bad,uses a drop of juice though.
mike

or the 1.9 CDTi (150)...

But remember, there is a brand new Zafira being released in the Uk in a few weeks time, so second hand (old shape) Zafiras will drop in price. Make sure you get a good deal.

Got to agree after working on and driving both vehicles. The Zafira is far superior in build quality and drives a lot better than a Scenic.
I even bought a Zafira but not out of choice! I just got told I'd bought my ex a 2.2 elegance with all the body kit big alloys etc on the strength of my CSA payments
Oh well I got to keep the Saab so who's the loser

Well I'm gonna have to disagree with you chaps, as we made the opposite decision when buying ours. Depends if you need 7 seats or not, and the type of driving you do. We bought a Scenic, for just that kind of money, after trying several of both.

Reasons were:

Scenic slightly smaller so easier for the missus to manouvre.

Zafira felt more bus-like to drive - steering wheel angle is flatter and further away from driver's seat.

Scenic had 5 proper seat belts (earlier Zafiras only have a lap belt in the middle of back seat).

Zafira got 3* NCAP, Scenic got 4*

INteriors of Zafiras are a bit like all Vauxhall's - dark & dingey.

Seats are better for long trips in the Scenic than the Zafira, and Zafira rear seats are horrid to sit in as they are so thin (need to be to allow them to fold into the floor). If/when one of us has to sit in the back with the kids, the seats are as comfy as the front.

We got a 1.6 16V Privelege +, which has Alloys, ACC, 4 x leccy windows, twin leccy roofs, 6xCD, half-leather seats (easier to clean when #1 daughter hurled all over the place a few weeks ago!) etc.

Another good point for my missus is that the 1.6 Scenic is relatively low geared (4000rpm in top = 82mph) so it feels nippier to her - she never revs beyond about 4000-4500, even if overtaking and from my point of view she's less likely to drive along at 50mph in 3rd gear like she does in the 9-5 - also means it copes with hills on the m-way better than if over-geared, and fuel economy still OK. We got 38 on mixed roads coming back from the Lakes, including some pretty steep climbs.

But - if you need he load-lugging ability or the extra seats then it's probably the Zafira you're after.

Having been a passenger in a Zafira for about five miles, my immediate observation was how poor the front passenger seat was. Absolutely terrible - very uncomfortable.

Having owned my Espace since December, I have issues with Renault's build quality ... They can be had very cheaply, though.

/john, interesting you say that, I had a couple of Corsas as courtesy cars in the mid to late 1990s, and both gave me bad back when driving for longer than about 3 quarters of an hour!!

I heard of someone who hired Astras (early to late 90's model) who said the same thing.

But since then we hired a couple of Astras (shape that has just been replaced) in ireland and they were fine. No comfort issues at all.

A friend of mine's wife had a Scenic and had an accident where she hit the kerb and rolled the car with both kids in the back, and they all walked away unharmed. Needless to say they were so impressed that they bought a more recent model.

I don't know anyone who has a Zafira, and I was only in one about 6 years ago, and can't remember a lot about it.

So, I still don't know which I'd go for!! they've both got pretty crass interior styling from what I've seen.

Must admit, I thought this one was going to read "they were so alarmed that the car rolled just because they hit the kerb that they swore never to buy another MPV...."



People say they like the elevation etc but I must say the high centre of gravity makes me nervous.

But... trying desperately to stay on topic, we rented a Zafira once: I thought the build quality was pretty reasonable.

Zafira is on our company car list as is the New Scenic. I've been a passenger in both for an hour or so at a time with no real ill effects. But adjusting the seat for passenger comfort is different from driving. They were a bit spartan inside.

Brother in law has just bought a 51 Zafira with the leather upgraded interior and has been to Austria and back as the first trip . He loves it, but he did spend some time looking for the interior upgrade. I think it's an option on the top of the range Elegance. I'll get a ride in it in the next couple of weeks probably.

One of my colleagues has a Zafira company car & he likes it, but has a few gripes. One of which was that the AC doesn't seem to have the capacity to cope with the volume of air in the car - it's exactly the same unit as fitted to a regular Astra & with about 2-3 times the air volume to chill, has its work cut out in mid-summer.

To be fair, without knowing the circumstances it's hard to say if this roll was because the car was an MPV or not. Any car sliding sideways into a kerb at speed has a fair chance of rolling...