Renault Scenic E-Tech Esprit Alpine 2026 Review

The 2026 Renault Scenic E-Tech Esprit Alpine is the $65,990 (plus on-road costs) flagship in this three-grade line-up of French five-door five-seat electric SUVs.

The price leader is the $55,990 (plus ORCs) Techno, with the Techno Long Range sitting in the middle of the line-up priced at $59,990 (plus ORCs). The flagship is more widely available for now, with Techno supply freeing up in the next few months.

This pricing places the Scenic into a hotbed of competition against a plethora of medium SUVs when its 4470mm length would suggest it’s more compact than that.

That means the competition covers the full gamut of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, European and even American rivals. Big challenge…

The Techno comes with a less potent powertrain delivering 125kW/280Nm and driving the front wheels via a single speed reduction gear and a 60kWh NMC battery.

Techno Long Range and Esprit Alpine uprate to a 160kW/300Nm motor and a larger 87kWh NMC battery.

As a result, the latter bring a longer 625km claimed WLTP driving range, versus 430km for the Techno. They also accelerate faster to 100km/h (7.9 seconds versus 8.6) and use more electricity – 16.8kWh/100km versus the Techno’s claimed 16.3kWh/h.

Both Techno variants have the same equipment, leaving the Esprit Alpine to add such niceties as six-way power adjustment and memory for the front seats, a massage function for the driver’s seat, synthetic leather and cloth trim with Alpine stitching, a Harman Kardon nine-speaker audio, 20-inch alloy wheels and various trim bits including a black pack grille.

That’s on top of shared gear including a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a grippy smartphone charger, Google built-in assistance including Maps (but you can use other systems such as Apple maps or Waze), 48-colour ambient lighting and heated steering and front seats.

There are over-the-air (OTA) updates, access to the My Renault smartphone app, a built-in dash cam and a pedestrian warning sound composed by French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.

The Scenic also arrives with inbuilt Vehicle to Grid with AC (rather than DC) technology, but regulatory hurdles mean that isn’t yet available to be used.

There is no AM, only FM and digital radio bands.

A full suite of driver assistants includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane centring, blind spot warning and speed sign recognition.

There are seven airbags, three child seat top tethers and two ISOFIX on the outboard rear seats. A 360-degree camera, a digital mirror (can also be conventional) and tyre pressure monitoring are also included. Sadly though, no spare tyre.

The Scenic E-Tech is covered by a five-year warranty that offers only 100,000km distance coverage. Most brands allow unlimited kms. The battery warranty is eight years/160,000km, which is industry standard.

Servicing is conducted every year or 30,000km, whichever comes first and there is a capped price servicing program that adds up to $1625 over five visits.

Renault argues the 2026 Renault Scenic E-Tech is a resolved and well-tuned vehicles that you will enjoy driving rather than be annoyed by.

That’s a less than subtle hint at the plethora of Chinese EVs, most of which have mediocre driving manners, screen-focussed controls and overly-intrusive safety assistants in terms of what they do and how much bing-bong noise they make.

Well, the Esprit Alpine is certainly a pleasant drive.

It moves along with a well resolved fluency of its quick steering, composed handling and ride, the latter perhaps pitched on the firmer side of the ledger in support of a sporting feel. It even occasionally thumped hard into big holes.

The e-motor’s outputs aren’t anything spectacular but the reality is they don’t need to be.

That marvellous e-motor trait of immediate max-torque response at tip-in throttle means real-world acceleration competitiveness that’s delivered smoothly and quietly. Hey, the Scenic’s not as toey as some but it’s decent. Light – by EV standards – 1840kg tare weight helps here.

The Scenic is also involving thanks to the location of its brake regeneration paddles on the steering wheel like gear shifters.

And with pronounced differences between each of the four levels plus real one-pedal, it does feel a bit like you’re shifting gears in and out of corners.

Combined with its nicely sorted chassis, it made the car more interactively fun and less digital.

So how did the economy and range claims stack up with reality? On an entertaining and speedy drive in the countryside near Canberra, average consumption came out at 17.6kWh/100km.

Working on the assumption normal cruising consumption will be a tad lower, then 500km is within reach.

Inside, it’s a pleasing combination of trims, lines, design and up-front seating that is generous, well bolstered and comfortable.

The screens are initially intimidating, but they make sense after a bit of study.

The instrument panel rotates through six bold design choices all with large numerals, via a steering wheel button, while the infotainment touchscreen has a vivid presentation that eschews the usual simple list of features.

Much appreciated are the physical air-con buttons while the audio volume is adjusted via pressure pads on the edge of the screen, as well as the unusual Renault-signature stalk behind the steering wheel.

Also, you can set up the driver assistants to turn off with the touch of the dashboard ‘Perso’ button. I chose to do so, because I found them mildly annoying. And they stayed off. Yes!

Perso can also set individual ‘engine’ (it’s a motor, Renault), steering and vehicle dynamics (and ambient lighting and other interior stuff) characteristics or you can opt for the normal, comfort or sport drive modes (which are also configurable). The independent suspension is not driver-tuneable.

It also has a power on/off button rather than the driver just having to hope it’s going and Renault’s unusual credit card digital key.

For its compact size, the Scenic E-Tech generates good rear seat space. Access is via wide-opening doors, while the battery under the flat floor means you do sit a tad knees-up.

Taller passengers will find decent leg and headroom. Two passengers will fit comfortably in deeply scalloped outboard seats. Three is a squeeze.

Storage is generous up front and in the second row, where a rather convoluted fold down armrest includes swing-out arms to mount your smartphone or iPad. It’s an idea that needs some further testing to figure out if it makes sense or not. There are also two USB ports in here and six in total spread across the cabin.

The boot is accessed via a power tailgate. It requires a big lift over a high lip, but it is very generous at 545 litres, split-folding the rear seat to 1670 litres. As mentioned earlier, no spare tyre. Instead, there’s a wet bin under the floor. No frunk at the front either, just the ‘engine’.

The negatives for the 2026 Renault Scenic E-Tech Esprit Alpine are less related to the car itself than how it’s being offered.

Renault Australia makes a big deal of how well it did convincing head office to gain this pricing.

In the old days – say six to 12 months ago – it might have been compelling, but with Chinese brands offering highly-equipped EVs for less and less money, the challenge for the Scenic is to be anything other than a curiosity.

Then there are things you have to consider like access to the Renault dealer network – there are 52 in Australia, which seems reasonable for a brand selling only a few thousand vehicles a year. But the majors have many more, especially in remote locations.

Obviously, aftersales is a sore point for Chinese brands, but it will be a challenge for Renault to capitalise on that.

And negatives for the car itself? Maybe its Michelin e-Primacy tyres get a bit noisy on coarse surfaces, the cabin feels pretty enclosed and there are a lot of stalks and outgrowths behind the steering wheel for the driver to figure out.

Two areas it can’t match the best Chinese vehicles is the intuitiveness of its voice assistant and the clarity of its camera, which was a bit fuzzy.

The 130kW DC fast charge rate for the price-leader and 150kW for the big battery model is nothing to get excited about either.

Less of a problem and more of a curiosity were two different voices – one North American, one Australian – handing out sat-nav instructions.

But in terms of concrete major flaws, Renault Australia is right. There aren’t many.

As a decision made by the head, the 2025 Renault Scenic E-Tech range is a hard buy, mainly because of the massive competition it faces at sharper pricing.

You can see why people like it in Europe where it’s more price competitive.

In Australia, it’s somewhat marginalised.

But if you are buying more with the heart, looking for something different that’s also decent and you’re prepared to look past the ownership questions, then this is an appealing EV.

2026 Renault Scenic E-Tech Esprit Alpine Make Model Variant at a glance:
Price: $65,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Single synchronous motor with coiled rotor
Output: 160kW/300Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 87kWh lithium-ion
Range: 625km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 16.8kWh/100km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

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