Renault Scenic E-Tech vs Jaguar F-Pace

What's the difference?

The Renault Scenic E-Tech is lining up against some heavy-hitting competitors, but Renault Australia admits it has one top of mind - the Kia EV5. The Kia’s a quality package and if you’re in the market for a mid-size electric SUV, you’ll no doubt have it on your shopping list. And you should have a look at this slightly smaller car, as well. It has the refinement, practicality and safety to stand up confidently in a rapidly expanding segment.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The F-Pace has been gifted new styling, new engines and more practicality making it an even better SUV than it already was. You could seriously pick any of the grades and be happy with your purchase. Then there’s the question of the engine…

Jaguar says there’s a few more years left in the combustion engine yet, but we know exactly how many years – four, because the company has gone on the record announcing it will go fully electric by 2025. The question for you is – how will you ring out the end of an era – with a four-cylinder petrol, a six-cylinder turbo diesel, an inline turbo six petrol or a cracking V8? 

The sweetspot in the range is the R-Dynamic SE 400, with just enough luxury and more than enough grunt.

There are some design tips of the hat to Scenics past in this latest electric version, including blacked-out door pillars and a recognisably angular C-pillar treatment.

But despite the fact it debuted at the Munich IAA Motor Show in late 2023, from its slimline headlights and jagged grille to its sculpted flanks and saw tooth rear end, this fifth-generation Scenic looks contemporary from every angle.

A highlight is the large Renault diamond logo sitting at the centre of a faux upper grille, surrounded by a multitude of the same elongated hexagon shape as a cool recurring graphic, the pattern merging neatly into the headlights.

Speaking of which, the LED beams can be set to produce an elaborate welcome sequence as you approach the car.

The interior feels slick and screen-rich but not at the expense of user-friendly physical controls for audio, ventilation and other commonly used functions.

Recycled fabric on the dashboard and headliner looks and feels good while doing its bit to suppress cabin noise.

Speaking of which, the Scenic is Renault’s poster child for the use of recycled materials in its construction and end of life recyclability.

Everything from ferrous components consisting of 37 per cent recycled materials to a bonnet and doors made of up to 80 per cent recycled aluminium.

The dashboard cowling is made from kenaf, a plant fibre similar to jute; the steering wheel cover is 51 per cent bio-sourced; the cockpit uses 26 per cent recycled plastic; the storage bins in the door panels are 45 per cent recycled fibre, the floor mats are 54 per cent recycled plastic bottles and the seat upholstery is 100 per cent recycled fabric. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

The very first F-Pace arrived in Australia in 2016 and even after all these years and the arrival of more rivals I still think it’s the most beautiful SUV in its class. The new one seems to look a lot like the old one, but the styling updates have kept it cool.

If you want to see instantly how the design of the F-Pace has evolved from the original to the new one, be sure to watch my video above.

Short story is, this new F-Pace has been given a pretty major styling overhaul inside and out.

Gone is the old F-Pace’s plastic beak. That sounds weird but the previous F-Pace’s bonnet stopped short of the grille and a nose cone had been fitted to cover the rest of the distance. Now the new bonnet meets a larger, wider grille and its flow from the windscreen down isn’t disturbed by a large join line.

Also more pleasing to the eyes is the badge on the grille. The snarling jaguar head is now larger and no longer mounted on a terrible looking large plastic plate. The plate was for the adaptive cruise control radar sensor, but by making the Jaguar badge bigger, the plate was able to be house in the badge itself.

The headlights are slimmer, and the tail-lights have a new design which looks futuristic, but I miss the styling of the previous ones and the way they dipped into the tailgate.

Inside, the cabin has been made over with a giant landscape screen, new chunky climate control dials, a new steering wheel and the rotary shifter has been replaced by a regular upright one which is still small and compact, with cricket ball stitching. Again, take a look at the video I’ve made to see the transformation for yourself.

While all F-Paces have a similar look, the SVR is the high-performance member of the family and stands out with its giant 22-inch wheels, a tough body kit, quad tailpipes, a fixed SVR rear wing, and bonnet and fender vents.

For this update the SVR has been given a new front bumper and larger cooling vents flanking the grille. But it’s more than just tough looks, the aerodynamics have been revised to decrease lift by 35 per cent, too.

What hasn’t changed are the dimensions. The F-Pace is a mid-sized SUV measuring 4747mm end to end, standing 1664mm tall and with the mirrors out is 2175mm wide. That’s not huge, but make sure it’ll fit in your garage.

In terms of how it all works in practice, at just under 4.5m long, close to 1.9m wide and less than 1.6m tall with a 2785mm wheelbase, the Scenic is more compact than the larger BYD Sealion 7 or Zeekr 7X, for example.

But there’s plenty of breathing room up front, with the centre screen angled towards the driver enhancing the cockpit feel for the one doing the steering.

There are large carpeted bins in the doors with room for bottles and a lidded storage box between the seats doubles as a centre armrest. That lid slides forward by 70mm to cover a small storage cubby under the front of it, which is a handy trick.

Locating the gear selector on the right-hand side of the steering column liberates extra space for a centre cupholder and large console storage bin. There’s a generous glove box and a wireless smartphone charger under the centre screen includes a rubberised base and two lugs to stop devices sliding around. Power and connectivity runs to two USB-C ports and a 12-volt socket.

Moving to the second row, sitting behind my 183cm driving position, while toe room is a little tight (with the driver’s seat set low down), there’s heaps of leg and headroom as well as enough shoulder room (and foot room thanks to a flat floor) for three adults on short to mid-length trips. A pair of adjustable centre air vents is also a welcome inclusion.  

Storage includes door bins (again with room for bottles), large and device-sized pockets on the front seat backs and the pièce de résistance is the evocatively named ‘Ingenious armrest’, which includes a storage area and two cupholders at the base of articulated horizontal arms that allow passengers to mount a phone or tablet at various angles in rubberised slots for joint or solo viewing.

It is, indeed, ingenious and four USB-C plugs (two in the armrest, two near the air vents) mean back-seaters won’t be short of power options.

Boot volume with the rear seats upright is useful at close to 545 litres (VDA), expanding to around 1670L with the 40/20/40 split-fold second row lowered. A power tailgate is standard across the range.

There are bag hooks, tie-down anchors, lighting and a 12-volt socket back there, although for V2L (vehicle to load) functionality you’ll need an accessory adapter to plug into the charge port.

Maximum braked trailer towing capacity is a handy 1100kg, but there’s no spare tyre, only a repair/inflator kit, which isn’t good enough.

The F-Pace was always practical with a big 509-litre boot and great rear leg and head room for even me at 191cm tall, but the cabin re-design has added better storage and usability.

The door pockets are larger, there’s a covered area under the floating centre console and in a victory for common sense and practicality the window switches have been relocated from the window sills to the armrests.

This is along with a deep centre console storage area, and two cupholders in the front and another two in the rear fold-down armrest.

Parents will be happy to know that all F-Paces come with directional air vents in the second row as well. And there are ISOFIX outboard child-seat anchors and three top-tether restraints, too.

There’s a Jaguar F-Pace for every budget as long as your budget is somewhere in between $80K and $150K. That’s quite a large range in price.

Now, I’m about to take you through the grade names and I need to warn you that it’s going to be messy and confusing a little bit like white water rafting, but not as wet. Life jacket on?

There are four grades: the S, SE, HSE and top-of-the-range SVR.

They all come standard with the R-Dynamic pack.

There are four engines: the P250, D300, P400 and P550. I’ll explain what this means in the engine section down below, but all you need to know is 'D' stands for diesel and 'P' for petrol and the higher the number the more grunt it has.

The S grade only comes with the P250. The SE comes with a choice of P250, D300 or P400. The HSE only comes with the P400 and the SVR has exclusive rights to the P550.

Following all this? Great.

So, the entry grade is officially called the R-Dynamic S P250 and it lists for $76,244 (all prices listed are MSRP - before on-road costs). Above this is the R-Dynamic SE P250 and it lists for $80,854, then there’s the R-Dynamic SE D300 for $96,194 and the R-Dynamic SE P400 for $98,654.

Almost there, you’re doing super.

The R-Dynamic HSE P400 lists for $110,404 and at the top is King F-Pace – the SVR with the P550 listing for $142,294.

There you are, wasn’t so bad was it?

Coming standard from the base grade up is the new 11.4-inch touchscreen, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, there’s keyless entry, push-button start, dual-zone climate, power adjustable front seats, leather upholstery, LED headlights and tail-lights, and an auto tailgate.

The entry-level S and the SE above it come with a six-speaker stereo, but as you step into the HSE and SVR more standard features appear such as a 13-speaker Meridian sound system, plus heated and ventilated front seats. A fully digital instrument cluster is standard on all grades apart from the entry S.

The options list is extensive and includes a head-up display ($1960), wireless charging ($455), and an Activity Key ($403) which looks like an iWatch that locks and unlocks the F-Pace.  

Paint prices? Narvik Black and Fuji White are standard at no extra cost for the S, SE and HSE. The SVR has its own standard palette and includes Santorini Black, Yulonhg White, Firenze Red, Bluefire Blue and Hakuba Silver. If you don’t have the SVR but want these colours it’ll be $1890, thank you.

Like its Megane E-Tech sibling, the Scenic E-Tech uses an excited synchronous motor which Renault says is more efficient than the more commonly used permanent magnet type, with the bonus that it uses no rare earth materials.

The entry-level Scenic E-Tech Techno's fitted with a 60kWh NMC battery. Its electric motor transfers 125kW and 280Nm to the front wheels and Renault claims a 0-100km/h time of 8.6 seconds.

The Techno Long Range and top-spec Esprit Alpine pack an 87kWh battery and a more powerful motor, raising outputs to 160kW/300Nm and lowering the 0-100kmh sprint time to 7.9 seconds.

Jaguar’s engine names sound like forms you have to fill in when you apply for a home loan.

The P250 is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine making 184kW and 365Nm; the D300 is a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo diesel producing 221kW and 650Nm; while the P400 is a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo petrol with outputs of 294kW and 550Nm.

The P550 is a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 producing a colossal 405kW and 700Nm.

The SE grade gives you the choice of the P250, D300 and P400, while the S only comes with the P250 and the SVR of course is powered only by the P550.

The D300 and D400 are new engines, both are straight sixes and replace the V6 engines in the old F-Pace. Superb engines, they are also found in the Defender and Range Rover.

Jaguar calls the D300 and P400 mild hybrids, but don’t be misled by the terminology. These engines are not hybrids in the sense that an electric motor is working to drive the wheels along with a combustion engine. Instead, a mild hybrid uses a 48-volt electrical system to help take the load off the engine by helping it start and running the electronics such as climate control. And yes, it does help save fuel, but not stacks.

There’s plenty of grunt from all these engines no matter which you choose, they all have eight-speed automatics and all-wheel drive.

You are also very likely looking at the last combustion engines to go into an F-Pace. See Jaguar has announced that it will only sell electric vehicles beyond 2025.

Four years and that’s it. Choose wisely.

Official energy consumption numbers for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle are close between the two powertrains at 16.3kWh/100km for the Techno and 16.8kWh/100km for the Techno Long Range and Esprit Alpine, which are bang on average for the class.

Range for the standard Techno is 430km, which is at the lower end of expectations for a medium electric SUV but adding the bigger battery pushes that number out to 625km, which is much healthier and useful day-to-day.

On the launch drive program, which took in some urban but mostly rural B-road running, we saw an average consumption figure of 17.1kWh/100km in the Esprit Alpine, which is pretty good in those conditions.

The car’s 400V electrical architecture allows for DC charging at up to 130kW for the entry model and 150kW for the bigger-battery variants.

At that speed, claimed 15-80 per cent charge times are 32 and 37 minutes, respectively. Not the best, not the worst. AC charge capability is 11kW on all models and a Mode 3 charging cable is included.

It doesn’t make sense that Jaguar has announced that it will be going all electric by 2025 yet doesn’t offer a plug-in hybrid in its Australian line-up, especially when there is one available overseas.

Jaguar says it doesn’t make sense either, but by that they mean business sense, in bringing one to Australia.  

So, for fuel economy I’m marking the F-Pace down. Yes, the D300 and P400 use clever mild-hybrid tech, but it doesn’t go far enough to reducing fuel use.

So the fuel consumptions, then. The official fuel consumption for the petrol P250 is 7.8L/100km, the diesel D300 will use 7.0L/100km, the P400 is stated to sip 8.7L/100km and the P550 V8 petrol will drink 11.7L/100km. Those figures are "combined cycle" numbers, after a combination of open and urban driving.

Renault says the entry-grade Scenic Techno will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds with the more powerful Techno Long Range and Esprit Alpine lowering that number to 7.9sec. So, it’s quick without being scary fast.

It’s certainly nippy in traffic and at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, quiet. Even in the context of premium EVs the Scenic is quiet and refined.

Suspension is strut front, multi-link rear and the car feels super planted. The launch drive took in some reasonably rapid twisting corners and there’s no hint of lateral movement in the car. Body roll is minimal, too.

Tyres are energy-efficient Michelin e.Primacy (Techno - 205/55x19 / Esprit Alpine - 235/45x20) and the steering is quick with a relatively low number of turns lock-to-lock. It’s never jerky or too sharp. Rather, it means the car starts to turn into a corner the instant you apply steering lock.

That said, the feel between your hands on the wheel and the front tyres on the road is less than intimate.

There are four drive modes - ‘Comfort, ‘Eco’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Custom’. None of them adjust the suspension tune, it’s more about accelerator response and we found Comfort delivers the best blend of right-foot urgency and overall composure.

Most of the braking you’re going to do will be courtesy of the regenerative system and there are five levels, adjustable via steering wheel paddles, including the most aggressive single-pedal mode.

The one-pedal setting pulls the car up nice and progressively and if you do need to use the physical brakes, they’re ventilated discs all around. Some bite on initial application, but even on downhill corner sections, leaning on them quite hard, they perform well without drama.

Under the heading of miscellaneous observations, you can sense the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) including functions like lane-keeping assist doing their thing occasionally, but it’s all quite subtle, which is a good thing.

The Esprit Alpine’s sports front seats remained grippy and comfortable after a couple of hours behind the wheel. And it’s worth noting the Scenic’s relatively compact 10.9-metre turning circle helps in slow-speed manoeuvring.

Speaking of which, some of the modes in the audio system and external warning sounds for pedestrian safety have been designed by French composer and performer Jean-Michel Jarre, noted for his electronic, ambient-style music. Hats off to Renault for commissioning him.

My two test cars at the Australian launch of the new F-Pace were the R-Dynamic SE P400 and the R-Dynamic S P250. Both were fitted with the road noise cancellation system which comes with the optional $1560 Meridian stereo and reduces the level of road noise coming into the cabin.

Which would I rather? Look, I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say the SE P400 with its smooth inline six that has seemingly endless shove, but it’s $20K more than the S P250 and neither engine is low on grunt and both handle and ride almost identically.

That ride has been improved in this new F-Pace with the rear suspension being retuned so that it’s not so firm.

Steering is still on the sharp side, but body control feels better and more composed in this updated F-Pace.

On the twisty and quick country roads I tested the S P250 and SE 400, both performed superbly, with responsive engines, great handling, and serene cabins (thanks to the help of the noise cancelling tech).

The second part of the test was driving both in city traffic for the best part of an hour each which isn’t pleasant in any car. The now wider F-Pace seats were comfortable and supportive, however, the transmission seamlessly swapped gears and even rolling on 22-inch wheels in the SE and 20-inch alloys in the S the ride was excellent.  

The F-Pace scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2017. Coming standard is advanced safety tech such as forward auto emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot assist, lane keeping assistance and rear cross-traffic alert.

This tech is great, but in the five years since the F-Pace first arrived safety equipment has moved on even further. So, while the AEB can detect pedestrians, it’s not designed to work for cyclists, there’s no reverse AEB, nor evasive manoeuvre systems, nor a centre airbag. All are items which weren’t common in 2017 but are now on most 2021 five-star rated cars.

Warranty is five years/100,000km, which is well off the market pace with many competitors at seven, eight and up to 10 years conditional. The battery warranty at eight-year/160,000km matches the market.

Roadside assistance is included for five years, service is recommended every 12 months/30,000km and fixed price servicing is available at a reasonably sharp average of $325 per workshop visit for the first five years.

Renault has 52 dealers across the country covering major cities and key rural areas.

At the launch of the new F-Pace Jaguar announced that all of its vehicles would be covered by a five-year unlimited/kilometre warranty, a step up from the three-year coverage it used to offer.  

Service intervals? What are they? The F-Pace will tell you when it needs maintenance. But you should sign up for a five-year service plan which costs $1950 for the P250 engine, $2650 for the D300, $2250 for the P400 and $3750 for the P550.