Renault Grand Modus 1.2 TCE 100 (2007) CAR review

It’s more practical, then?

Significantly so. Luggage space with all the seats in place is up 50 percent over the short wheelbase car. There’s the same fold the backrest onto the cushion and then fold the whole lot up behind the back seat arrangement for maximum capacity, but there are easier, less physically demanding systems from other manufacturers. Indeed, the seat folding in the new Clio Sport Tourer is much easier and Renault admits that it’s this car that will have more appeal to those wanted to lug stuff around in a small car. Of equal importance is the legroom issue. Sliding rear seats are standard but you can only get the maximum rear legroom in the regular Modus in the optional four-seat configuration. With Grand Modus there’s the space to slide the rear seats right back and still provide room for three in the back.

Anything else?

The concurrent face-lift gives the Modus a new front end with punchier headlights, broader bumpers and that more rounded rear end. Not much but enough to look different. And this is proper MPV driving, with a seating position much higher than a Clio which should, in theory appeal to all those who like the dominant driving position of an SUV but don’t want or like the connotations of a 4x4. Renault’s 100bhp 1.2 turbocharged engine  '“economy of a 1.2, power of a 1.4, torque of a 1.6') handles the Grand Modus’s bulk well, though dream on if you think you can achieve all these claimed targets in the same journey. Still, it does cost at least £800 less than the cheapest diesel.