Long-term report: The Renault Scenic E-Tech is a celebration of substance over show

James Milner; Steve Davis; The musical compositions of Coldplay. All proof that being as dull as a plank of wood does not necessarily preclude people from achieving mind-boggling success.

And while this may seem like a bizarre point to kick off a car review, it is very much the same thing when it comes to vehicles. The Nissan Qashqai, for instance, regularly appears among Britain’s best-sellers, despite being rather subdued overall.

Renault, on the other hand, is a brand that knows exactly how to bring the fun, especially with its EVs The firm’s 5 hatchback has been one of the biggest automotive success stories of recent years, and while the 4 and Twingo also look set to go the same way pretty soon, there is one vehicle in the line-up that takes an altogether different approach.

Enter the Scenic E-Tech. I’ve been living with the electric SUV for a few months now, and in my last update, I wrote about how it fails to live up to the sparkle on offer from its more flashy little siblings. In that report, I wondered aloud about whether this made the car a disappointment but after racking up the miles over recent weeks, I have finally come up with an answer.

I have now come to love the grown-up, sensible approach that the Scenic offers. In an era when new brands are arriving from China every other day, most carmakers are looking for a niche or gimmick to make them stand out from the crowd. In the last few months alone, I’ve driven cars with built-in cool boxes, space-age rotating touchscreens, and headlight technology that may as well have been designed by NASA. While all this is great, I can’t help but feel that there is a lot to be said for a car that is simply very good at being a car.

Inside the cabin, nothing is showy, but everything works exactly how it should. The portrait 12-inch touchscreen is crisp, clear and responsive, and I have yet to experience a single issue with it, while the integrated Google Maps system also works perfectly every time it’s called upon.

There are also just about the right number of physical buttons, meaning you don’t have to spend every journey flicking through endless menus when you want to adjust the air conditioning by half a degree, which is also aided by a personalisation button, which allows you to turn off all endless bonging that comes with most modern cars.

Everything on the Scenic is where you expect it to be and works how you expect it to work. Yes, there may be more exciting options out there but how much time does the average motorist really spend in the pursuit of driving thrills? That is not to say that the Scenic is bad to drive – because it really isn’t – it just puts more of an emphasis on comfort than sporty handling.

In recent weeks, I have been suffering from a bad back so painful that on one occasion I almost became the first person below the age of 80 to have a fall in the aisle of Budgens. An Easter weekend trip to the Cotswolds only threatened to make things worse, but in Comfort mode, the Scenic handled the mix of country roads, farm tracks and motorways brilliantly. The Lumbar support proved particularly helpful here, although full massage seats would perhaps have been more welcome.

The only other bone of contention I have with the car is the usual grumble about range. The car has a claimed range of 381 miles, but in the real world, I am still struggling to return anywhere near that figure. Charged to 100 per cent, the car tends to give a range of around 280 miles, meaning longer journeys do still have to be planned more carefully than in a petrol car.

However, in the grand scheme of things, this is a small price to pay for a car that has really begun to worm its way into my affections of late. It turns out, there is a lot to be said for the boring and dependable approach!