I'm glad you had more luck with your Scenic than I did Dayfdd. My earlier 2002 went back after 18 months. It was a disaster, nowhere near a patch on the 6 or 16 I started out my motoring with.
Back on track, as I stated above the Qashqai has a poor reliability record despite selling in very high numbers and I would not like to invest my money in one. The latest 1.6 diesel X-Tral are also not a patch on the excellent earlier 2.0L diesel. The C&MC used these as Red Pennant vehicles I believe. If you look back at towcar awards over the last 10 years or so and reliability reports on the likes of Whatcar then the VAG 2.0L diesel keeps on coming out as an excellent choice, whether in a Skoda Superb or Octavia, VW Golf Estate or Passat. The auto box is a must though as it is far stronger than the manual. The 1.5 petrol is also well rated as a good engine for our lighter vans and that engine in my Audi A3 is a gem. You can also get it in the Octavia. The Mazda CX5 would also be on my short list.

Colin

And my lower profile Audi pulling a 1200kg Triton at 55mph usually returns 37/38 mpg on a good long motorway run. This drops to 34mpg on the hilly short runs.
Solo, day to day I see 48/52mpg out of rush hour. My best is near 70mpg on a 55mph long run from Devon to Mersyside. The petrol is also a far more flexible engine than the 2.0L diesel.

Colin