Renault Megane Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Renault Megane range
Prices: £14,855-£24,160 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 5-13 C02 EMISSION: 118-178g/km
Performance: [2.0 TCe] Max Speed 139mph/ 0-60mph 7.8s
Fuel Consumption: [1.5 dCi 86] (combined) 64.2mpg
Safety: Twin front and side airbags / ABS with EBD / VDC
Dimensions: [5dr] Length/Width/Height, 4295/1808/1471mm

FRENCH SENSE

Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

Renault’s third generation Megane family hatchback aims to take on premium rivals on their own terms. Jonathan Crouch reports

Smarter, sharper and offering far better quality, Renault’s third generation Megane family hatchback is the car its predecessor should have been. It’s now one of the sector’s class-leaders, good enough to make other brands look to their laurels.

There wasn’t much wrong with Renault’s second generation Megane. It was European Car of the Year in 2003 and still amongst Western Europe’s top five best sellers in 2007, its last full year of production. Still, it was never what you’d call a ‘premium’ product. You wouldn’t buy one if you’d been used to running a Volkswagen Golf for example. Nor did it look like the kind of car you could park at the golf club, comfortably elegant amongst the gas guzzlers, its owner wearing the smug smile of the sanctimonious downsizer doing his or her bit for the environment.

The third generation car looks a different prospect. There’s no longer an airfix kit look to the styling or to the cabin, wafer-thin panel gaps, classy materials and solid nuggety cuteness making this a car that Volkswagen’s disappointingly conservative MK6 Golf should really fear. Peugeot’s 308, Ford’s Focus, Fiat’s Bravo, Toyota’s Auris and Vauxhall’s Astra are all also clearly within its sights.

The MK2 Megane may have had its faults but lack of driving appeal wasn’t one of them. Renault’s challenge was to retain this whilst building in a higher quality ‘big car’ feel. Has it succeeded? The signs look encouraging. There’s a new front suspension/subframe arrangement to improve directional precision and a redeveloped power steering system to more swiftly respond to driver input. The rear suspension meanwhile, has been tuned to produce a more responsive, agile ride, as well as offer improved cornering without detracting from comfort. Plus, there are bigger brakes, able to pull you up to rest from 62mph in a class-leading 37 metres.

Even more crucial is the way that the design has retained its top safety credentials. If, for some reason, a tyre pressure monitoring system, plus auto headlamps and wipers don’t keep you out of the bushes, then standard ABS, EBD and Emergency Brake Assist should do, while plusher models also get ESP stability control and CSV understeer control.

On the passive safety front, Renault say that their SRP3 set-up (System for Restraint and Protection) guarantees a uniquely high level of protection, taking into account both impact force and the build of occupants. There’s the usual bouncy castle collection of airbags but real safety is about more than just gluing inflatable bags around the interior. So it is that the seatbelts have double pre-tensioners, load limiters and are designed to prevent you from sliding underneath them. The headrests are designed to cushion you better in rear impacts, while double impact sensors in the doors enable the side airbags to offer three times more cushioning to your body during a side impact.

The MK3 Megane has a sporty, dynamic stance, thanks particularly to its short front and rear overhangs, a long 2.64m wheelbase, a steeply-raked roofline and a wide track. It certainly exudes a feeling of much higher quality than its predecessor, with thin cut lines between the different body panels. Great care (at last) has also gone into the quality and fit and finish of the materials used and there are nice touches like the soft-touch finish on the dashboard cowling that’s resistant to daily use and the ageing effects of sunlight. Or the way that the windscreen wipers are aesthetically concealed beneath the bonnet line.

Climb in and the first thing you notice at the wheel is the innovative dashboard which features an analogue rev-counter alongside a digital speedometer which also incorporates the cruise control/speed limiter display. When this function is activated, the speed selected by the driver is displayed at the top of the speedometer which is itself ringed by a sequence of lights that take the form of an arc around the central display. In speed limiter mode, the red segment lights up as the speed increases, while the selected speed begins to flash if exceeded. Space in the cabin is unexceptional but the boot volume of 372 litres (assuming a spare wheel) figures amongst the best i