“Does that boot make it hard to park?” was the question asked of me the most during my time testing the Megane. Every time someone asked me, I just frowned in confusion at the radio; there must be a way to search for radio stations.
And why would the curvy backside make this car any harder to park than a conventional saloon anyway? I wondered if I had to hold the search button down to get the radio to move more than 1 mega hertz at a time. But that didn’t work either.
When you are driving a Megane rather than just looking at someone else’s, your view of the car changes rapidly. I was expecting a fussy, awkward hatchback that wasn’t as good as a Vauxhall Astra or Ford Focus. Something that looks odd, feels odd and is embarrassing to be seen in.
From an early stage however, I became quite proud of the Megane. Its styling, once I was familiar with it, felt classy and chic. I began to wonder, why shouldn’t all hatchbacks be this well sculpted? Why does a sensible, everyday car, have to be dull? It doesn’t and the Renault designers obviously recognised this a while back.
The most interesting thing about the Megane is how unappealing the design is when you are not living with the car. That’s what everyone is really getting at when asking about the difficulty parking. But when you are climbing in and out of it all the time, walking to and fro, you find it always feels special. It’s an emotion you don’t get with owning any other hatchback.
Hang on, I’ve found something on the radio called ‘list mode.’ Will that help me locate some local radio stations? Hmmm….. Not as such.
The 1.5 dCi engine in this car is the same unit found in the Nissan QashQai and it is just as fantastic. 60 mpg is achievable, even if you drive it hard now and then. It is quiet at low speed, refined at high speed. True, its acceleration is unremarkable, but you can’t have everything.
The handling is appropriate to the car’s steady performance. It won’t let you down if you enter a country lane corner that turns out to be tighter than you expect, but it won’t inspire confidence either.
The slight lack of confidence on B-roads is the price you pay for the delightful A-road and inner city ride. When you drive over a sleeping Policeman in the Megane, it feels like you are driving a bouncy castle. But I mean that as a compliment. It feels as though the bump is being absorbed in a big air cushion. It is a stark contrast to the Nissan that feels like it is about to collapse among a million broken suspension parts.
Right, I’ve ‘paused’ the radio, whatever that means. Now I’ve got a CD working, but where is the eject button?
So on all the major considerations, this is an excellent small family car. The boot space is adequate and rear legroom is typical of a family hatchback. Not huge but fine for children.
Overall though, it feels special. The only other small family car that achieves a unique atmosphere is its cousin the QashQai. Being a standard hatchback, the Megane is not quite as jolly, or family-friendly as the QashQai. Until you realise that a 2007 Megane with the same engine and similar specification is £4,000 less… Suddenly the Megane looks a lot jollier doesn’t it?
It’s important to know what good value the Megane is on the nearly new market, because it cheers you up when you open the boot after its been raining and it gives you and your luggage a quick shower.
It cheers you up when looking for the CD eject button and when on the motorway, trying to change lanes; I was not totally at ease with the amount of information I was able to obtain from the tiny wing mirrors.
But many of you won’t need cheering up, because you will be watching the trip computer and realising what stonking fuel consumption this car achieves. I have driven from London to Bedford and back, right round the M25, up to Norfolk and back again and all on one tank of diesel. I have no numbness, no headache and always felt like I was in something special.
Summary
Whilst not the most complete family hatchback, or most practical family car, it is a uniquely enjoyable experience to live with a Renault Megane. A practical, economical and different car for great value prices.
Road test car details:
Renault Megan Tech Run 1.5 dCi
OTR: £14,575
MPG: 64.2
Co2 per km: 117
0-62: 12.7