Renault Megane review 31/05/14
Sure the Renault is not a bad car, but it is not a great one either and Renault has sold them largely on the back of a very high specification at competitive prices and with attractive personal financial packages. But just because a car is popular, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is much kop and that’s pretty much how I have felt about the Megane in any of its incarnations. Sure it looks smart and is probably better to drive than you might imagine, but it is still not anywhere near the class leaders in any reasonable view of it. I have to confess that my worst fears were a little unfounded as the car, tested in GT Line trim, was reasonably decent. The GT Line specification had more to do with looks than performance as the car was fitted with the standard 1.5 dCi turbodiesel engine with 110 bhp, stop/start technology, 90 g/km emission levels and a claimed fuel consumption rate of 3.8 l/100 km, which is over 80 mpg.
Interestingly, Renault maintain that with an increase in torque output of 20 Nm, there has been no performance fall off and, as we know, with small diesel engines the torque figure (in this case 260 Nm from 1,750 rpm) is probably the most important when it comes to what you will extract from the car.
