No shaking ass, more like child bearing hips (Renault Megane in general)

Member Name: josarah

Product:	Renault Megane in general
Date:	06/02/06 (6796 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Large boot, loads of storage

Disadvantages: Thirstier than a diesel but not by much

I am on my 4th car in 4 years, I'm not the kind of person who has to change their car for fear of it getting old, my circumstances have changed and that has necessitated a change in vehicle for me. My car history started with a clapped out Citroen ZX, progressed to a Fiat Punto which I loved, from then I had a Ford Focus (hated it, most rubbish car in the world) and now I have a Renault Mégane estate (my opinion of which you will find below). What led me to trade in the Focus was the unreliability and general uselessness of it. I had briefly flirted with the possibility of having a Mégane (the one with the ass) before I got the Focus but couldn't quite decide whether I liked it or not so I went for what was considered the 'safe' option. Mistake. When getting rid of the Focus I went back to Renault and had a little look around the yard to see whether they had any used cars that took my fancy and then I saw …. the one, a 1.6 Dynamique Sport Tourer

Most of you will have seen the Mégane with the dodgy looking rear end and be undecided on whether you like it or not. Well the Mégane sport tourer is really a Mégane without the shaky bits and more boot space(less booty, more boot). I had seen one parked around the corner from our house when out walking the dog and thought that it looked quite smart.

In the used car section of Renault I found 2 cars that interested me, a 1.9 dti for £12,995 and a 1.6 dynamique petrol car for sale at £10,995. On further inspection I could see that the cheaper car had only 3,000 miles and was on an '04 plate (this was in June of '05). My mind was officially made up…Nothing could put me off wanting this car (please note, once I decide I like something I really like it and nothing can put me off). I arranged a test drive and returned the next day to take the car for a spin! I was impressed that the dealer could accommodate a test drive after 5pm on the next day; maybe they were desperate to rid themselves of this car.

So, having decided that I wanted this car before I had even sat in it I decided that it would be prudent to take the other half to drive it too (he knows about cars and stuff). When you first get in the car you notice that all is not well in the key department! You have a silly Renault card key which goes in a slot. You then depress either the clutch or brake, push a button and the engine jumps into life. Fortunately the car will not start if you are in gear and the clutch isn't down so no embarrassing jumps forward then.

Despite the issue with the key that isn't a key I decided I liked the car sufficiently enough to trade in the Focus for it, of course I didn't tell the dealer all the problems I had had with it, just dropped it off and legged it.

I have had the car over 6 months now and to be honest am still a bit in love with it. It hasn't had any problems which have required it to go back to the dealer. One slight annoyance has been the heat shield which sometimes rattles but that's easily fixed at home. Even after doing some major potholing on the Longmynd the car worked fine, despite having half the road embedded in the tyre and a big hole in the wheel arch. The car always starts when I ask it too although before I realised about it not starting in gear without the clutch down I was getting a bit annoyed with it. Now I just think it's a really clever machine. I do sometimes lose the key however which is slightly embarrassing!

To sum up; IT'S RELIABLE (touch wood)

One of the main problems I had was that the dog didn't fit into the back of my Focus. It was necessary that I got a larger car and an estate, a Sports Tourer seemed the perfect choice.

Up front this car has so many pockets and little places to put things I was astonished. It has so much space it's ridiculous. Each arm rest has a pocket in it which can hold up to 5 CD's, under both front foot wells you will find another hiding place for general stuff which would easily take a pair of flip flops or something that you want to wear outside of the car. Similarly it could hold a pac-a-mac or compact umbrella for when you get caught in a rain shower. The pilot style handbrake means that there is quite a lot of room in the middle of the car too. A cubby-hole that in my car generally gets used for stashing 'stuff' in the centre storage box I currently have an MP3 player, complete with FM transmitter (slap some cuffs on me and take me off to jail!) and in-car charger, 3 CD's without cases, house keys (don't need to take them out the car as the car key is a card, Bluetooth headset (with charger) and earphones. The box is not even ½ full yet, there is scope for so much more stuff to go in there and as you know, we girls can collect loads of 'stuff'.

You have the usual side pockets in the door and glove box (again, absolutely huge) which I have actually lost things in before now. In terms of seating space I always feel that there is plenty of room for myself and other half to sit in without encroaching on each others personal space. The seating is really comfortable and you feel as though you're sitting upright. The lumber suppport is welcomed with open arms by me but not by Matt but that's easily recified. The seats are easily adjustable and you can even pump the drivers seat up which is quite amusing (for about 30 seconds). Personally I don't like to sit with my legs straight out the front of me as it hurts my ankles. In the Mégane I can sit with my knees bent at a comfortable angle and not get uncomfortable or stiff after a long journey. The back will comfortably seat 3 adults with 3 proper seatbelts, none of the lap strap malarkey here.

The boot is easily large enough for whatever you want to throw in. We have had a whole bathroom suite in the back (seats down obviously) and the boot itself neatly fits one Charley dog along with his bed. If we wanted it would fit some luggage as well but I wouldn't trust the dog not to chew everything within sight! The boot area is surprisingly high and is definitely more spacious than the other halves Legacy estate as measured by nearness of Charley's head to the roof. Under the boot floor you will find a full sized spare wheel, not one of those ridiculous space savers which again illustrates the capacity for storage in this car.

Update; IT'S COMFORTABLE AND FITS LOADS OF STUFF IN IT

So, once you're in the car you will probably want to have a play around with the 'stuff' you get. My car came with a trip computer, CD player, automatic headlights, automatic wipers and 4 electric windows. I wouldn't be without the trip computer and regularly flick through to find out different stuff about the car (mainly how many miles I've got before I absolutely must fill up).

The CD/Radio can be controlled with a stalk accessible from the steering wheel, a great invention and something that I would now really struggle to live without. How do you do stuff on the head unit without crashing? My favourite addition to the car is the automatic headlights and wipers, you can turn these off but I think they're handy little extras to have. They work by simply activating themselves when needed. The lights come on towards dusk and when it starts to rain the wipers come on too. In fact the wipers come on when you're following a hay lorry too!

The only time you will need to use the lights yourself is when it's raining, but light as they tend to stay off then. To turn these features off you just have to push a little button at the end of the indicator stalk but I really wouldn't bother. The only feature that this car lacks is the amazing Ford heated front windscreen which I think should be a mandatory addition to all cars. Alongside all the cool stuff the Mégane has air conditioning and all the standard features that you find on other cars.

Here you go; IT HAS COOL STUFF INSIDE

The Mégane is actually a quite nice car to look at as well. If you like the general lines of the Mégane hatchback but hate the booty you will probably like the estate version. It's a bit edgier than big brother Laguna and I think it suits. The interior is quite pleasantly styled and the French clunkiness that I find strangely reassuring is there in abundance. I don't mean the car is clunky but the knobs and levers have a satisfying robustness to them which I find lacking in non-French cars, It's currently performing at just under 40 mpg which I don't think is too bad. In fact my Focus was only just matching 45 mpg so I haven't lost out there that much.

What has surprised me the most has been Subaru loving Matt really liking driving the Mégane. He says it drives quite well and certainly I feel safe when he's flinging it round the corners at speed 'just to see what it can do'. The engine is noticeably less powerful than my old Focus but I expected that. Once up to speed however the car is smooth as anything else you will have driven.

I suppose you will want my opinion on the dealership.well they did some sums that made me feel better about what money I was spending. Then they washed the car for me and fixed some minor things that were wrong with it when we test drove (merely finishing problems and replacing a tyre). They even delayed my paperwork so that the direct debit came out on the first of the month. Unfortunately they took at least 2 months and 3 nasty letters to me from the Focus finance people to settle the account on my other car. That did leave rather a nasty taste in my mouth.

Fortunately I have not had to go back to the garage as I use a private garage for all the other stuff (like servicing etc) which keeps the cost down, the parts that we buy from rRenault however are reasonable. If something was to be done under warranty I wouldn't have any problems returning to the Renault man for the work to be done.

One more time; IT DRIVES NICELY, LOOKS GOOD & THE DEALERSHIP WAS ….WELL A CAR DEALERSHIP, EXPECT NOTHING SPECIAL.

So to sum up, I like it. It's not groundbreaking but I didn't want a ground breaking car. I just wanted something to restore my faith in the car trade and my Mégane has certainly delivered that. I am happy again with my car and will probably keep this one till it falls apart in many years to come.

:o) Jo

Summary: Stylish estate car

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