With tthe arrival of our second baby, we had to finally conceede that we had well and truly outgrown our little three door Renault Clio and so the hunt for a bigger began.

Like a lot of people, our budget was quite tight and so an important factor in our search for a family car was value for money. I therefore hit the internet in search of a good sized car that wouldn't break the bank, either to buy or to run.

We decided on an estate because of the boot space, we just had to research what was avaliable.

We decided on the Renault Megane Sport Tourer for a number of reasons.

Here are some of the pros:

1. It offered excellent value for money compared to makes such as VW, Ford and even Peugeot.

2. The boot is very spacious.

3. Being a 1.4 cc it is really economical to run in terms of petrol, road tax and insurance. Estate cars in the other makes we looked at started at 1.6 cc, so we were surprised and really pleased to find a 1.4cc.

4. It's just a nice car to drive. I'm sure car enthusiasts would pick holes in it, but for someone who isn't a car buff and just wants a spacious comfortable car it get you from A to B, it fits the bill.

5. I think it is the most stylish looking car of it's type. It is very practical, but also looks good too, which is always a bonus!

The Cons:

1. It has a key card instead of a key, which is fine, but take a little bit of getting used to.

2. When you turn the car off, the radio/AC/lights etc don't turn off automatically until you open the door, which can be a bit annoying at times.

3. Just a very minor niggle - there's no central ashtray. Although I don't smoke, it's just a handy place to put your lose change!

Overall, I really like this car and the positives far out-weigh the negatives. For our family of four, it has plenty of space is very comfortable and reliable (so far anyway - fingers crossed!) and is very reasonable to run.

For those who are interested some stats:

- Fuel Type Unleaded Petrol Unleaded Petrol
- Combined fuel consumption (mpg) 40.4 40.4
- CO2 (g/km) 166 166

COMFORT & CONVENIENCE
-Automatic headlights and windscreen wipers*
-Footwell lighting*
-Rear electric windows
-Rear window sunblinds
-Separation net*
-Smoker Pack*

DRIVING & SAFETY
-City Pack*
-Climate Pack*
-Comfort Pack*
-Cruise control with speed limiter
-Front fog lamps
-Front lateral and curtain airbags
-Rear lateral airbag*

EXTERIOR EQUIPMENT
-17'' Alloy Wheels*
-Integral metallic paint (when metallic paint ordered as option)
-Metallic Paint*
-Non-Metallic Paint
-Opening tailgate window*
-Tinted windows
-Transversal roof bars
-Xenon headlamps & washers*

HEATING & VENTILATION
-Air Conditioning

IN-CAR ENTERTAINMENT
-4x15W Single CD RDS radio with 6 speakers
-4x15W Single CD/MP3 Compatible RDS Radio with 6 Speakers*
-4x40W Cabase TRONIC dash mounted 6 CD multi-changer*
-Multi-function TunePoint(connection for i-Pod or MP3 player)*

INSTRUMENTS & CONTROLS
-Leather steering wheel and gear knob

SEATING & TRIM
-3 Height adjustable rear headrests
-60:40 split/folding rear seats
-Charcoal Grey Cloth wth Grey Accent upholstery
-Dark grey leather upholstery with silver stitching (ilo Cloth upholstery)*

SECURITY EQUIPMENT
-Deadlocking
-Keyless car with Renault Card