Each year since 2016 I have spent Christmas in Central Germany. This involves flying to Hannover Airport and then hiring a car to drive the 100 or so miles to where my sister lives in a small town near Kassel. Each time, we have used a different hire company and also have had a different (non-German) brand of car. The automotive delights so far include a DS3 (formerly a Citroen, but now its own brand), a Ford Focus and, for 2018, a Renault Megane Sports Tourer.
When I arrived at the Enterprise hire car desk at Hannover Airport, I was presented with the choice between the petrol-engined Megane and a diesel-engined Peugeot 308 SW. I had heard bad things about the Peugeot I-Cockpit layout, and I was keen to drive a petrol on the Autobahn, so I chose the Renault. Straightaway, I was struck at how nice and substantial the key felt, a world away from the flimsy old Renault credit-card type electronic keys which previous models have had, and, naturally, a big step up from a Dacia.
Upon discovering the Megane in the Enterprise section of the airport car park, the car very handily unlocked itself (it would appear that the keyless entry system is excellent), although the button for the boot release is in an awkward place, so loading luggage was a bit more complicated than usual. Pairing my phone for the long drive down to the Werra Valley was no problem, and Renault's long-standing partnership with TomTom meant that the sat nav was reasonably straightforward to programme and seemed accurate during the journey. Not all the controls were as straightforward, however.
A little research has revealed that the lesser two trim levels in the Megane range, the Expression + (now renamed Play) and the Dynamique Nav (now renamed Icon and known in Germany as Limited) do not have the same 8.7" portrait-orientated touch screen as the higher spec models. Instead, models such as this Dynamique Nav/Limited get an older 7" landscape display which shares its basic functionality with the systems found in the Dacia Logan MCV and the pre-facelift Renault Captur. This means that switching between different applications, such as between music and navigation, is far more difficult than it needs to be, the fonts seem very old-fashioned, and it is very clunky to operate.
The dashboard does at least look very sophisticated, even without the 8.7" system, although the heater controls, some of which are touch operated without any sort of haptic feedback, are very small and fiddly. In fact, the combination of rain, darkness, a long Autobahn journey, being unfamiliar with the car and driving on the wrong side of the road made the first drive in the Megane much more stressful than it should have been. Since the Renault 11 in the 1980s, of which the current generation Megane is a direct descendant, many models in their range have had separate audio controls on a stalk next to the steering column, and this one is no exception. However, this goes right against the current fashion for all controls not on the dashboard in a modern car to be contained on the steering wheel, where they are lit and visible at all times. In the darkness, it took me a long time to find out how to adjust the stereo volume without using the central control knob on the dashboard before I remembered this Gallic quirk.
Two more things which the Megane ST shares with the less expensive Dacia Logan MCV and the Renault Captur are the Eco button and a cruise control activation switch next to the handbrake. The former is a mode which restricts the car's torque output by around 10% for better fuel economy, and with this 1.2 petrol engine's 130 bhp, the difference between on and off is not that noticeable. However, in the Logan MCV and Captur, which share the same 900cc three-cylinder turbo petrol and 1.5 litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engines developing around 90 bhp, having Eco mode on is really only for town use, otherwise summoning up decent progress is somewhat frustrating. The cruise control situation is even more infuriating, as all the other controls for the cruise control system are on the steering wheel, so reaching with the other hand onto the centre console next to the handbrake to turn the system on and off seems to make no ergonomic sense whatsoever. In short, although the Megane is better than many previous Renaults in its control placement, other similarly priced European brands such as Volkswagen and Ford are still vastly better in this regard.
In terms of the driving experience, the Megane certainly is not awful, but it is not particularly memorable. In this respect, it is reminiscent of past Kia and Hyundai models (the newer generation Ceed and i30 are much more lively to drive) in that the car feels stable and composed on the motorway, but handling is not particularly exciting. As with so many French cars these days, the emphasis is on comfort, so body lean is prevalent, but the ride is smooth and absorbs bumps and potholes reasonably well. This is not a car specifically designed for Alpine passes, and if one wanted such a thing then Renault would probably point one towards their new Alpine A110 sports car, but for the needs of the target market, it is probably sufficient.
The Dynamique S/Limited trim level contains a good level of equipment such as automatic lights and wipers, cruise control (complete with ridiculously placed activation switch by the handbrake), front and rear parking sensors, Bluetooth and satellite navigation. This particular car has an optional reversing camera, for which I have been grateful already on more than one occasion, and keyless start and entry. There is also a digital dashboard, with a strange system on this automatic model whereby there is no rev counter, but just a line to show whether someone can keep the car in the so-called "Eco" range for maximum fuel economy. I miss the traditional dials of so many of its rivals very much... Speaking of fuel economy, I imagine it would do around 400-500 miles per tank of fuel, which for a modern small petrol engine is not very impressive, but if one averages 80-90 mph on the Autobahn, as I did, then perhaps it is not difficult to see the reason for its unusual thirst.
Estate cars are often bought for their capacious boots and improved rear accommodation, and the Megane Sports Tourer is no exception to this. The boot, at around 520 litres, is over 100 litres bigger than the Megane hatchback, although it is trounced by even my Seat Toledo hatchback at 550 litres, and the cheaper Skoda Octavia estate at 610 litres. The design of the car is rather pleasing to the eye, but this is perhaps a case where aesthetic appearance has won out over utility. The rear seats seem spacious enough, but again, an Octavia estate would be larger.
One area in which the Megane does seem to have improved massively in recent years is cabin quality. The first generation car, launched over 20 years ago, had an abundance of hard brittle plastics like many of its contemporaries, and carried on a length tradition of flimsy French fragility. This is not a criticism which can be levelled at the current generation model, which was launched in 2016. The dashboard and upper parts of the doors are festooned with soft-touch material, all the switches feel as if they are very good quality, even if some of them are a bit illogically placed, and the seat fabrics are no longer suspiciously lightweight. It all feels suspiciously like a cross between a Korean and German car, and this is no bad thing at all.
To sum up, the Renault Megane Sports Tourer is a solidly- built, smooth riding, comfortable and relatively practical car with a handsome design and good equipment levels. It is, however, let down in some surprisingly important areas, such as illogical control placement and a disappointing infotainment system on the lesser models, still questionable reliability and a high list price compared with some of its rivals. It is a good effort, but in a class with so many talented cars, it cannot quite yet emerge at the front of the pack.
