RENAULT MEGANE GT WAGON

Wagon tail a happy addition

THE WINDING roads south of Albury are as good a place as any to see how the Renault Megane GT wagon compares to its similarly equipped hatch sibling. Like the Megane GT hatch, the wagon is a deceptively quick and agile car with its 4Connect steering system. Its 151kw/280nm 1.6 turbo engine has performance that borders on hot-hatch territory, and is paired to a sevenspeed dual-clutch transmission that responds well to the revvy turbo’s midrange torque.

The transmission does a reasonably good job of predicting and selecting the appropriate gear, but on the wet and winding hilly route it occasionally couldn’t keep up with rapid changes to pedal inputs. Thankfully, the GT’S column-mounted shift paddles allow a manual override for when the road gets truly twisty.

That said you need pianists’ fingers to use them given they don’t move with the steering wheel, and also obscure the light and wiper stalks. The gear lever sits a little too far forward to comfortably use its plus-minus manual shift. Ergonomically, the Megane could still use some work.

Road noise on coarse surfaces was surprisingly subdued, helped by the chunky tailgate and narrow D-pillar glass.

Its Renault Sport suspension copes well with big hits too, despite its performance slant.

Cabin comfort also benefits from more generous dimensions. Both the wagon and sedan are 269mm longer than the hatch with a 11mm longer wheelbase, resulting in 37mm more rear legroom and a more reclined rear-seat backrest.

The wagon’s 580L boot space (1504L with the rear seats folded) offers substantially more cargo capacity than the hatch’s 434L/1198L. Its sloping roof line means the rear aperture isn’t overly high, but the tailgate opens beyond 90 degrees to help facilitate easier loading.

Its dimensional growth sees a 38kg weight gain over the hatch, contributing to a 0.3sec slower 0-100km/ h time of 7.5 seconds, but it manages the same claimed combined fuel economy of 6.0L/100km.

From the B-pillars forward, the Megane GT wagon is virtually identical to the hatch with an 8.7-inch portrait-format screen, ambient lighting, heavily bolstered sports seats, and blue metallic door trims. Soft-touch surfaces abound, though the cup holders on the centre console are still ridiculously small.

There aren’t many small wagons in Australia, and the Megane GT is the only one that offers the kind of performance and handling that fills the void between hot-hatch enjoyment and small-suv practicality.